Skodabook - Version 1.0 Skoda Works was established as an arms manufacturer in 1859 and Skoda Auto (and its predecessors) is one of five oldest companies that begun producing cars and has an unbroken history (together with Tatra, Daimler, Opel and Peugeot). The origins of what became Skoda Auto go back to the early 1890s where, like many long-established car manufacturers, a company started out manufacturing bicycles. It was 1894, and 26-year old Vaclav Klement, who was a bookseller in Mlada Boleslav, in today's Czech Republic, which was then part of Austria-Hungary, was unable to obtain spare parts to repair his German bicycle. Klement returned his bicycle to the manufacturers, Seidel and Naumann, with a letter, in Czech, asking them to carry out repairs, only to receive a reply, in German, stating: "If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand". A disgusted Klement, despite not having technical experience, decided to start a bicycle repair shop, which he and Vaclav