SKAF (also spelled as ''S.K.A.F.'') was a prototype

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

designed by engineers Stefan Kozłowski and Antoni Frączkowski. Its creators established the SKAF car manufacturing company in 1920, based in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Three prototypes of the car were made between 1923 and 1924. It never entered

mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...

. It was the first car designed and manufactured in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, since the declaration of its independence in 1918.

History

In 1920, engineers Stefan Kozłowski and Antoni Frączkowski founded an automobile manufacturing company, with the factory located at 23 Rakowiecka Street, in

. They had designed a SKAF car, with the name coming from their initials. Between 1923 and 1924 were built three prototypes of the car, of which, two had a

single-cylinder engine A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, motorized bicycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, power tools ...

, and one, a two-cylinder engine. The vehicle never entered

. It was the first car designed and manufactured in the

, since the declaration of its independence in 1918. Further history of the company remains unknown.Aleksander Sowa: ''Legendy naszej motoryzacji''. Będzin: e-bookowo.pl, 2011, p. 16. ISBN 9788393255399. (in Polish).Aleksander Rostocki, Jan Tarczyński: ''Automobilizm w Warszawie do roku 1939''. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1988, p. 163. (in Polish)

Specifications

The car had a water-cooled

with a capacity of 500 cm³, with a power of between 9 kW (12 hp) and 10.3 kW (13.8 hp). The car used 8 litres of

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

and 1 litre of oil, for 100 km. Its maximum speed was 40 km/h (24.85 mph). The car weighed 300 kg (661.4 lbs). Its

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

was 220 cm (86.6 in). It had a

friction drive A friction drive Definition of "friction drive"
in the Merriam-Webster Di ...

and a back

axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotation, rotating wheel and axle, wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In ...

. The car had two seats, and an open body which, was painted in either

navy blue Navy blue is a dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color name, ...

or light-grey colour.

References

{{reflist 1920s cars Cars introduced in 1923 Cars of Poland Car brands Car manufacturers of Poland Polish brands Defunct manufacturing companies of Poland Manufacturing companies based in Warsaw 1920 establishments in Poland 1923 establishments in Poland Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers Vintage vehicles Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1920 Concept cars First car made by manufacturer