 In 1880, Dutch brothers Hendrik Jan and Jacobus Spijker, blacksmiths by profession, start their company for building and maintaining carriages in Hilversum, The Netherlands.In 1898, Spyker manufactured the "Golden Coach", still in use as one of the two prime ceremonial state coaches of the Dutch monarchy.In 1899 they started building automobiles, and in 1900 put their first models on display, two-cylinder 3 hp and 5 hp similar to the Benz.