Hungarian cars and motorcycles

The Hungarian motorization - the first 102 years

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The history of the Hungarian motorization, including car-factories, car-making individuals, same with motorcycles, coachbuilders, shows, clubs etc has not been researched properly.
Here's a list of a few publications available, which I used preparing these pages:

From the National Archive and the Budapest Archive materials I mostly relied on the surviving papers of the Banks which financially supported the industry. Also very few company records exist. Another valuable source at the Budapest Archive are the papers of the "Székesfôváros Tanács Ügyosztályai" (Departments of the Capital Council Office).

Királyi Magyar Automobil Club Jubiláris Aranykönyve. 1900-1930. = The Jubilary Golden Book of the Royal Hungarian Automobile Club 1900-1930. Edited by Ernô, Lindner and István Illés. Budapest, 1930.

Illés was a renowned journalist in automotive circles before the 2nd World War. He was editor-in-chief at the official magazine of the KMAC (the Automobile Club) and the authority. This yearbook contains the detailed history of all aspects of the Hungarian motorisation. It's the work of a journalist, not a scholar. Details are inacurrate, partly because the book was destined for publication in 1925 and not all the data have been updated. Not to mention the fairy-tales which still survive and never checked. Some of these stories could be true though.

A Magyar automobilizmus története és a múzeumi dokumentáció = The history of the Hungarian automobilism and the museum documentation. Edited by József Sissovics and István Illés. Unpublished study from 1959. 764 pages.

Sissovics was an engineer at the car depot of the Hungarian Post before the War, then at the Taxi company and other places. After the War private car owning was impossible in Hungary and most of the old wrecks which somehow survived the War were sent to the scrapyard. Sissovics and Illés got the task to choose from these wrecks after the 1956 Revolution which sweetened the political regime.
They promptly did so and that's the core of the vehicle collection of the Hungarian Museum of Transport.
Probably this manuscript was an off-spring of their work. Amazingly there wasn't any copy available at the Museum! With a little (hmmmm...) investigation I located a catalog card of the manuscript and the accompanying notes at a library but the work itself couldn't be found! So after some head scratching and with some luck I found it.
It's even more comprehensive than the yearbook, mentioned above. But it's horribly inaccurate. Illés and Sissovics were old men when they created this paper and that's why this work is so unreliable. But it's still a great resource when used with care.

István Zsuppán: Magyar Autó = Hungarian Automobile. Budapest, 1995.

Zsuppán is a private collector who published his material first in a series of articles in 1978 and then lent a hand to a lousy, but often quoted tome on old Hungarian cars and after all these efforts published a title under his own name. The collected pictures are awesome. The text is unaccurate: it's mostly based on what old men said. These recalls some time are totally misleading.

Sándor Bálint's studies on Marta and MÁG published in the yearbooks of the Hungarian Museum of Transport.

Mr. Bálint is a researcher at the Hungarian Museum of Transport, His job, among other activities, to research this topic. Unfortunately his works are accurate and precise they didn't contain the spirit which enlights the glorious past. Look at Automobile Quarterly and You'll see what I mean! But let's hail Mr. Bálint who's trying to do as much research as bureucracy allows!

There are only other enthusiasts who collect materials. There are others who collect vehicles. They will also be introduced. But the rare studies of the museologist and a book on the history of Ikarus, the Hungarian autobus factory are the only publications which feature reliable information.

The comprehensive and checked list of Hungarian-made motorcycles haven't been made yet. There were magazine articles and unpublished manuscripts (many of the latter still hidden).

I don't have too much publications on this topic. During last year, the British Classic Car Mart ran my two-part story on the '40s and '50s Hungarian microcars. Also early last year, news pieces appeared from me in the British Autocar and the Swiss Automobil Revue about the Mazomoto group's 424 project.

For a few years I am collecting the shreds of the history of the Méray motorcycle factory. It seems a book will be published on them in 1998.

I have a background in library studies. This, combined with a journalistic approach helps me to find sources, use sources, combine sources. I don't want to sell myself as a Messiah. I am not. I located and collected many interesting documents, facts and figures, images - previously unused or hidden. I am trying to do my best and hope I will be able to shed some lights on the history of this remarkable section of our culture.

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