These were the most technically advanced pre-WWII road cars made IMO. You look at a 1935 Tatra and compare it something like a 1935 Austin 7, the Tatra might as well be an alien space ship. Also shout out to Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, they have I think the largest collection of Tatra cars and trucks in the western hemisphere. They rotate cars/change themes every 6 months or so, but the Tatra collection is always front and center at the Lane. Its my favorite display and the one I spend the most time oogling over, just fascinating and beautiful cars.
Don't you just hate it; you invade the neighbor, take it over, steal its stuff, and through incompetence some of your officers die driving stolen items. I love it
A lot of the Tatra design has been copied by VW, unfortunately history didn't help them. I think they sued Porsche but they lost. If history was otherwise they could have been the VW of our days. For such a small region, the Czechs and Slovaks have produced a lot of incredible engineering.
To say a lot of the Tatra design was copied is a stretch. The now famous VW lawsuit by Tatra had three patent infringement claims: position of the transmission, position of the engine relative to the transaxle and finally a ducting design of the air cooled system. The court ruled only the cooling duct being valid claim and so the settlement followed. So it was just one technical element that you can't even see on the car. Not quite the validation of Tatra design being copied that people imagine when they hear about the lawsuit, is it? If history was otherwise, there would still not be a people's car the likes of Beetle coming out of Kopřivnice, because we simply didn't have the manufacturing capacity to churn out millions of them as Hitler dreamed.
VW paid Tatra after many years of legal proceedings. The failure of the Tatraplan to be sold throughout Europe as a luxury version or even direct competition to the beetle, was mostly due to the Czechoslovak government.
@@dr80008 funny thing is that more mechanical parts just interchange between the models. Things that aren't proven, or even mentioned in a court case, can still be true. Especially in civil court. I agree somewhat on the 'not having the capacity to churn out millions', however the theoretical capacity wasn't te problem but the priorities of the centrally controlled economy. Skoda was to manufacture passenger cars, Tatra was to manufacture lorries (very abridged version of the story, but representative of the problem). So while Porsche copied parts of the design and blind capitalism contributed to the success of the VW, communism killed the volks-Tatra.
@@mjouwbuis Germany's economy during the Nazi period was never one of 'blind capitalism' rather than the very strictest of centralised control with continuous interference from Party officials to such an extent that it became stagnated in terms of growth and unsustainable in terms of its capacity for independent function without centralised control before the World War even began. One of the great misnomers of history is that there has been a dedicated post-war revisionist movement to conceal the fact that National Socialism was a socialist ideology as its name itself clearly states as well as that its core membership was the workers. Even Hitler and Stalin stated during WW2 that the conflict between Germany and the USSR was not one of opposing ideologies rather than competing ones.
- The old Czechoslovak joke about how the Tatra 603 got its number in Soviet times: it seated 6 people, 0 in comfort, and it took 3 men to start it by pushing 😂
What a load of BS. Tatra was always thought of as one of the best vehicles around. And most people couldnt ever get one, as all were taken by party members / politicians.
@@kickit59 Definitely! I worked for a Ford dealer in Houston who sold Yugos. Every time we took a buyer for a ride we had to call the tow truck to bring the Yugo in. A month later no more Yugo cars around! lol.
@@RaccoonCityPoliceDept yeah that wagon would never be able to get as much performance to be considered a supercar Keep it as it is Thats the beauty of it
You are killing it with your newer videos. Maybe a year ago I thought you were running out of subjects to make videos about (back in the days where you made compilations of engine types) - definitely not the case now. I really enjoy the historical aspects, especially since you found so much footage
Another point of interest. When Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Third Reich, Hans Ledwinka designed and subsequently constructed Tatra 97 with Tatra. Not long after that, a vw beetle appeared with almost the same design, and you can see unmistakable signs from the Tatras on it. It is said that Porsche stole and modified Ledwink's design. After the war, the car companies even sued each other. So yes, this was disgusting, if you ever drive through the Czech Republic, you can, very rarely, see a vw beetle with the Tatras logo here and there (of course, the owners themselves gave the tot am)
Actually Tatra 97 has been made before the nazi occupation. Tatra tried to sue Wolkswagen before the war because of the resemblance with Beetle. The lawsuit was discontinued after the invasion. There is one myth that one of the main reasons why Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia was because of the fear of not being able to produce Beetle if Germany lost the case. Later, in 1950s, Tatra received 1 000 000 from Wolkswagen and the case was closed for good.
What about the Skoda 932 then. Same beetle concept. Same drive train layout and bodystle. As the name suggests this was developed in 1932, the Beetle went on sale in 1939.
The number of crashed supercars year after year shows that real driving skills are still a necessity to drive a fast car in a fast way without fatal consequences.
Man, I see combo of my country, Tatra and cool stuff, + your channel, thats a simply must watch, not time now tho, i will post once more when im done watching, but anyway, great video!!! 😃😉😊
Nazi Germany: You are now under new management- Tatra: *So anyway, I started wrecking* Thank you Tatra. You were an effective ally in the war effort, yet you didn't even own a firearm! Tatra isn't a single mountain. It's a WHOLE mountain range that makes up the natural border of what is now Poland and Slovakia.
I've used the hand crank to start one of these. I think it was the 603 2.5 vi but was back in early 2000's in UK. I would love to take a look at the high performance model. I just stared at the Tatra when it was in my shop, fascinating to look at. There's a petrol heater under the front seats. Interior is pretty nice and luxurious too. Must have been nice to ride in, in cold weather
I don't know about the 603, but we (my family) have a 613, and the petrol heater is absolute hovno. It's funny driving behind the car when they're using the heater, because you see flashes of flame coming out from underneath the car. But it seems to be normal, because we also have a Citroën 2CV, and it does the same.
I drove old Skoda back in the days....also with swing axle on the rear. Its really cool BUT. You drive thru corner, trying to be fast. It holds, it holds, it holds and BAM and you are cathing your rear if you are lucky or jumping thru corner hoping to survive. And it was on modern tyres, cant imagine how difficult it had to be in this Tatra.
I think that a modern tires were a issue. They are too grippy, you can go with them beyond the limits of the suspension and you dont get a warning, older tires would warn you in advance. But it is just my opinion.
@@t-works3643 yeah, that makes sence....anyway since chassi was ready for towed arms and i got my hands on racing rear towed arms from Skoda 130RS, it was not a problem anymore.
When it comes to Tatras, it really depends on the exact type. I would NOT recommend going fast in 87, because that one had a totally different left and right axle arms. One was mounted on the diff from the upper side and the opposite one from the lower side, giving the car a really weird cornering performance. However when it comes to 603, you may feel safe drifting it on a mountain road. Its long, relatively well balanced and stable.
I've never been in Skoda, but my uncle owned a similarly designed Chevy Corvair which I was a passenger in when I was down Pasadena in 1971 for his grad from Mech Eng at Caltech.
