An unfamiliar brand in the UK, but the Czechoslovakian company had a distinguished history spanning back to 1850, with their first car being produced over a century ago. Tatra made prestigious streamlined cars, and one of their designs was in fact stolen by Volkswagen for their Beetle in 1939. The car maintained production during the Second World War thanks to the Germans appreciation of the Tatra V570, who’s rear-engined layout often caused problems for German officers. They pushed them around bends far too quickly and as a result, many of the occupants were killed. Tatra soon became known as the ‘Czechs secret weapon’. After the war, the basic premise of a hand-built rear-engined air-cooled V8 car continued to evolve and resulted in the 1956 Tatra 603. These too were favoured by government seniors, this time by the Communists and recognised as one of the Soviet eras finest cars. This 1962 example was imported around 20 years ago, and asides from their intended purpose of transporting well-fed men around, several were also used in rally sports competition with a significant amount of success. Many of the T603’s were often sent back to the factory to be upgraded over its production meaning a high survival rate but a relative shortage of original spec cars. The T603 continued until 1968 when replaced by the updated T613.
