Aero 500

Aero 500 was produced between 1929 and 1931 in the Aero aircraft factory in Prague. The company became a part of Czech history with its small cars affordable to the wider public and the 500 type represented the smallest car produced in Czechoslovakia in the interwar period. Aero 500 became popular because of its low price and reliability, but also because of its successes at races and on journeys. A total of 1,400 cars were produced.

In the late 1920s, the car designer Břetislav Novotný designed a new car, which became basis for the later popular cars by Aero and which was presented under the designation “500” at the Prague auto show in 1929. Even before the official presentation, Bohumil Turek travelled in it from Prague to Brest, Hamburg and back to Prague – a 5,000 kilometre journey – and later went to Agadir in Morocco and back. Such journeys were made possible by Aero 500’s new engine which, as the car’s name says, had a displacement of 499 cc. Its power output was 10 horse powers, maximum speed 70 km/h and fuel consumption 7 to 8 l/100 km. This three-metre roadster was sold for 18,800 crowns, and its improved version for 23,000 crowns. The last official price was 16,600 crowns, at a time when a qualified worker in Czechoslovakia earned 4 to 6 crowns an hour. Thus Aero 500 became one of the cheapest cars before the Second World War.