I heard that some of them tatras used by nazis had over hardened crankshaft so the car was working normally when it was new but later on the engine fatally failed on purpose. Pretty cool example of sabotage 😀
The Dutch “forced-workers” during WWII, they’d throw a handful of sand into the DKW engines, which meant it ran at the start of its life, before wearing exponentially, subtle sabotage indeed 😂
My grand grandma was around 16 years old when the war was going on and she was forced to work in a german factory that produced plane engines and such. When I was younger, I was interrested in WW2 and so I asked her about her experience and one of the things she told me was, that others used to throw sand and rocks into the engines to sabotage them. It was pretty risky though, as if they caught you, you would be punished harshly.
A favourite method of sabotage in occupied Europe was to stroll around the steel stockholders with a paintbrush. Different grades of steel were identified by colour-coding the ends of each billet, so if you changed the colour the wrong material would be used to manufacture key parts like crankshafts.
My grandfather in Switzerland owned a Skoda with an aluminum body. This was before the war. Unfortunately it was scrapped for the metal in the 1950s after my grandfather died.
I always liked Tatras and as I grew up in Hungary in the eighties, I still saw some in daily use. Great engineering and very inspiring design, they must have been very desirable compared to the rest of the communist cars. I could only compare them to the Chayka, the Russian limousine.
Interesting video on an interesting vehicle, but the line about more "Nazi" officers dying in Tatras than in combat is WILDLY inaccurate. For example, 136 German Generals were killed in combat. That's just the Generals. Total military casualty estimates vary widely, but most start at a little over 3 million. Considering a good percentage of those would have been officers, and you get the picture. Perhaps there is some missing context here like "of those serving in Czechoslovakia." That aside, cool car and yes, it did have a reputation as a Nazi killer. Jay Leno has one.
@@jasonjamrs7413 Not really. From Germany, 17 million participated and the disproportionate death of several hundred due to their own stupidity is a grain of sand in the desert
Brilliant! Oversteer? Yes indeed. My experience is unique, my father was an engineer. I learned to drive, as a lad, in a 911. I learned very quickly that the 911 had this characteristic, and I learned how to tame it. The answer, put your fear in a box. In a turn, she will oversteer on deceleration. The natural inclination? Hit the brakes and release the throttle. I learned that the throttle is your friend. My father has a unique outlook on life, and this has rubbed off. It has served me well in life, I am 57 today. Folks today worship cars as a status symbol. I learned otherwise, I admire them as machines. In the winter, when people garage their fine cars for a "thrasher" in the winter, I learned the opposite. Adapt. Driving skill is a lost art.
if you are decelerating you are already not on the throttle and/or braking.. that's what caused the oversteerin the first place. if you do not brake or release throttle, a 911 will not oversteer, but UNDERsteer. and THAT is what cause the natural inclination to brake and cause a rather violent snap oversteer
@@starga-fr7qx yes, it's the interplay between over and understeer that make a 911 such fun to drive hard. In a turn, you can steer via the throttle. Release power, she will slide slightly, then apply power when you have made the correction. The wheel remains in a fixed position for the overall curve. It's a joy to do. This characteristic is similar in racing motorcycles. If I let off on the throttle, the motorcycle wants to "stand up" and go wide. This can be deadly in a panic. Learning from a master, he taught me to roll that throttle! I had a close call decades ago, where two BMWs (the four wheel kind) were racing i the opposite direction. One of the m was in my lane. I reverted to training, and thread the needle between them. All with the throttle. Hey, I'm here to tell the tale 30 years later.
Actually liked the look of the T700 (and the T613), particularly the T700 GT Coupe (and T613 Vignale Coupe) even if personally they could have benefited from having a fake front grille. Looking at the various post-war projects developed by Tatra (from the Fiat 850-sized T604 prototype of the mid-1950s up to a stillborn attempt at switching to a front-engine with the 1983-87 T625 project), one can only wonder how Tatra and by extension Skoda would fared had at least part (if not all) of Czechoslovakia been liberated by the Western Allies (say with Jan Masaryk of course surviving assassination, etc) - Either being part of the Western Bloc or like neighbouring Austria being a neutral country at most. The marque deserved better.
The 613 Vignale coupe had a fake grille, actually bearing quite a resemblance to a 1960's Saab 99. Little wonder, as the Saab 92 and Tatra 87 shared a body form as well. Great minds... How cool would it have been to see Tatra, Porsche, and Corvair duke it out with rear engine aircooled sports cars in the 80's? The Corvair deserved a third generation, and Tatra deserved a sports car.
Was thinking of something along the lines of the Skoda 105 to 136 / Rapid yet with a more upmarket twist on the idea. Agreed. Was under the impression however that Tatra had plans to switch from air to water-cooling. GM did explore the idea of a 3rd gen Corvair with prototypes like the XP-849 and XP-892 yet read they were looking at more conventional water-cooled engines to replace the Flat-Six, which makes sense from a cost standpoint and probably something GM should have done at the beginning in retrospect. Something like an earlier Chevrolet 90-degree V6 plus an entry-level Chevrolet 153 4-cylinder, that happen to share a number of components with the SBC V8, with the likes of Buick using the V6 and 215 BOP V8 for their version (maybe during GM's alleged attempt to buy back the Rover V8, BL instead agrees to supply GM in return for the latter funding the increased production capacity required and allowing the usage of an all-alloy version of the recently re-aquired Buick V6). Personally would have loved to have seen a boxer powered rear-engine Japanese equivalent of Porsche, likely starting out with Subaru engines.
This video made me realize that Tatra is actualy czech company, as a Slovak I asumed that it was always slovak company and the realization that is is in fact not left me in deep sorow.
I thought that Tatra was based in what is now Slovakia. In any case, Ferdinand Porsche was not born in Germany, he was born in a town that is now in Czechia. Back then it was called Austria-Hungary. Great video!
I can recommend a visit to the Tatra factory museum. There has been a long standing arguement about the VW Käfer/Beetle design being stolen from Ledwinka by Porsche. They shared an office.... Ledwinka won a court case for plagarism, but because of the turmoil of WW2 it was forgotten and he never received his true compensation!
