My Tatraplan temporarily on display at the Whiteman Park Motor Museum

Thanks to the Covid lockdown BS in 2021, I didn't really get much chance to use any of my classic cars very much. The Tatra in particular had a showing at the Classic Car Show and one or two trips to Classic Cars and Coffee, but most of the year she simply sat under a dust cover in my garage.

After bumping into the manager of the WA Motor Museum at the Rotary Club of Como show, we discussed displaying the Tatra at the museum for a time. Just a little before Christmas I dropped her off.

I popped into the Motor Museum on Sunday 23rd January 2022 to see where she ended up. I must say they have displayed her a very good position, right next to the museum's star attraction, Daniel Ricciardo's F1 car.

The museum staff have given her a very good polish and she really stands out.

So, if you're in Perth and want to see the only Tatra in Western Australia up close and personal, pop in to the museum at Whiteman Park and have a look. The museum has a great collection of classic cars and motorcycles.

The museum is open 10am to 4pm every day of the year. Whiteman Park also has many other attractions, including the Caversham Wildlife Park, the Tractor Museum and tram rides through the park Check the museum website for more details https://www.motormuseumwa.com.au/

More photos from my visit: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2022/02/motor-museum-of-wa-whiteman-park.html

Yes, Tatras do crash

While claims that the Tatra T87 was a dangerously unstable vehicle that killed a swathe of Nazi officers in road accidents is entirely fake, this does not mean that Tatra T87s did not crash. They did, especially when driven recklessly. This story from the Czech Auto World tells the tale of a Tatra T87 driver who took on a passenger train - and lost.

"Visibility from the train was good and the train driver repeatedly gave a warning with the steam whistle. Although the drivers, along with the passengers, saw the vehicle on the road, the train was heavily loaded that it could not stop in time. The speed of the train at the critical moment was 30-35km per hour. The driver of the passenger car however, continued across the track and his vehicle was caught behind the left front and pushed along the tracks by the passenger train, until it was thrown clear of the locomotive, landing some 75 metres from where the train came to a halt.

The car’s 22 year-old driver and a 1 year old child died at the scene. A four year old boy and 40 year old passenger were badly injured and taken to the hospital in Zenfel. The car was completely demolished.

AN."

1947 Tatra T87 English Owners Manual

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Czechoslovakian government nationalized all surviving industrial concerns, including the Ringhoffer-Tatrawerkes AG of Koprivince. The Ringhoffer name was dropped and the company was renamed National Corporation Tatra. Tatra T87 and T57 production had continued throughout the war years and, after the chaos of the immediate postwar period, recommenced in 1946. The budget T57 continued to be sold domestically, but the T87 was earmarked for export.

The luxurious, prestige T87 was soon being showcased at international motor shows across Europe, but the challenging economic situation meant that few of these expensive machines were sold. This led the Tatra team to begin planning for a cheaper replacement vehicle that would retain the desirable prestige of Tatra's rear-engine streamliners of the past, but at a more affordable price-tag. This would be the T600 Tatraplan of 1948.

This 1947 English language T87 owners manual is basically a reprinted translation of the wartime German owners manual and contains the same warning about the car's deceptive speed. There is no warning about rollovers or a snapping rear-end during high speed turns, because that was not the way these cars were driven and there was never any high death toll of German officers driving Tatras,
















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German T87 Owners Manual - https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2021/10/1943-german-tatra-type-87-owners-manual.html