The car that stood up to Germany - The West Australian

The Tatraplan was for decades one of the world's most streamlined cars.

It is one of the automotive industry’s most fascinating stories — of the birth of the truck, of engineering excellence snatched from success by a war, accusations of corporate espionage against Porsche, car production hidden by the veil of communism and postwar reprieve as one of the world’s best truck makers.

Porsche has claimed — and been awarded — credits for the technology that created the first Volkswagen Beetle and went on to spawn 70-plus years of sports-car production under its own name.

Distinctive tear-drop shape of the Tatra.

But there had always been a shadow and this car here, from the Tatra family of cars that designed and built the Porsche- Volkswagen principles — air-cooled, rear-mounted, horizontally opposed engine, tubular chassis spine, torsion bar suspension and teardrop body shape — years before, shows why the now almost unknown Czechoslovak car maker was in line to be paid substantial royalties by the Germans.

There was just one snag. Tatra took on Porsche alleging patent infringements — specifically the air-cooled, rear mounted engine — in 1938, two years after Tatra launched its Beetle look-alike 97 model, and could have collected a small fortune but the legal action dissolved when nazi Germany invaded and annexed Czechoslovakia in March 1939.

History may debate the legal action as it was proved that the Porsche development was quite separate to that of Tatra and the case could have been considered lightweight given air cooling and rear-mounted engines were also used by other companies.

But the previous owners of Tatra, the German Ringhoffer family, persisted and Volkswagen in 1961 paid the family one-million Deutschmarks (equivalent today of $3.4 million) under a confidential agreement. The money never went to benefit Tatra or the communist rulers of Czechoslovakia who had taken control of the country in 1948.

Innovation came to a dead end with the country’s political change, with Tatra maintaining its profitable truck-making business — it is credited as making the world’s first truck in 1899 — while also making limited numbers of big, luxurious passenger cars for government leaders and VIPs. These cars were based on technology from the 1930s, cleverly adapted to meet the needs of postwar communist countries.

Tatra continued making the air-cooled cars — since before the war predominantly with V8 engines — and moved to the budget four-cylinder market in 1948 with the car featured here, the Tatra Tatraplan 600.

This example is from 1952, made in the Skoda factory and the last year of the model before the company reverted to a V8 engine for the 603 model built from 1956.

Data from the era show 6342 examples of the Tatraplan were built but the owner of this car said because the cars were effectively government fleet vehicles, the factory often brought them back for refurbishment and upgrading, then listing it as a new car. One car could have been relisted three times.

This car is ostensibly a Volkswagen Beetle in layout and design, differing in its bigger dimensions but still with its rear engine at the back and the distinctive air-cooled engine noise on starting it up.

It adhered to designer Paul Jaray’s aeroplane principles on aerodynamics and for decades was one of the world’s most streamlined cars. Even today its 0.32 drag coefficient is better than some modern sedans.

There's high-quality fabric seats with leather trim

There is seating for six adults in its roomy teardrop cabin with high-quality fabric seats and leather trim, with easy access through the front coach doors. The generous leg room and headroom targeted occupants who were usually wearing heavy clothing to combat the Eastern European weather.

Less regard was given to luggage space which was behind the rear seat, reached by folding down the seat’s backrest. Similarly, there’s no glove box or any storage for smaller items.

Don’t presume the front boot compartment will hold your luggage because it’s full of two spare wheels — a requirement in the era of poor roads and isolated geography — and brake fluid containers and the battery.

The rear-mounted, air-cooled engine.

The unusual teardrop tail forms the intake for the air-cooled engine and has the outer panes of rear glass divided by a stabilizing dorsal fin. Lift the bonnet and the engine is exposed but the cabin remains divided by a second window, keeping any icy air from reaching the occupants.

On the road the engine is very torque-y but not especially responsive. It is clearly made with the accent on durability and one by-product is a reluctance to reach high revs.

It also has a gearbox that displayed some stubbornness. The owner said the gearbox had been rebuilt using parts from three other transmissions he’d sourced from around the world and, sadly, it’s not perfect.

Originally the four-speed gearbox had a column shift but like many other examples still on roads outside of Australia, it was an easy and less complicated move to change to a floor shift design.

Ride comfort is very good and the ability to hold a line is also above par for the car’s 1950s peers. The steering is firm but positive — it defies the trends of the era by being rack and pinion — to instill confidence while the weak brakes then erode some of that faith.

It is certainly a car that shows promise on open roads and its durability reflects its origins in a country with questionable road quality. Given these advantages, it could have been a car that could be marketed in a burgeoning country like Australia.

About 20 Tatra Tatraplans were imported into Australia in 1952 but sales were very slow because the car was expensive — equivalent today to about $120,000 — and considered a bit weird.

This example is one of only two in Australia that are registered for the road. It was previously owned by the York Motor Museum and came into the current owner’s hands after he was attracted to its distinctive shape and what he calls “Tatra’s incredible history”.

“It is different thinking on almost every level of car design,” he said.

“The Tatra showed how to solve engineering problems, such as the location of the engine behind the rear axle to improve cabin space, and the groundbreaking aerodynamics that meant a smaller engine could be used and fuel consumption was decreased.”

So what happened to Tatra? The company was requested by Germany in 1939 to move production from passenger cars to trucks and today remains a significant heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer with its factories still based in Czechia.

It did produce more cars under the former Soviet Union — examples being the 603 and 700 — but then moved entirely to trucks from 1999.

Mirroring its reputation for durability, its trucks have won the Paris to Dakar event six times.

Tatra Tatraplan T600

Price new About $15,000

Price now $150,000

Built 1952

Engine 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol

Outputs 38kW/118Nm

Transmission Four-speed manual

0-100km/h 30 seconds

Thirst 11L/100km

https://thewest.com.au/lifestyle/motoring/the-car-that-stood-up-to-germany-ng-b881104426z

My Tatra has been subject of several articles in The West Australian. Motoring writer Alex Forrest wrote an article about the car shortly after I purchased the car in 2015. https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2020/09/tatra-epitome-of-rear-engine-cool.html In 2019, Neil Dowling wrote a series of pieces about interesting classic cars in Perth, writing the above feature about my Tatra and another about my 1959 DKW (which I have not been able to find online). Neil and I went for a drive, Neil had a drive around the neighborhood, and we had a chat. When I asked if he wanted any information about the Tatra he assured me that he had a lot of info already. The result was this article, which has great photos, but largely rehashes a lot of popular but totally incorrect mythology. Neil is a good guy and a good journalist, but anyone researching online is going to be bombarded with the BS stories. This was the moment that I realized I needed to take a more active stance publishing evidence debunking these myths. https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2023/02/tatras-self-licking-icecream-cone.html