Errrrrrrr Hold on, here........ You VASTLY understated the 'purely coincidental' degree of 'influence' of the Tatra design on Ferdinand Porsche. I can't think why so many 'parts' of the Beetle design are compared to early Tartas. For examples:- The early Beetles have the split rear screen.......? They didn't NEED to split it..... A simple flat oval would have sufficed and would probably have been cheaper to produce! Now have a look at the Tatra of the time...... it HAD to have a split rear window...... as it had a fin running through it. A coincidence I am sure..... As another one..... have a look at the nose/bonnet of the early Beetle..... and compare it to Tatra 87........ Simply put your thumb or hand over the cockpit, of the 87 leaving the nose/bonnet visible......... Notice anything a little like the Beetle? Coincidence again, for sure! As another point..... early Beetles had a cover over the rear of the car with louvres which effectively covered the rear 'window'. Again, how coincidental that the Tatras used a similar louvred cover on their cars of the time. Notice the flat (mostly) floor of the Beetle, notice the rear engine, notice the Air Cooling, notice the swing axles...... shall I continue....? These were all just coincidences. All these were NOT theft of Copyright by the Nazi-employed Ferdinand Porsche..... they were just..... coincidences.... of course. I mean, Ferdinand wasn't under huge pressure to produce a car for the Nazis in the shortest possible time and stealing a design might have helped him....... but he was SUCH an honourable man that he resisted stealing vast chunks of the basically SUPERB, but dangerous, Tatras of the time..... oh no.... I mean, don't even THINK about looking at photos of the Tatra 570 and comparing it to the early Beetles..... that would be unfair....... In 1927, Tatra became the Ringhoffer-Tatra company..... you may recognise that name later.....Of course, VW (Porsche) were such a nice company that, in 1965, they decided to pay an 'out of court' settlement of a claim of copyright infringement by Ringhoffer family (that name again.....) The sum paid was 1,000,000 DM. Obviously, it wasn't paid because the ENTIRE line of VW and early Porsches were a design STOLEN from Tatra. When you see a Beetle or a Porsche..... just rejoice in the amazing serendipity of amazing coincidences that they have so many similarities to a Tatra of the time...... And all by lucky coincidence..... ! Whatever you do, don't talk about this to VW or Porsche as they seem a LITTLE ..... sensitive ...... on this subject. I can't think why!
Excellent presentation on this fascinating car! My mother was neighbors to Mr. Hanzelka, she has copies of their books autographed. She has told me a few times about those adventurers.
Hey, cool to see my Corvair in this video! I've been a longtime Tatra fan and can't wait to feel out that swing axle handling for myself in TSD rallying. Can't exactly pick up a cheap Tatra to play with. Been watching your channel for years and you do a great job. Cheers. :)
Yes love the Tatras, Tuckers and vairs. A stock 1963 Corvair won the 63 Canadian Winter Rally, that edition was considered one of the toughest courses. Revised suspension tuning ( large front anti sway bar, spring rates and shock absorbers and a Z bar on the back would transform the Tatras handling. Modern tires make a huge difference in the handling too. I would love to have a Tatra in my garage.......
@@kirstenspencer3630 Wow, i just found an old article on the 63 Canadian Winter Rally. More impressive is that they did it with a Powerglide car! I've never heard of a Z-bar before, but it looks very interesting! I guess some Porsche 356 owners made their own camber compensators; perhaps the same could be dreamed up for a Tatra.
@@SealedBeamRallyTeam pt 2: Triumph Spitfires have been fitted with Z bars to prevent rear " tuck under " by the swing axels. At road America road course during the SCCA runoffs a swing axle Triumph sat on the pole. It finished 1 1/2 laps ahead of second place car. Nuff ssid.
The swing axle rear was the real problem, proven when Corvair in 1965 replaced it with the independent rear, thus solving oversteer, but too late for the Corvair's rep., soiled by Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe At Any Speed." Porsche now uses the independent rear as well on the 911, replacing original swing axles.
Who knew, you have found a jewel, I would guess most people don't know about. Very cool car and history. Funny thing is, I was thinking to myself, they copied the VW bug, nope other way around. Thank you sir, for another history lesson. God bless you brother.
The coolest car in the late Clive Cussler’s Car Museum in Denver CO is a copper colored 1948-9 Tatra, possibly a T77. It isn’t always on exhibit since some cars from the museum get switched out annually
Funny Mustache Man: Give us your country Czechoslovakia: No! Chamberlain: Just do it, what's the worst that could happen? Funny Mustache Man: You heard him Czechoslovakia: Fine...but the worst won't happen to me Funny Mustache Man: ...WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? We miss the post-WWII era when Czechoslovakia was socialist and we were comrades...good times, good times
Honestly, I love these Taras. I think they were brilliant and oddly beautiful. Part of the problem is they were ahead of many of the supporting technologies that they used, such as tires as one big example. Too bad they are now so rare!
The 603 came with axle-straps to prevent the wheels to tuck under the car. Never had any oversteer action with mine, although it's an interesting car to say the least!
Thank you . I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation . I knew about Paul Jaray (1:02) but I had no idea about his involvement in designing and building beach-cruiser style , custom bicycles🤭 What a visionary ! Pete 🤓
Great video Samuel ! It is a sense of pride to me that I have been with you since you had less that 300 subscribers ! Keep up the work , we need your videos in these strange times 🌵
Great video, just as I thought, but the way of killing the nazies kinda surprised me 😆. Also, nevím proč jsem byl zas tak překvapenej o tom tématu, když už jsem nedávno zjistil že jsi CZ/SK ale to je jedno 😅🤣. Skvělé video! 😉, amazing one! 😁
One of the problems with the Corvair tire pressures was the near-universal full service offered by American gas stations in the early '60s. As careful as an owner might be, it would only take a moment's distraction to find the Merry Texaco Men have "fixed" your tire pressures to 32 psi all around - ten minutes later and three miles down the road at Dead Man's Curve.
Tatra on of those famous enginering first brands like Citroen, Bugatti etc. etc. They don't say for nothing the motorcar was born in Germany, potty trained in the Austria- Hungarian empire later Czechoslovakia and nursed to adulthood in France.
The NAZIS were really nothing more than pillagers and plunderers,, thieving thier way across europe . They looted most art galleries ,all the banks ,and every corporate entity they could get thier hands ,, including forced labor ,, not to forget the genocide of the jews and the theft of everything they owned , including thier gold teeth and wedding rings ,, fucking despicable . So the theft of intilectual property and design is an organic extension of thier mind set ,,,
I took my Tatra on a spin on the freeway today and you'll never guess what didn't happen? It didn't flip over, or slew around corners and I wasn't killed. In fact I've never been killed by my Tatra in all the years I've driven it. Amazing really, considering all the lies and BS people say about it.
and lets not forget how Porsche made a simplified budget copy of the Tatra 97, originally known as the KdF-Wagen or more commonly known as the VW Beetle, a car that went on to beat the model T Ford as the best selling car of all time on a single platform.
No, the Tatra 77 wasn't the first serial made aerodynamic car in the world. 13 years earlier was the Rumpler Tropfenwagen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Tropfenwagen Quote of the Wikipedia article: "Although the car was very advanced for its time, it sold poorly - about 100 cars were built." OK, the Rumpler Tropfenwagen had only a cw value of 0.28 - at least beating all Porsche 911 Models except of one from 2006 which has also 0.28.
