HIMALAYA SIX

Himalaya Six was a luxury model built between 1925 and 1930 in Czechoslovakia. Powered by a 1.9 or 2.3-litre six-cylinder inline OHC engine it was capable of carrying 4-6 passengers at 110 - 115kph. The cars were equipped with 4-wheel brakes, 4-speed non-synchronized gearbox, a front telescopic bumper and were available as limousines, phaetons, cabriolets and landaulets. Many cars had custom built coachworks by specialized companies, which was a common practice back in the day. In contrast to other contemporary cars it had an innovative backbone chassis with a fully independent suspension which excelled on potholed dirt roads of the First Republic. A ride quality was therefore closer to European limousines from the early 1930s then to contemporary 1920s vehicles. The chassis was so big and robust, that some cars were later rebuilt into firetrucks.

In 1931 the car was replaced by the legendary V12 model, which was used by the Czechoslovak president Masaryk.

Realism note
This mod represents an early 1.9-litre cabriolet with a short wheelbase. Because of the independent suspension, this is one of a few 1920s cars which can be simulated in the LFS, without some rough approximations of solid axles. Historic tires and tire sizes are not supported in a current LFS version. Tires are thus overpressured to approximate original bias-ply tires. The 20 inch wheel was approximated using a 21 inch wheel to preserve the full diameter of the tire. The force-feedback strength should be set approximately to 20-40, because it had a heavy worm-and-roller steering, which had considerably less self-centering effect than a rack-and-pinion steering. Missing technical data were filled using technical specifications of related models.

The original car had a steering wheel on the right side, but the mod enables both configurations. Keep in mind that it is a 1920 car and it is much more difficult to drive than modern vehicles. The center of gravity is high and brakes are weak. A double-clutch technique should be deployed when down-shifting, because the gearbox was not synchronized. The first gear is reduced. There is no gain in using more than 4000 RPM (although the engine will survive that).