TATRA (Czechoslovakia) 1923 to date
Tatra succeeded Nesselsdorfer in 1923 and designer Hans Ledwinka
revolutionized existing design principles by creating a frameless
car with a large diameter backbone tube, in place of a conventional
chassis. The air-cooled engine was a 1056cc flat-twin, mounted transversely
above the front axle. This Tatra 11 was succeeded by the improved
model 12, which was built until 1930.
They were very sturdy cars, and were also successful in races. A
water-cooled 2-litre six appeared in 1926. The 1.72-litre Type 30
flat-four superseded the two-cylinder versions in 1930. It, too,
was air- cooled and had the engine transversely mounted. The water-cooled
2.3-litre Type 31 followed the earlier 2-litre six-cylinder in 1927,
while the 1160cc Type 57 of the early 1930s was a new small air-cooled
four-cylinder: the 1690cc Type 75 was similar in layout. In the
early l930s two water-cooled ohv luxury models appeared, one with
a 3850cc six-cylinder engine, the other a 5990cc V-12.
Few of these expensive models were built. In 1934, designer Hans
Ledwinka, never short of unorthodox ideas, created another interesting
car, the Tatra 77. It had an air-cooled V-8 engine of 2970cc mounted
in the rear. The body was aerodynamic, with a central box-type frame.
Only air-cooled cars were being made by Tatra when the war broke
out. These were all four-cylinder models, the 52 ( 1910cc), the
57 ( 1260cc) and the 97 ( 1760cc), the latter being rear-engined,
the others having flat-four engines in front. The rear-engined 2960cc
model 87 was the successor to the Tatra 77. All now had ohv engines,
except the model 52.
After the war, Tatra first produced improved versions of the rear-engined
cars with 2472cc V-8 engines, but concentrated more and more on
big lorries. From 1949-51 they built successful sports cars and
racing monoposti with rear air-cooled engines which, driven by Vermirovsky,
Soyka and Pavlicek, proved successful. From 1955 different versions
of the rear-engined Tatra 603 appeared, followed by the improved
613; most of these cars were supplied only to Governments in Eastern
Europe. Production is now on a small scale. The present 613 has
a dohc V-8 engine of 3495cc, mounted above the rear axle and giving
165 bhp at 5200 rpm. It can attain 120mph.
More about
Tatra
1969 Tatra T 603-2 ©VEA
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