@@vojtechhoracek7704 I think, the Tropenwagen was not made on an assembly line, but it was serial made. If you want to see some, maybe you can watch Metropolis from Fritz Lang. Unfortunately a some Tropenwagen where destroyed in this movie. ua-cam.com/video/qVbpU23ytVQ/v-deo.html There was no Autobahn in 1921. The first German Autobahn was built 1932. There where other problems with the construction of the Tropfenwagen. Rumpler went bankrupt in 1925 and Fritz Lang bought the remaining Tropfenwagen for peanuts and destroyed them for the movie. So there are only 2 remaining Tropfenwagen. One in Berlin (Museum für Verkehr und Technik - Museum of Transport and Technology) and one in Munich (Deutsches Museum - German Museum). I think the English wikipedia is wrong. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_77#Public_response The Tatra 77 is one of a lot of streamlined cars of 1934. The car was released in March 1934 and maybe it's the only one optimized in a wind tunnel. Some of the other streamlined (and semi streamlined) cars of 1934 are en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Airflow en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Traction_Avant en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_100 Maybe the Tatra is the 2nd serial made streamlined car. Maybe the first serial made car optimized in a wind tunnel. I don't know, if the Tropfenwagen was developed in wind tunnel. Very likely not.
@@vojtechhoracek7704 I'm very sorry - bad news for you. The Rumpler Tropfenwagen was optimized in wind tunnel at the Aerodynamics Research Institute in Göttingen and had a drag coefficient of 0,28. This was approved in the 1970s. About 100 untis were built from 1921 to 1925. And the Tatra 77? Some say that the drag coefficient was only 0,36 in 1934. Maybe it was a better value. Maybe better values were only achieved by the 77a. Wikipedia says, that 249 units were built and 4 prototypes in 1933. That means for me, that the Tatra can't be the first serial produced streamlined car. It has to be the Rumpler Tropenwagen or another car produced even earlier. But of course - the Tropfenwagen was forgotten. Most likely the Tatra had more influence in future cars than the Tropfenwagen and of course it was also ahead of its time.
Because of its poor road handling at higher speeds (the front axle became lighter and thus the road contact of the tires reduced sometimes to almost zero) paired with its uneffective drum brakes, the 603 was called 'Dubček's revenge' after the events of the Prague Spring in 1968...
Little chance of that happening without a massive upfront investment and long-term commitment from the backer. Bigger players have failed in that segment. Think about e.g. Maybach, or Daimler. Maybach is only used as a badge for top-spec Mercedes-Benz models, and Daimler is not used as a car brand anymore.
Tatra 603 and Porsche 911 are kinda weird cousins. Porsche 911 is an evolution of Porsche 356, which through VW Beetle is a descendant of Tatra 97. And Tatra 603 is also a descendant of Tatra 97. Tatra and Porsche also competed against each other in the Marathon de la Route, the 72 hour super race, where Tatras dominated especially due to their reliability and low maintenance requirements.
Stop telling BS. First designs on a "Volkswagen" started in 1928, and from that moment on, the layout of a rear-engined vehicle with a rounded body was basically fixed. There is no validate proof that Porsche had ever copied Ledwinka designs, and this fact has been backed by a lawsuit which had decided against claims of Ledwinkas descendants.
@@reynardkitsune1 Stop telling BS. Tatra sued VW and was properly compensated by VW. And you know why? Because its properly documented how F. Porsche and others visited Tatra, took their documentation and stole their design.
Porsche was using swing axles decades later, and winning a lot of races. An inexperienced driver panicking halfway through a corner is a recipe for disaster. I wonder what the blood alcohol level of those dead officers was.
The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. The Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining as a basis for building a sleeker automobile, but the Tatra Was better at getting rid of Nazis and had much better engines hats off to the engineers of 1930's Czechoslovakia so the Tatra was a win win
These were the most technically advanced pre-WWII road cars made IMO. You look at a 1935 Tatra and compare it something like a 1935 Austin 7, the Tatra might as well be an alien space ship. Also shout out to Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, they have I think the largest collection of Tatra cars and trucks in the western hemisphere. They rotate cars/change themes every 6 months or so, but the Tatra collection is always front and center at the Lane. Its my favorite display and the one I spend the most time oogling over, just fascinating and beautiful cars.
You really need to go to Kopřivnice and see the Tatra muzeum and the Tatra truck museum. Well worth the trip for any Tatra enthusiast.
Sad they don’t make this anymore
I’ve had the pleasure of going for a brief ride in a Tatra. It rides like a German car from the late 60’s. Very similar to a 300SEL 6.3
Is technological advancement now a subjective metric?
Don't you just hate it; you invade the neighbor, take it over, steal its stuff, and through incompetence some of your officers die driving stolen items. I love it
If that could only happen with toilets and refrigerators.💣💥
Are we talking about Russia in Ukraine?
@@Markle2k Oh , I'm pretty sure that it does !🤣
Keyword incompetence...And You love it, PSSSH
@@sheldondrake8935 watch the video (spoiler: no)
A lot of the Tatra design has been copied by VW, unfortunately history didn't help them. I think they sued Porsche but they lost. If history was otherwise they could have been the VW of our days. For such a small region, the Czechs and Slovaks have produced a lot of incredible engineering.
The case was solved outside the court by a 3 million DM payment by VW to Tatra.
To say a lot of the Tatra design was copied is a stretch. The now famous VW lawsuit by Tatra had three patent infringement claims: position of the transmission, position of the engine relative to the transaxle and finally a ducting design of the air cooled system. The court ruled only the cooling duct being valid claim and so the settlement followed.
So it was just one technical element that you can't even see on the car. Not quite the validation of Tatra design being copied that people imagine when they hear about the lawsuit, is it?
If history was otherwise, there would still not be a people's car the likes of Beetle coming out of Kopřivnice, because we simply didn't have the manufacturing capacity to churn out millions of them as Hitler dreamed.
VW paid Tatra after many years of legal proceedings. The failure of the Tatraplan to be sold throughout Europe as a luxury version or even direct competition to the beetle, was mostly due to the Czechoslovak government.
@@dr80008 funny thing is that more mechanical parts just interchange between the models. Things that aren't proven, or even mentioned in a court case, can still be true. Especially in civil court. I agree somewhat on the 'not having the capacity to churn out millions', however the theoretical capacity wasn't te problem but the priorities of the centrally controlled economy. Skoda was to manufacture passenger cars, Tatra was to manufacture lorries (very abridged version of the story, but representative of the problem). So while Porsche copied parts of the design and blind capitalism contributed to the success of the VW, communism killed the volks-Tatra.
@@mjouwbuis Germany's economy during the Nazi period was never one of 'blind capitalism' rather than the very strictest of centralised control with continuous interference from Party officials to such an extent that it became stagnated in terms of growth and unsustainable in terms of its capacity for independent function without centralised control before the World War even began. One of the great misnomers of history is that there has been a dedicated post-war revisionist movement to conceal the fact that National Socialism was a socialist ideology as its name itself clearly states as well as that its core membership was the workers. Even Hitler and Stalin stated during WW2 that the conflict between Germany and the USSR was not one of opposing ideologies rather than competing ones.
- The old Czechoslovak joke about how the Tatra 603 got its number in Soviet times: it seated 6 people, 0 in comfort, and it took 3 men to start it by pushing 😂
I've heard a similar joke, but it's about the Trabant 601 by East Germany.
