Second part on the story of the other aircooled carmaker and first aircooled producer -
Tatra of Czechoslovakia.
Hans
Ledwinka's stay at Tatra was cut short after the war in 1945 when he
was accused of collaboration with the Nazis and promptly imprisoned
until 1951 ( a fate shared with Ferdinand Porsche - who was imprisoned by the French).
After release he moved to Austria and then to Munich, Germany where he
remained until his death in 1967. A shiny silver T87, donated by him, is
on display there in the Deutches Museum.
In 1946 the company was
nationalised and its name was reverted to Tatra (Tatra Narodni Podnik to
be precise). Czechoslovakia had fallen under Soviet control and the
Russians dismantled much of the production machinery at Koprivnice,
making the task of building automobiles more difficult for some years.
The
position of chief designer at Tatra was filled by Julius Mackerle, who
had already been thinking about a replacement for the highly successful
T57b with many elements of the T87 and T97. And so the design phase
proceeded and resulted in the prototype T107, which was later deemed to
have too complicated a construction. This was rectified and led to the
Tatraplan (model T600), which was introduced in October the following
year and put into production in 1948.
The Tatraplan T600
The
Tatraplan was roughly the size of the T97 and its body shape and
dimensions were largely based on the T97's with the stabilising fin
reduced in size and the location of the air intakes changed. A
significant improvement over the pre-war streamlined models was the
almost equal weight-distribution of 45% at the front and 55% at the rear
which meant much more predictable handling. The T600 was powered by a
50 bhp 1.95-litre air-cooled OHV (this time with chain driven cams)
4-cylinder rear-mounted engine and had an identical top speed to that of
the old T97 at 130 km/h. The independent suspension system used was a
bit different from previous practices, composed of leaf springs at front
and torsion bars coupled with the familiar swing-axles at the rear. The
Tatraplan's great ride quality was typically Tatra, directional
stability was phenomenal, and wind noise was very low.
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| Tatra 600, with a look at the aircooled power at the back |
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Tatra 602 special body (above)
Tatra travels the world (right)
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A
few other automobiles based on the Tatraplan were also built, notably
the two-seaters T601 Tatraplan Monte Carlo (aluminium bodied) and the
180 km/h
T602 Tatraplan-Sport and a convertible
prepared by the Czech coachbuilder Sodomka. Tatra produced the Tatraplan
until 1951 when the Czech Skoda company took up production of it for
export only.
The world was reminded of the old Tatra T87 when,
beginning in 1947, two Czech writers, Hanzelka and Zikmund, took one on a
gruelling 1290-day journey across the African and South American
continents where using an air-cooled engine is very advantageous.
Nineteen-forty-nine
(1949) was a very notable year. Four Tatraplan's experienced a sweeping
1-2-3-4 victory at that year's Alpine Trials in Austria.
In 1951
serial production of passenger cars by Tatra was interrupted for a few
years. The government instructed the company to concentrate on trucks,
at which they succeeded well, and the occasional big luxury car. During
those years appeared the T607 Monopost (single seater), a mid-engined
racing car powered by a 161 bhp 2.35-litre V8 and capable of 208 km/h.
Later the capacity of its engine was increased to create the 181 bhp
T607-2 which attained a speed of 215 km/h.
The Tatra 603
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Promotional literature for the all new Tatra 603,
these earlier models had a 3 headlight set-up |
The
manufacture of Tatra automobiles was moved from Koprivnice to the
near-by town of Pribor before serial production was re-started in 1957.
The first Tatra automobile to clear the gates at Pribor was the bulbous
T603, fitted with 3 headlights covered by a glass shield. The 160 km/h
T603 was a big 5/6 passenger sedan initially powered by a new 2.5-litre
V8 engine with an output of 94 bhp. At 2750mm, its wheelbase was similar
to the Tatraplan's but its length was quite a bit greater and so there
was a substantial amount of overhang at the ends. A few years after
appearing a T603 received an award for its looks in West Germany.
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The Tatra 605 racer
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The
T605
340 kg 2-seater racing car, enveloped in a 2-piece aerodynamic body,
also came that year. It was propelled by a tiny 0.6-litre 2-cylinder
rear-mounted engine giving a good 54 bhp and a 168 km/h top speed.
After
a production of 5992, the T603 was replaced by the T2-603 in 1964.
Externally it differed from the original only in details, most notable
being the change to a more conventional 4 headlight configuration up
front. Top speed also dropped down to 150 km/h due to a slight engine
capacity decrease. Until its demise in 1975 a good 14450 copies were
made and so total T603 production exceeded 20,000.
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| Tatra 603 (left) |
and the four headlight 603T2 (above) |
1966
yet again demonstrated the excellence of Tatra design. Three (3)
specially prepared T2-603B5s (143 bhp and a top-speed of 195 km/h)
entered the 84 hour Marathon de la Route endurance race against some
formidable competitors. The result was staggering: a 1-2-3 victory in
the 2500cc-and-under class and 3rd and 5th places overall for 2 of them.
Pretty remarkable for a rather massive 4-door sedan.
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Tatra 603x
Source: Wheelspin.com
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