HISTORY
In the 1930's a man called Hans Ledwinka created a car that would never be seen in the Western world, the rear engined, heavily streamlined Tatras almost seemed to pay homage to the Tucker Torpedo which was a car built before it's time. Hitler would attempt to copy one of the first rear engined Tatra's to make the Volkswagen Beetle. VW would be paying for it in the years to come. It is a little known fact that VW had no new models in the 50's and 60's for the very reason that they were paying off a very large law suit made by Tatra. Hitler had boldly said to Ferdinand Porsche, 'Copy the idea and worry about the copyrights later.
Tatra were a maker of large, well built luxury cars which were built almost without regard to cost, an Eastern Bloc Mercedes Benz. They were cars built for those who were in reality a little more than equal.
T603
This amazing beast was one of the last truly streamlined Tatras. It had a rear mounted air cooled 2.5 litre V8, one of the most bizarre installations I have come across. Practical Classics Magazine are currently running a 1967 T603 and the machine has been described as well built. The engine noise is also unique. The V8 sound is there but it also sounds a bit like a Beetle on a course of Steroids, strange and beautifully unique.
As you can see the looks are heavily sculptured and streamlined. The 603 was also unique in the fact that it was never scrapped, instead it would go back to the factory to have a new body fitted!.
The above shows an interior shot of the 603. The car had a petrol fired heater installed under the drivers seat that was operated by a series of levers on the dash, it could explode potentially! The gear linkage was several feet in length and has been described as crap, the handbrake had a beautifully over engineered mechanism under the rear seat which could be adjusted by rear seat passengers whilst on the move, presumably to aid in repair of the car?! The T603 has made numerous appearances in music videos and films due to its uniquely odd and individual appearance.
T613
Now here's where things start to get exciting. A 3.5 litre, quad overhead cam V8, sort of mid mounted (front two cylinder over the rear axle, next set over the rear axle and the final four hanging out the back). Initially there was 165Bhp to play with but this quickly rose as the car was developed. Production ran from 1975 to 1999 and the car could quite happily thrash anything we in the west could produce. Very good sports car like handling and looks that could only be Tatra.
The left hand is a Series 2 613 where as the right hand one is one of the earliest examples of the 613.
The above interior is very well appointed for its time and looks almost western. The cars sporting saloon pretensions are seen by the comprehensive instrumentation.
T613/3
Tatra in the 80's started to pile on the gadgets and equipment and with the fall of the Berlin wall the car was supplied with even more gadgets such as CD players, air con, cruise, leccy seats, fuel injection etc, the previous upping the power to near 200 Bhp!.
As you can see an interior with almost western tastes, note the VHS VCR and small screen colour TV in the back, a true luxury car which was for those who were just a little more than equal.
Above is the exterior of the car we have just seen, looking very sexy with its revised nose, big alloys and body kit. It is a shame that these cars were never seen over here as they could have very easily have blown BMW out of the water with this nicely handling, high powered limousines, well, the 7 series at least.
GEOFF WARDLE
The owner of a British tuning company, Geoff turned the 613 into something that would appeal to western tastes, he fitted emission controls, advanced fuel injection and a whole host of other gadgets to the vehicle. The T613/4 was born. Top Gears Chris Goffey did a test on the vehicle in 1997. He was determined to hate the car, Geoff Wardle and his crew had a great deal of trouble prizing Chris out of the car, he enjoyed it that much. The car was on sale over here for £35,000 and could have easily have done very well, it was better than both the BMW and Mercedes equivalents but just not enough could be produced.
T700 - The most beautiful of the 613 series.
Geoffs final vehicle and Tatras last ever (for now) passenger car was the T700. Based on the T613/4 bodyshell Geoffs team cleverly grafted a new nose, side windows and even better engine mods onto the car. Power was now up to a drastic 230Bhp, this car could get to 60 in 6 seconds and could knock on the door of 150Mph, a serious bit of kit, also stunningly beautiful as the pictures below show.
The final fling has to be the stunning Ecorra Coupe. Based on the T700 this stunning machine was used in motor sport for a short while and only a small number were produced.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Want one? around 14,000 T603's were produced, T613's were less and the T700 is practically unobtainable. Tatra stopped making their luxury passenger vehicles (rather stupidly) as they were beginning to get some serious western interest, you want a V8 Tatra now then you have to buy a truck, something else Tatra produce very well.