At the dawn of motoring, a Dutch car company was building cars and became
a benchmark for their foreign counterparts. Combining technological innovation with a drive for engineering perfection and superb quality, Spyker cars won gruelling races, set speed records and became known as the most prestigious cars of their time.

In 1898, two brothers, Jacobus and Hendrik- Jan Spijker, coach builders in Amsterdam, built their first Benz-engined motor car that won them immediate acclaim for the craftsmanship of their bodywork. In the same year Spijker built the famous golden state coach, still in use today, to commemorate the forthcoming coronation of the Dutch queen, Wilhelmina. This was the turning point in their business career: from that moment on the Spijker brothers dedicated their company entirely to the manufacture of motor cars. The business name was changed to Spyker, for easier recognition in foreign markets.

In 1903 Spyker introduced the extremely advanced 60/80 HP. It was the first car with a six-cylinder engine as well as permanent four-wheel drive and four-wheel brakes. In the same period Spyker introduced its patented ‘dust shield chassis,’ a chassis fitted with a streamlined under tray that prevented the car from making dust on unpaved roads. Innovations such as these characterized the Spyker cars, which quickly became famous for their quality and the ruggedness of their engineering. The Spyker models, with their characteristic circular radiators, were especially successful in the Dutch East Indies and in Britain, where Spyker became known as ‘the Rolls Royce of the continent’.

Spyker's reputation reached further heights when in 1907 a privately entered standard model Spyker 14/18HP Tourer became legendary after successfully competing in the famous gruelling Peking to Paris Raid, taking second place. In the period prior to World War I, a worldwide slump in the luxury car market meant that Spyker had to diversify its production, and so it merged with the Dutch Aircraft Factory N.V. The company started developing and building aircrafts. During the war, Spyker built around 100 fighter aircrafts and 200 aircraft engines. In 1915 the company introduced the slogan that is still used today: ‘Nulla tenaci invia est via:’ ‘For the tenacious no road is impassable’. Along with the slogan came a new logo, featuring a spoke wheel with a horizontal propeller across it.

After the war Spyker resumed its car production. True to its motto, Spyker continued building record-breaking cars. These cars were now aircraft technology influenced, such as the 1919 Spyker Aerocoque with its body like an airplane which included, for instance, a fin tail.

Most famous of these is the Spyker C4. It had a special engine, built by the famous German engineer Wilhelm Maybach. It had a double ignition system with Bosch high-tension magneto and battery-coil ignition with two spark plugs per cylinder. The C4 was a powerful, dependable and luxurious car; in 1921, a standard C4 broke a new endurance record, driving continuously for 36 days and covering a distance of 30,000 kilometers. A year later, the famous British driver Selwyn Edge broke the Brookland’s Double Twelve speed record, clocking an average speed of 119 km/h.

In 1925, the Spyker Company ceased trading, but its name was never forgotten. Spyker became an icon, a brand name that stands for technologically advanced, exotic and dependable cars. That heritage has been passed on to the new Spyker and its cars.

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