So the Tatra, Trabant & Yugo will go down in history as arguably some of the worst cars ever produced!
What a load of BS. Tatra was always thought of as one of the best vehicles around. And most people couldnt ever get one, as all were taken by party members / politicians.
@@kickit59 Definitely! I worked for a Ford dealer in Houston who sold Yugos. Every time we took a buyer for a ride we had to call the tow truck to bring the Yugo in. A month later no more Yugo cars around! lol.
@@lukasmacht5858 Seděl si někdy v Trabantu? 😎
lets add twin turbo, brembo brakes and ohlins suspension and turn it into a supercar!
you need more than that
Turn it into a ruined vintage you mean.
@@RaccoonCityPoliceDept yeah that wagon would never be able to get as much performance to be considered a supercar
Keep it as it is
Thats the beauty of it
We need to go way farther back. Let's do this but to an original Benz Patent-Motorwagen
LS swap
You are killing it with your newer videos. Maybe a year ago I thought you were running out of subjects to make videos about (back in the days where you made compilations of engine types) - definitely not the case now.
I really enjoy the historical aspects, especially since you found so much footage
I wish he did more JDM stuff, those videos are more interestings
@@proxigenated very subjective
@@martinfisker7438 was thinking it, you said it. 👍
I highly agree on that. Good work!
Another point of interest.
When Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Third Reich, Hans Ledwinka designed and subsequently constructed Tatra 97 with Tatra.
Not long after that, a vw beetle appeared with almost the same design, and you can see unmistakable signs from the Tatras on it. It is said that Porsche stole and modified Ledwink's design.
After the war, the car companies even sued each other.
So yes, this was disgusting, if you ever drive through the Czech Republic, you can, very rarely, see a vw beetle with the Tatras logo here and there (of course, the owners themselves gave the tot am)
Actually Tatra 97 has been made before the nazi occupation. Tatra tried to sue Wolkswagen before the war because of the resemblance with Beetle. The lawsuit was discontinued after the invasion. There is one myth that one of the main reasons why Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia was because of the fear of not being able to produce Beetle if Germany lost the case. Later, in 1950s, Tatra received 1 000 000 from Wolkswagen and the case was closed for good.
@@TADAMAT-CZ Tatra won, but... where is VW right now, and where is Tatra.
What about the Skoda 932 then. Same beetle concept. Same drive train layout and bodystle. As the name suggests this was developed in 1932, the Beetle went on sale in 1939.
wow didnt know Tatra was the unsung father cat of the reliable VW beetle!! Tatra deserves to be revived today by VW !!
@@fidelcatsro6948 good luck with that fever dream
The number of crashed supercars year after year shows that real driving skills are still a necessity to drive a fast car in a fast way without fatal consequences.
Man, I see combo of my country, Tatra and cool stuff, + your channel, thats a simply must watch, not time now tho, i will post once more when im done watching, but anyway, great video!!! 😃😉😊
Many thanks for your work! These archives are priceless, and your comments help a lot
Nazi Germany: You are now under new management-
Tatra: *So anyway, I started wrecking*
Thank you Tatra. You were an effective ally in the war effort, yet you didn't even own a firearm! Tatra isn't a single mountain. It's a WHOLE mountain range that makes up the natural border of what is now Poland and Slovakia.
Great vid.
And great piece of art: yep, the one hanging on the garage wall at 4:08 :D
I've used the hand crank to start one of these. I think it was the 603 2.5 vi but was back in early 2000's in UK. I would love to take a look at the high performance model. I just stared at the Tatra when it was in my shop, fascinating to look at. There's a petrol heater under the front seats. Interior is pretty nice and luxurious too. Must have been nice to ride in, in cold weather
Early Corvairs had a gasoline heater. Worhed very well.
I don't know about the 603, but we (my family) have a 613, and the petrol heater is absolute hovno. It's funny driving behind the car when they're using the heater, because you see flashes of flame coming out from underneath the car. But it seems to be normal, because we also have a Citroën 2CV, and it does the same.
I drove old Skoda back in the days....also with swing axle on the rear. Its really cool BUT. You drive thru corner, trying to be fast. It holds, it holds, it holds and BAM and you are cathing your rear if you are lucky or jumping thru corner hoping to survive. And it was on modern tyres, cant imagine how difficult it had to be in this Tatra.
I think that a modern tires were a issue. They are too grippy, you can go with them beyond the limits of the suspension and you dont get a warning, older tires would warn you in advance. But it is just my opinion.
@@t-works3643 yeah, that makes sence....anyway since chassi was ready for towed arms and i got my hands on racing rear towed arms from Skoda 130RS, it was not a problem anymore.
When it comes to Tatras, it really depends on the exact type. I would NOT recommend going fast in 87, because that one had a totally different left and right axle arms. One was mounted on the diff from the upper side and the opposite one from the lower side, giving the car a really weird cornering performance. However when it comes to 603, you may feel safe drifting it on a mountain road. Its long, relatively well balanced and stable.
I've never been in Skoda, but my uncle owned a similarly designed Chevy Corvair which I was a passenger in when I was down Pasadena in 1971 for his grad from Mech Eng at Caltech.
I heard that some of them tatras used by nazis had over hardened crankshaft so the car was working normally when it was new but later on the engine fatally failed on purpose. Pretty cool example of sabotage 😀
The Dutch “forced-workers” during WWII, they’d throw a handful of sand into the DKW engines, which meant it ran at the start of its life, before wearing exponentially, subtle sabotage indeed 😂
My grand grandma was around 16 years old when the war was going on and she was forced to work in a german factory that produced plane engines and such. When I was younger, I was interrested in WW2 and so I asked her about her experience and one of the things she told me was, that others used to throw sand and rocks into the engines to sabotage them. It was pretty risky though, as if they caught you, you would be punished harshly.
@@karelpgbr and czech workers put sand into the tank bearings
A favourite method of sabotage in occupied Europe was to stroll around the steel stockholders with a paintbrush. Different grades of steel were identified by colour-coding the ends of each billet, so if you changed the colour the wrong material would be used to manufacture key parts like crankshafts.
Citroen changed the dipstick markings on the trucks they were forced to build for the Nazis, so they were always a few quarts low.
My grandfather in Switzerland owned a Skoda with an aluminum body. This was before the war. Unfortunately it was scrapped for the metal in the 1950s after my grandfather died.
any car from 50's in a decent condition would be priceless now ...
@@doposud My grandfather's car was from the 30s.
I always liked Tatras and as I grew up in Hungary in the eighties, I still saw some in daily use. Great engineering and very inspiring design, they must have been very desirable compared to the rest of the communist cars. I could only compare them to the Chayka, the Russian limousine.
Interesting video on an interesting vehicle, but the line about more "Nazi" officers dying in Tatras than in combat is WILDLY inaccurate. For example, 136 German Generals were killed in combat. That's just the Generals. Total military casualty estimates vary widely, but most start at a little over 3 million. Considering a good percentage of those would have been officers, and you get the picture. Perhaps there is some missing context here like "of those serving in Czechoslovakia."
