I dunno how many of you get email from Hagerty. I do. And I have to say that their magazine is a very interesting read.
I dunno how many of you get email from Hagerty. I do. And I have to say that their magazine is a very interesting read.
I enjoyed that. Never thought much about Tatra's but wasn't there a LeMons Tatra? Did the swing axles claim it too?
Doesn't Jay Leno have one, where he tells the story that the German officers in WW2 would commandeer them because they were fancy, but then they would crash them and die because of the horrible handling?
Sound familiar.
Good read. Unfortunate that the car side of Tatra only made a couple more models in the post-war era and eventually faded off into the sunset. A different timeline where they didn't fall into USSR control might have provided a much better future for the country.
That article has a lot of great quotes:
“The uneasy exhilaration which may be got from shampooing a lion.”
“It’s not that the Michelins are modern tires. They’re just less vintage than the car was designed for.”
Quite interesting to see an owner of an exceptionally rare car like that willing to see it pushed that hard to its limits - especially Mr. Lane's reaction to having it roll over. It sounds like this could be an interesting series - I wonder what they'll try next?
Tatra made cars a few years after "the wall" came down in 1989 , then they continued makeing big trucks ,
the last ones still had the aircooled V-8 , but no one in the Czechoslovakia wanted them when they became available to the public because thats what the secret police used !
Yes Leno has one , he was at the Tatra get together at the Autobooks store in Burbank.
Neat cars in a weird way !
Did somebody say air cooled V8? I only know about them because some European OEM supplier took a 603 and made a Geneva(?) auto show car. This was around 2010.
Streetwiseguy said:Doesn't Jay Leno have one, where he tells the story that the German officers in WW2 would commandeer them because they were fancy, but then they would crash them and die because of the horrible handling?
Sound familiar.
I've read that they were popular with Wehrmacht officers because of their speed, but that a lot of them crashed them because they were a good bit quicker than what they were used to. Never heard it directly attributed to ill-handling, but it seems likely. A big reason Hitler seized Czechoslovakia was that the Czechs had phenomenal heavy industries, and Tatra made (and still makes) some awesome large trucks. Same thing with the Sovs after WWII.
I think this picture says quite a bit about the handling.
Is that how it works or a perfectly timed picture of a catastrophic suspension failure?
lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:Is that how it works or a perfectly timed picture of a catastrophic suspension failure?
Czech car killed more Nazi officers than active combat
lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:Is that how it works or a perfectly timed picture of a catastrophic suspension failure?
I could be wrong, but I don't think anything "broke." I think the picture shows a transitional moment where the suspension is at an unfortunate extreme.
From the article: "The T87 drove and suspended its rear wheels through swing axles, and swing axles of the 1930s were prone to strange behavior in corners."
Strange indeed.
1988RedT2 said:lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:Is that how it works or a perfectly timed picture of a catastrophic suspension failure?
I could be wrong, but I don't think anything "broke." I think the picture shows a transitional moment where the suspension is at an unfortunate extreme.
From the article: "The T87 drove and suspended its rear wheels through swing axles, and swing axles of the 1930s were prone to strange behavior in corners."
Strange indeed.
Where was the Czech Ralph Nader when they needed him ?
The picture is probably a Type 87 which was built until the late 1940s , then Tatra built the 4cyl Tatraplan , and then the 8cy 603 , all rear engined aircooled .....
That was interesting, but between the editorial choices of the writing structure and the out-of-sequence photographs, I kept feeling like I was missing pieces of the article all the way through.
Looks like a Spitfire on a slalom course.
It wasn't just cars from the 30's.
I love Tatras! They used to be somewhat affordable in the '80's, but things have changed. Lovely cars in person with amazing detail, well ahead of their time...well...except for the swing axles. Lane has several on display if you get to Nashville.
The closest I came to buying a Tatra was thinking really hard about buying an OT-64 (Tatra engine) half a dozen years ago. I thought it would be fun RV project for $15k
matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:The closest I came to buying a Tatra was thinking really hard about buying an OT-64 (Tatra engine) half a dozen years ago. I thought it would be fun RV project for $15k
Most people here probably just read over this and say "uh-huh" to themselves, without realizing what an OT-64 actually is.
lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) said:Is that how it works or a perfectly timed picture of a catastrophic suspension failure?
Swing axle jacking. Under the right conditions, the signs flip: the roll center moves higher than the center of gravity. Then the outside suspension will extend, not compress, under cornering loads.
See: ACVW before '68, first five years of Corvair, quite a few others
Saw one in person in Viariggio, Italy. It and its owner were participating in the Peking to Paris Rallye. Beautiful cars.
https://www.wackywheels.nl/wacky-wheels-2019/the-1907-race-from-peking-to-paris/
I've always wanted one of their engines; I check eBay infrequently but they rarely seem to show up. A classic roadster would be awesome for that engine.
this was the one down in Texas that was on Craigslist for BIG BUCKS
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