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Post War Tatra 600

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Lightness prevails…

Photography by Don Hodgdon, text by Pete Vack

After months of digging through an unfamiliar subject, being assailed for mistakes I shouldn’t have made, assaulted for writing about a car which at one time was made behind the Iron Curtain and spending a great deal of time looking for Tatra books that don’t exist, we present below the fourth and final Tatra story.

That having been accomplished below, we can now sit back and take joy in the catchy, silly, enormously bad puns for titles foisted upon researchers by magazines around the world.

Just think what they had to work with…

Look, Vladimir, No Vladiator; Car, September 1973
Party Time..T603; Classic and Sportscar, July 1994
Tatra for Now; Custom Car, August 1973
Reach for your Czech Book; Classic and Sportscar, October 1992
Prague Uprising; Performance Car, July 1993
Czech Mate; Car Australia, December 1993
Czech Matey; Top Gear,May 1994
Bouncing Czech; Wheels Australia, August 1998

And the final blow, yet another article with the very same silly name, “Czech Mate”, from the good folks at Automobile Magazine in January of 2005.

But just one more; we almost forgot, “Czechmate of the Year”, Special Interest Cars, April 1987. Which leads us to our subject car, for that long ago article featured the very same car now owned by David Russel and photographed for VeloceToday by Don Hodgdon.

The T600 was a definitely a postwar car, refined, thought out, ready for mass consumption. It was similar to the ill-fated Tucker, but went into production in 1948 and continued until 1952.

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Tatra T87: A Portfolio by Don Hodgdon

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A comprehesive look at Paul Greenstein/Dydia De Lyser’s restored Tatra by Don Hodgdon.

Mr. Greenstein’s car, a 1941 T87 was an Ebay find from Upstate New York in 2001. After a three-and-a-half year restoration, including returning the car to Koprivnice in the Czech Republic, the car now resides in Southern California where it is driven weekly.

Paul Greenstein received the Tatra in this condition. Photo courtesy Paul Greenstein.

The T87, considered a luxury car in its day, is quite comfortable and quiet cruising the streets of Los Angeles. We experienced very little buffeting with the windows lowered on the freeway, and the low rumble from the rear mounted air-cooled V8 engine never intruded on our conversation. The T87, with its huge dorsal fin and center-mounted headlight, draws a fair amount of attention, even in car crazy L.A., many drivers stopping to admire the car and ask questions about it while we were stopped to shoot photos. It was not at all a surprise to learn that Mr. Greenstein’s car was voted “Most Collectable” in a recent poll of New York Times readers.

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A Technical History of Tatra

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A Tatra in VeloceToday? Of course!

By Pete Vack with help from Karl Ludvigsen

Why a Tatra in VeloceToday, you might ask. Probably because it is a carmaker lost in the mountains of Moravia, lost almost to history, lost to VW, lost to the ravages of the 20th century and revolution, lost to the incessant demands of a system that requires both profit and excellence. A survivor, Tatra still exists and produces trucks, but the famous and advanced Tatra automobile is no more, one of the homeless but technically interesting cars we often welcome to the friendly shores of VeloceToday. We bring you this to serve as an introduction to our next two articles, one about the Tatra T87, and the other on the post war T600. We also thank Karl Ludvigsen for his help with researching this article.

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Best of France and Italy 2011

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One of our favorite shows is the “Best of France and Italy”, held every year on the grounds of Woodley Park in the L.A. area. It is low key, a true enthusiasts gathering, and brings out a great variety of unusual French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and Czechoslovakian cars. Don Hodgdon was there for us.[Ed.]

Story and photos by Don Hodgdon

Rain was falling when I woke up Sunday morning, but it passed through quickly and I left Santa Barbara under sunny skies. I had thought twice about heading down to Woodley Park, having my doubts that anyone would show up. While the numbers were down from past years, considering the rain there was a good group of cars. Alfas and Fiats, along with a healthy group of Citroens made up the bulk of the show, and I think there were almost as many Tatras (3) as there were Ferraris.
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An Exclusive Look at the Mullin Automotive Museum

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1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia Roadster Chassis No. 2461. On July 12, 2009, in front of an assembled crowd of more than 2000 people, this Bugatti was lifted from Lake Maggiore where it lay submerged for nearly 75 years. The full story is on display with the vehicle in the Mullin Automotive Museum. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt, insert from the Internet

Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt

A clear picture of the passion of Peter Mullin
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