Tatra · 1931–1933
Tatra V570
The Tatra V570 was a prototype 1931-33 car developed by a team led by Hans Ledwinka, Erich Ledwinka and Erich Übelacker. The aim of the construction team was to develop a cheap people's car with an aerodynamic body. The first T57-V570 prototype with rear air-cooled two-cylinder engine placed in the former rear luggage compartment of conventional T57 two-seater dropped head coupe was completed late in 1931. However, the company's management decided that the revolutionary ideas introduced in the prototype should be introduced in large luxurious cars, and therefore the team abandoned the project of small cars in favour of the Tatra T77, the world's first serially produced aerodynamic car. The project of a small car was later continued and led to introduction of the Tatra T97. The second, now streamlined V570 four-seater was built in 1933, two years before the first Volkswagen, which bears a strong resemblance to the Tatra – it was misappropriated in the opinion of Tatra, by Adolf Hitler and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche in circumstances about which the German company remains intensely sensitive. In fact, Hungarian engineer Béla Barényi had sketched a design for a streamlined economy car with a rear-mounted boxer engine as early as 1924, nearly a decade earlier than both Tatra and Porsche, although it hadn't been published until 1934. Unlike the Tatra claim, Volkswagen has recognized Barényi as the "intellectual father" of the Volkswagen Beetle since 1955, after a legal battle spurred by statements in an official Porsche history book that Barényi considered slanderous.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Successor: Tatra 97
All Tatra V570 data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →
History
In the early 1930s Tatra engineers, under the direction of Hans Ledwinka's son Erich and design engineer Erich Übelacker, started work on the development of a small people's car with a rear-mounted engine in a backbone frame. Ledwinka believed that a rear-mounted engine RR layout would bring with it several big advantages – i.e. reducing the efficiency loss, noise and vibration of the driveshaft of the FR layout. No driveshaft meant there would be a flat floor with no need for central floor tunnel so that the passengers' seating position would be lower and well forward of the rear axle, which would lead to a lower centre of gravity, more favourable inter-axle weight distribution, and lower overall height. Mounting the engine in the rear would mean shortening the front part of the body to make a longer tail possible, which was consistent with the laws of aerodynamics. Also, engine noise would not disturb the passengers and would not be heard when driving at a speed of over 50 km/h. Air-cooling would be simpler and more effective at coping with the extremes of temperatures during the depths of winter and height of summer, than water cooling systems of the time, considering the climate in Central Europe. As the company was considering starting to manufacturing aeroplanes, it got experience with laws of aerodynamics and decided to apply them for the prospective car. First prototype. The initial proposal of the concept was presented by Tatra designer Erich Übelacker, who previously worked on the Tatra 57 car. However, at the time Übelacker's proposal was strongly criticised by Ledwinka. When he was facing the prospect of leaving the company, he finally presented the project with aerodynamic car body with a teardrop rear, which would be used to accommodate the whole drive-lin
Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.
Specifications
- name
- V570
- Manufacturer
- TATRA, a. s.
- Production
- 1931 initial T57-V570 prototype , 1933 second streamlined prototype
- Assembly
- Kopřivnice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia
- Successor
- Tatra T97
- Class
- Subcompact, Economy car
- Transmission
- 4-speed manual
- Layout
- RR layout
- Engine
- 854 cc air-cooled boxer
- Wheelbase
- 2320 mm
- Length
- 3800 mm
- Width
- 1400 mm
- Height
- 1440 mm
- Designer
- Erich Ledwinka, Erich Übelacker, Hans Ledwinka, Paul Jaray
Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.
More photos
Sources
- Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1477227CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_V570CC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1371228653 · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tatra_570.JPGCC BY 2.5 · Photo: Dr. Killer · retrieved 2026-10-01
- Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.