That aside, cool car and yes, it did have a reputation as a Nazi killer. Jay Leno has one.
I was thinking the very same thing! it's probably more died in this type of car on leave then any another car during the war
Every little bit helps
@@jasonjamrs7413 Not really. From Germany, 17 million participated and the disproportionate death of several hundred due to their own stupidity is a grain of sand in the desert
4:09 The painting of the woman with her legs spread topless on the wall! Hahahaha nice one Hans!
Brilliant! Oversteer? Yes indeed. My experience is unique, my father was an engineer. I learned to drive, as a lad, in a 911.
I learned very quickly that the 911 had this characteristic, and I learned how to tame it. The answer, put your fear in a box. In a turn, she will oversteer on deceleration. The natural inclination? Hit the brakes and release the throttle. I learned that the throttle is your friend.
My father has a unique outlook on life, and this has rubbed off. It has served me well in life, I am 57 today.
Folks today worship cars as a status symbol. I learned otherwise, I admire them as machines. In the winter, when people garage their fine cars for a "thrasher" in the winter, I learned the opposite. Adapt.
Driving skill is a lost art.
if you are decelerating you are already not on the throttle and/or braking.. that's what caused the oversteerin the first place.
if you do not brake or release throttle, a 911 will not oversteer, but UNDERsteer. and THAT is what cause the natural inclination to brake and cause a rather violent snap oversteer
@@starga-fr7qx yes, it's the interplay between over and understeer that make a 911 such fun to drive hard. In a turn, you can steer via the throttle. Release power, she will slide slightly, then apply power when you have made the correction.
The wheel remains in a fixed position for the overall curve. It's a joy to do.
This characteristic is similar in racing motorcycles. If I let off on the throttle, the motorcycle wants to "stand up" and go wide. This can be deadly in a panic. Learning from a master, he taught me to roll that throttle! I had a close call decades ago, where two BMWs (the four wheel kind) were racing i the opposite direction.
One of the m was in my lane. I reverted to training, and thread the needle between them. All with the throttle. Hey, I'm here to tell the tale 30 years later.
Great video. I fell in love with Tatra cars the first time I visited Czech Republic more than 20 years ago. Your archival footage was awesome.
04:08 that painting on the wall just great stuff.
A Tetra, and a bottle of champagn....And the autobon....WOW
Actually liked the look of the T700 (and the T613), particularly the T700 GT Coupe (and T613 Vignale Coupe) even if personally they could have benefited from having a fake front grille.
Looking at the various post-war projects developed by Tatra (from the Fiat 850-sized T604 prototype of the mid-1950s up to a stillborn attempt at switching to a front-engine with the 1983-87 T625 project), one can only wonder how Tatra and by extension Skoda would fared had at least part (if not all) of Czechoslovakia been liberated by the Western Allies (say with Jan Masaryk of course surviving assassination, etc) - Either being part of the Western Bloc or like neighbouring Austria being a neutral country at most. The marque deserved better.
The 613 Vignale coupe had a fake grille, actually bearing quite a resemblance to a 1960's Saab 99. Little wonder, as the Saab 92 and Tatra 87 shared a body form as well. Great minds...
How cool would it have been to see Tatra, Porsche, and Corvair duke it out with rear engine aircooled sports cars in the 80's? The Corvair deserved a third generation, and Tatra deserved a sports car.
Was thinking of something along the lines of the Skoda 105 to 136 / Rapid yet with a more upmarket twist on the idea.
Agreed. Was under the impression however that Tatra had plans to switch from air to water-cooling.
GM did explore the idea of a 3rd gen Corvair with prototypes like the XP-849 and XP-892 yet read they were looking at more conventional water-cooled engines to replace the Flat-Six, which makes sense from a cost standpoint and probably something GM should have done at the beginning in retrospect. Something like an earlier Chevrolet 90-degree V6 plus an entry-level Chevrolet 153 4-cylinder, that happen to share a number of components with the SBC V8, with the likes of Buick using the V6 and 215 BOP V8 for their version (maybe during GM's alleged attempt to buy back the Rover V8, BL instead agrees to supply GM in return for the latter funding the increased production capacity required and allowing the usage of an all-alloy version of the recently re-aquired Buick V6).
Personally would have loved to have seen a boxer powered rear-engine Japanese equivalent of Porsche, likely starting out with Subaru engines.
Skoda is now part of the VW Group!
This video made me realize that Tatra is actualy czech company, as a Slovak I asumed that it was always slovak company and the realization that is is in fact not left me in deep sorow.
I thought that Tatra was based in what is now Slovakia.
In any case, Ferdinand Porsche was not born in Germany, he was born in a town that is now in Czechia. Back then it was called Austria-Hungary.
Great video!
The city is named Kopřivnice and is located in East Czechia
@@VisioRacer Kopřivnice to be precise
@@TonCZArch Mistype, thanks
@@TonCZArch Born in Vratislavice today part of the city of Liberec in the Czech Republic
Yea the czechs own škoda tatra and slovacks go nouthing whem we split up
I can recommend a visit to the Tatra factory museum.
There has been a long standing arguement about the VW Käfer/Beetle design being stolen from Ledwinka by Porsche. They shared an office....
Ledwinka won a court case for plagarism, but because of the turmoil of WW2 it was forgotten and he never received his true compensation!
Errrrrrrr Hold on, here........ You VASTLY understated the 'purely coincidental' degree of 'influence' of the Tatra design on Ferdinand Porsche. I can't think why so many 'parts' of the Beetle design are compared to early Tartas. For examples:-
The early Beetles have the split rear screen.......? They didn't NEED to split it..... A simple flat oval would have sufficed and would probably have been cheaper to produce! Now have a look at the Tatra of the time...... it HAD to have a split rear window...... as it had a fin running through it. A coincidence I am sure.....
As another one..... have a look at the nose/bonnet of the early Beetle..... and compare it to Tatra 87........ Simply put your thumb or hand over the cockpit, of the 87 leaving the nose/bonnet visible......... Notice anything a little like the Beetle? Coincidence again, for sure!
As another point..... early Beetles had a cover over the rear of the car with louvres which effectively covered the rear 'window'. Again, how coincidental that the Tatras used a similar louvred cover on their cars of the time.
Notice the flat (mostly) floor of the Beetle, notice the rear engine, notice the Air Cooling, notice the swing axles...... shall I continue....? These were all just coincidences.
All these were NOT theft of Copyright by the Nazi-employed Ferdinand Porsche..... they were just..... coincidences.... of course. I mean, Ferdinand wasn't under huge pressure to produce a car for the Nazis in the shortest possible time and stealing a design might have helped him....... but he was SUCH an honourable man that he resisted stealing vast chunks of the basically SUPERB, but dangerous, Tatras of the time..... oh no.... I mean, don't even THINK about looking at photos of the Tatra 570 and comparing it to the early Beetles..... that would be unfair.......
