Hi Max,
A pleasure.
The cars are quite likely to be based on cars that had been in production by Skoda. Yes, I know they became a joke,(unwarranted, due to their regular good performances in rallying, throughout the Communist period)and Chuggy lives not that far from a certain Colchester dealership, where they had to wheel-clamp them on the fore-court.
Yet, car-production was a major Czech strength, pre-war, and Hispano-Suizas were made in Czechoslovakia.(As expensive as Bugattis in their day). The car collection in the National Technical Museum in Prague, holds some major surprises for car-lovers.
Regards,
Marcus