PRESTO / Germany

PRESTO / CHEMNITZ / GERMANY  ( 1901 - 1927 )

The PRESTO Werke were well known for 2-wheelers, bicycles and motorcycles before they started car production in Chemnitz / Saxony in 1901. The first models had a single cylinder engine.
In 1908 some prototypes started in the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt, a famous race at that time.
The production of a  home designed 4-cylinder car started in 1910. In their last year of existence they offered a six-cylinder engine. But the same year PRESTO was taken over by NAG and the six-cylinder model was offered as NAG - PRESTO.

very early PRESTO firewall emblem

Size	9.7 cm x 6.4 cm
Year	1901  - 1904
Estimate

1909 PRESTO showing a round emblem with wings

The next enameled emblem was round and you could read on it: PRESTOWERKE AG  CHEMNITZ i. SA. For years, I only knew this black-and-white photograph:

PRESTO type P8/22  1910 - 1912 photo  collection Michael Schlenger  (Vorkriegs-Klassiker-Rundschau)                            

To my delight, however, a vehicle has been preserved in Latvia that has been perfectly restored and bears this early emblem:

 

The emblem has apparently been perfectly restored as well.

 

 

1911 PRESTO seen in Riga / Latvia

 in 2025

 

the emblem shown above was patended in 1911

The next emblem is a 1912 truck emblem. From 1912 to 1927 PRESTO used a round emblem.  In the upper half of the emblem you can read PRESTO and in the bottom half you find the winged wheel over a cloud:

large PRESTO truck emblem

Size	8.8 cm
Year	1912 - 1914
Estimate

1912 PRESTO truck seen in a German museum

For a short time they used  emblems without the makers name, just showing the winged wheel over a cloud. I guess that it was used in combination with a radiator script.

Size	5.1 cm
Year	unknown
Estimate

There were some variations of this emblem concerning the colors and the size.

PRESTO emblem with chromed base

Size	6.3 cm
Year	1925 - 1927
Estimate

PRESTO car wash (photo collection Thomas Ulrich)

Emblem of a v - shaped radiator

Size	6.4 cm
Year	1921 - 1925
Estimate

PRESTO with vee - shaped radiator (photo collection T. Urich )

 In November 1926 PRESTO presented the first Six-cylinder model using the traditional emblem:

Page 1 of the 1926 / 1927 Six-cylinder brochure

 In November 1927 PRESTO was taken over by NAG and the Six-cylinder models were carried under the name NAG - PRESTO:

Size	3.8 cm x 5.6 cm resp.  6.1 cm x 7.5 cm
Year	1927 - 1928
Estimate

NAG PRESTO seen in a German workshop in 2022

There is also a repro emblem mady in Germany by Göde:

Look at the wrong colors on the bottom:  black and white only instead of black, white, green and grey

easy to identify:  repro emblem with makers mark from Göde

 See more about NAG here.

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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