In 1927, Tatra became the Ringhoffer-Tatra company..... you may recognise that name later.....Of course, VW (Porsche) were such a nice company that, in 1965, they decided to pay an 'out of court' settlement of a claim of copyright infringement by Ringhoffer family (that name again.....) The sum paid was 1,000,000 DM. Obviously, it wasn't paid because the ENTIRE line of VW and early Porsches were a design STOLEN from Tatra. When you see a Beetle or a Porsche..... just rejoice in the amazing serendipity of amazing coincidences that they have so many similarities to a Tatra of the time...... And all by lucky coincidence..... !
Whatever you do, don't talk about this to VW or Porsche as they seem a LITTLE ..... sensitive ...... on this subject. I can't think why!
You actually nailed most of these pronunciations, great job!
Excellent presentation on this fascinating car!
My mother was neighbors to Mr. Hanzelka, she has copies of their books autographed. She has told me a few times about those adventurers.
Never was "oh no! Anyway...." more appropriate.
Hey, cool to see my Corvair in this video! I've been a longtime Tatra fan and can't wait to feel out that swing axle handling for myself in TSD rallying. Can't exactly pick up a cheap Tatra to play with. Been watching your channel for years and you do a great job. Cheers. :)
I’ve always been a Corvair fan. They’re a beautifully designed car and quite ahead of its time compared to other GM cars of the time
Yes love the Tatras, Tuckers and vairs. A stock 1963 Corvair won the 63 Canadian Winter Rally, that edition was considered one of the toughest courses. Revised suspension tuning ( large front anti sway bar, spring rates and shock absorbers and a Z bar on the back would transform the Tatras handling. Modern tires make a huge difference in the handling too. I would love to have a Tatra in my garage.......
@@kirstenspencer3630 Wow, i just found an old article on the 63 Canadian Winter Rally. More impressive is that they did it with a Powerglide car! I've never heard of a Z-bar before, but it looks very interesting! I guess some Porsche 356 owners made their own camber compensators; perhaps the same could be dreamed up for a Tatra.
@@SealedBeamRallyTeam , the Triumph Spitfires used swing axels. When properly
@@SealedBeamRallyTeam pt 2: Triumph Spitfires have been fitted with Z bars to prevent rear " tuck under " by the swing axels. At road America road course during the SCCA runoffs a swing axle Triumph sat on the pole. It finished 1 1/2 laps ahead of second place car. Nuff ssid.
The swing axle rear was the real problem, proven when Corvair in 1965 replaced it with the
independent rear, thus solving oversteer, but too late for the Corvair's rep., soiled by
Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe At Any Speed."
Porsche now uses the independent rear as well on the 911, replacing original swing axles.
Who knew, you have found a jewel, I would guess most people don't know about. Very cool car and history. Funny thing is, I was thinking to myself, they copied the VW bug, nope other way around. Thank you sir, for another history lesson. God bless you brother.
we knew😉🇨🇿
6:10 rip Miroslav Zikmund, he died in december 2021 at nearly 103 years old, you ll be missted
Perhaps the origin of the phrase; 'Driving it like you stole it!'?
This is a remarkable story. I've never heard a word of this until now. Such great history.
The coolest car in the late Clive Cussler’s Car Museum in Denver CO is a copper colored 1948-9 Tatra, possibly a T77. It isn’t always on exhibit since some cars from the museum get switched out annually
The voice feels much more natural at 1.5x speed, or it maybe I'm used to hearing at higher playback speeds.
Congrats on 500k!! Engine deep dives are my favorite.
Well done as always!
Funny Mustache Man: Give us your country
Czechoslovakia: No!
Chamberlain: Just do it, what's the worst that could happen?
Funny Mustache Man: You heard him
Czechoslovakia: Fine...but the worst won't happen to me
Funny Mustache Man: ...WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?
We miss the post-WWII era when Czechoslovakia was socialist and we were comrades...good times, good times
Honestly, I love these Taras. I think they were brilliant and oddly beautiful. Part of the problem is they were ahead of many of the supporting technologies that they used, such as tires as one big example. Too bad they are now so rare!
We thank you for mentioning the name of Egypt, as well as our King Farouk I, King of Egypt, Sudan and the great Nile Basin
Hi VisioRacer, thank you for bring to us the history of this great Secret Weapon against that monsters. See ya. Cheers!
jet another great video. loved the exhaust explain at the end.
Awesome! This video was a good reminder that Czechs are good auto makers with a century old experience behind them.
This car brand deserve a metal of honor award!.
The 603 came with axle-straps to prevent the wheels to tuck under the car. Never had any oversteer action with mine, although it's an interesting car to say the least!
That car gets better fuel economy than my WRX, and it's a 2l turbo, that's wild honestly.
Tatra: you ripped us off!
Hitler: *_*invades Czechoslovakia*_*
Just love these Tatras, would like to have one by myself. Great video 👍
Thank you for including some standard units where they count. :)
What an amazing car! I had no idea it existed.
Thank you . I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation . I knew about Paul Jaray (1:02) but I had no idea about his involvement in designing and building beach-cruiser style , custom bicycles🤭 What a visionary ! Pete 🤓
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow, I've been watching your videos for years, and I have to give you some credit, your English is so good now!
Thanks, Jey!
The engine sound of 603R, what a beast ❤
Old Tatras were just breath takingly beautiful
Great video Samuel ! It is a sense of pride to me that I have been with you since you had less that 300 subscribers ! Keep up the work , we need your videos in these strange times 🌵
Thank you for sharing with us this awesome history!! Never new about it
Never heard of this car, thanks for sharing!
Gotta love both IRONY + KARMA!
I love this video. Glad you are around
OMG the sound of the Tatra racing at the end of the video, mwah! Priceless.
Great video, just as I thought, but the way of killing the nazies kinda surprised me 😆. Also, nevím proč jsem byl zas tak překvapenej o tom tématu, když už jsem nedávno zjistil že jsi CZ/SK ale to je jedno 😅🤣. Skvělé video! 😉, amazing one! 😁
Vďaka! 👌🏻
If you ever hear one of these at a car show you will swear it is a small block Chevy, they sound good!
Wow the Tatra 87 really was one of our best allies during the war
One of the problems with the Corvair tire pressures was the near-universal full service offered by American gas stations in the early '60s. As careful as an owner might be, it would only take a moment's distraction to find the Merry Texaco Men have "fixed" your tire pressures to 32 psi all around - ten minutes later and three miles down the road at Dead Man's Curve.
Thank you! Really enjoyed this video 😊👌
Very unusual cars.
It's like Citroën...you either love the fancy design or hate it.
I would like to drive one of these old V8 Tatras. :)
Think this is my favorite bazaar video you've done!!!
Tatra on of those famous enginering first brands like Citroen, Bugatti etc. etc.
They don't say for nothing the motorcar was born in Germany, potty trained in the Austria- Hungarian empire later Czechoslovakia and nursed to adulthood in France.
Thank you for your service Tatra
The NAZIS were really nothing more than pillagers and plunderers,, thieving thier way across europe . They looted most art galleries ,all the banks ,and every corporate entity they could get thier hands ,, including forced labor ,, not to forget the genocide of the jews and the theft of everything they owned , including thier gold teeth and wedding rings ,, fucking despicable . So the theft of intilectual property and design is an organic extension of thier mind set ,,,
04:09 That wall bro 💀
If you are not Czech or Slovak then massive shoutout to you for nailing the pronounciation of the Czech names 👌
A Slovak here 😜
@@VisioRacer aha nevadí tak potom dobrá angličtina 😉😊
@@eklhaft4531 Ďakujem ☺️
I took my Tatra on a spin on the freeway today and you'll never guess what didn't happen? It didn't flip over, or slew around corners and I wasn't killed. In fact I've never been killed by my Tatra in all the years I've driven it. Amazing really, considering all the lies and BS people say about it.
and lets not forget how Porsche made a simplified budget copy of the Tatra 97, originally known as the KdF-Wagen or more commonly known as the VW Beetle, a car that went on to beat the model T Ford as the best selling car of all time on a single platform.
No, the Tatra 77 wasn't the first serial made aerodynamic car in the world. 13 years earlier was the Rumpler Tropfenwagen.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Tropfenwagen
Quote of the Wikipedia article: "Although the car was very advanced for its time, it sold poorly - about 100 cars were built."
OK, the Rumpler Tropfenwagen had only a cw value of 0.28 - at least beating all Porsche 911 Models except of one from 2006 which has also 0.28.
Not serial-made, but successfully mass-produced, rather. The Tropfenwagen was revolutionary, but not successful by any measure.
@@vojtechhoracek7704 I think, the Tropenwagen was not made on an assembly line, but it was serial made. If you want to see some, maybe you can watch Metropolis from Fritz Lang. Unfortunately a some Tropenwagen where destroyed in this movie.
ua-cam.com/video/qVbpU23ytVQ/v-deo.html
There was no Autobahn in 1921. The first German Autobahn was built 1932. There where other problems with the construction of the Tropfenwagen. Rumpler went bankrupt in 1925 and Fritz Lang bought the remaining Tropfenwagen for peanuts and destroyed them for the movie.
So there are only 2 remaining Tropfenwagen. One in Berlin (Museum für Verkehr und Technik - Museum of Transport and Technology) and one in Munich (Deutsches Museum - German Museum).
I think the English wikipedia is wrong.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_77#Public_response
The Tatra 77 is one of a lot of streamlined cars of 1934. The car was released in March 1934 and maybe it's the only one optimized in a wind tunnel. Some of the other streamlined (and semi streamlined) cars of 1934 are
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Airflow
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Traction_Avant
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr_100
Maybe the Tatra is the 2nd serial made streamlined car. Maybe the first serial made car optimized in a wind tunnel. I don't know, if the Tropfenwagen was developed in wind tunnel. Very likely not.
@@vojtechhoracek7704 I'm very sorry - bad news for you.
The Rumpler Tropfenwagen was optimized in wind tunnel at the Aerodynamics Research Institute in Göttingen and had a drag coefficient of 0,28. This was approved in the 1970s. About 100 untis were built from 1921 to 1925.
And the Tatra 77? Some say that the drag coefficient was only 0,36 in 1934. Maybe it was a better value. Maybe better values were only achieved by the 77a. Wikipedia says, that 249 units were built and 4 prototypes in 1933. That means for me, that the Tatra can't be the first serial produced streamlined car. It has to be the Rumpler Tropenwagen or another car produced even earlier.
But of course - the Tropfenwagen was forgotten. Most likely the Tatra had more influence in future cars than the Tropfenwagen and of course it was also ahead of its time.
That clip at the end sounded like that V-8 has a 90 degree crank. Typical in the US, but uncommon in Europe. It sounds awesome to me!
4:08
bahaha the lady on the wall!
weird, one of the car really looked like the French "2 chevaux ".
Because of its poor road handling at higher speeds (the front axle became lighter and thus the road contact of the tires reduced sometimes to almost zero) paired with its uneffective drum brakes, the 603 was called 'Dubček's revenge' after the events of the Prague Spring in 1968...
I've seen pictures of this car and wondered what it was. This was a cool video about a cool car.
Nice video!
+one like from česká republika
I saw two Tatras in the 50s. both were gray; didn't have nice colors like those in this video!
I can relate to the tire pressure difference. I have a 1972 911S. I liked 30 in the front and at least 45 rear. Weight bias and all ya know.
Really makes such a difference? Never had that pleasure to drive a rear-engined car and feel the difference of tire pressure in this layout.
Now everyone thinks they’re Mario Andretti because the computer in their car lets them think so….
They should revive the Tatra brand in the premium market.
Little chance of that happening without a massive upfront investment and long-term commitment from the backer. Bigger players have failed in that segment. Think about e.g. Maybach, or Daimler. Maybach is only used as a badge for top-spec Mercedes-Benz models, and Daimler is not used as a car brand anymore.
Its still amazes me that this car was air cooled
Tatra 603 and Porsche 911 are kinda weird cousins. Porsche 911 is an evolution of Porsche 356, which through VW Beetle is a descendant of Tatra 97. And Tatra 603 is also a descendant of Tatra 97.
Tatra and Porsche also competed against each other in the Marathon de la Route, the 72 hour super race, where Tatras dominated especially due to their reliability and low maintenance requirements.
Stop telling BS. First designs on a "Volkswagen" started in 1928, and from that moment on, the layout of a rear-engined vehicle with a rounded body was basically fixed. There is no validate proof that Porsche had ever copied Ledwinka designs, and this fact has been backed by a lawsuit which had decided against claims of Ledwinkas descendants.
@@reynardkitsune1 Stop telling BS. Tatra sued VW and was properly compensated by VW. And you know why? Because its properly documented how F. Porsche and others visited Tatra, took their documentation and stole their design.
@@pavelslama5543 You can sure provide a link to the file and other references.
I needed to hear more of that engine at song... beautiful sound
Porsche was using swing axles decades later, and winning a lot of races. An inexperienced driver panicking halfway through a corner is a recipe for disaster. I wonder what the blood alcohol level of those dead officers was.
I am from czech and damn do we love our tatras
One interestig fact is that one could send his tatra into the factory for factory rebuild.
Holy Sh*t! This 1935 Tatra, predated 007, by 40 years! It looks like subliminal elongated Volksvagen Beatle on der Shcteroids, yes?
I’m surprised I’ve never heard of Tatra before, but then again I am an American peasant.
It's probably most well known these days for its trucks, many of which are on American roads.
100 years later American companies can’t build a decent reliable car…or maybe just don’t want to… who knows
Simply fantastic, automotive knowledge gold mine
The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. The Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining as a basis for building a sleeker automobile, but the Tatra Was better at getting rid of Nazis and had much better engines hats off to the engineers of 1930's Czechoslovakia so the Tatra was a win win