Tatra · 1956–1975

Tatra 603

The Tatra 603 is a large rear-engined luxury car which was produced by the Czechoslovak company Tatra from 1956 to 1975. It was a continuation of the series of Tatra streamlined sedans which began with the Tatra 77. In Socialist Czechoslovakia, only high-ranking party officials and heads of factories were driven in 603s; the car was also exported to a number of other countries.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Tatra 87 · Successor: Tatra 613

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History

Tatra was the manufacturer of luxurious automobiles in the Czech lands. Austro-Hungarian emperor Charles I used a NW type T; the Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk drove the twelve-cylinder Tatra 80 while his successor Edvard Beneš drove the streamlined Tatra 87. While the T87 was manufactured from 1936 to 1950, the post-war T600 may be considered the first car of the new political order. The T600 was much smaller and used an engine of only four cylinders, making it the descendant of the T97, the small pre-war Tatra. Production of the T97 had been stopped by the Nazis in order to cover its resemblance to their KdF-Wagen (which later became known as the VW Beetle). Czechoslovakia had a Socialist government from 1948, and its economy was later subject to some regulation by the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), consisting of eastern European socialist nations. After production of the T600 ended in 1952, COMECON decided that Tatra would manufacture only trucks, while luxury cars would be imported into Czechoslovakia from the USSR. The Tatra designers, however, continued their work on a new car in secret. In 1952 a group of designers led by František Kardaus and Vladimír Popelář began the secret development of a new car called Valuta, while officially devoting their time to development of a new three-axle bus T400. In 1953 the socialist government became frustrated with delays in delivery of Soviet cars as well as with their poor quality and they ordered development of a new luxury Tatra, thus giving legitimacy to the team's previous work. The new car was to have a 3.5-litre air-cooled eight-cylinder engine, and it was to be ready for production by the end of 1954. While the chassis was almost ready due to the work on Valuta, the engine remained an

Design

The first model of 603 was characterized by three headlamps. Originally the three headlights were under a single piece of glass, but later three-piece glass was used. There was a large luggage compartment under the front bonnet, under which was the spare wheel. The spare wheel was in a separate drop-down bin opened from inside the front boot, thus making it possible to reach it without taking out luggage. At least one prototype had a two-piece windscreen but production cars had single-sheet screens of two different heights and three curvatures during the long production run. The interior featured enough space to seat six occupants. To gain enough space for the middle occupant in the front seats the shift lever was on the steering column, rather than on the floor. The front seats could be folded down to make a large bed. Behind the rear seats there was a deep storage area, initially covered. The rear was characterized by a large two piece window making it the first rear-engined Tatra with good rear visibility. An independent petrol-burning heater is fitted under the front seat. Low volume production levels and the resulting lack of production automation meant that "one off" adaptations were relatively easy to accomplish. Engine. The V8 overhead valve hemi engine weighed only 180 kg (397 lb), allowing the car to have 47/53 front/rear interaxle weight distribution when fully loaded. The engine was already used in the late Tatra 87 and its extreme reliability was confirmed by previous use in the Tatra 607 race car or military light truck T805. The air-cooling system was designed to cool the most heated parts of the engine more effectively. Further modifications led to introduction of the T603H engine, from which the T603HB (export model) and T603HT (tropical climate model)

T603 in competition

The T603s took part in 79 races (24 international) in years 1957 to 1967, resulting in a total 60 first, 56 second and 49 third positions. In most cases production cars with minimum modifications participated in races, but more modified versions also emerged later, notably one with ejector cooled engine. Beginnings. In 1959 three cars took part in Austrian Alpine Cup. All of them finished and were decorated; Alois Mark won first position in his class. One month later the same crews drove the 31st Rallye Wiesbaden (1231 km); Alois Mark was the best foreign driver and got 3rd position overall, behind two Mercedes cars. During the closing beauty and elegance competition T603s were decorated with golden ribbon. Rally Monte Carlo 1960. Tatra aimed to take part in Rally Monte Carlo of 1960, but already from the beginning they faced opposition from the official Czechoslovak institutions. First the sport association wanted to place its own drivers into T603s instead of the company ones, while later it officially banned participation of both Tatras and Škodas. This of course made the people from the Moravian company furious - they saw in the decision typical Bohemian Pragocentrism, especially after the participation of Škoda was allowed. The justification was that Škoda had already been exported to western markets. Liège-Sofia-Liège 1963. Only one 603 took a part in the competition; it was damaged when it crashed after a tire blew out. Spa-Sofia-Liège 1964. Three 603s entered the 6,100 km long race. One of them finished first in its class (overall fifteenth), one crew gave up and another dropped out with a mechanical failure. Altogether 97 cars took part, but only 21 came to the finish line. Marathon de la Route 1965. Three crews with Tatra 2-603GTs took part in the race. The co

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Specifications

name: Tatra 603
Manufacturer: Tatra
Production: 1956–1962 (Tatra 603), 1962–1975 (Tatra 2-603)
Assembly: Czechoslovakia: Kopřivnice, Moravia, (1956–1969), Czechoslovakia: Příbor, Moravia (1969–1975)
Predecessor: Tatra 87, Tatra 600
Successor: Tatra 613
Layout: RR layout
Class: Full-size luxury car
Body style: 4-door saloon
Engine: 2,474 cc Tatra 603G/H air-cooled V8 (1962–1975), 2,545 cc Tatra 603F air-cooled V8 (1956–1962)
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Length: 5065 mm
Width: 1910 mm
Height: 1529 mm
Kerb weight: 1400 kg
Wheelbase: 2748 mm
Designer: Julius Mackerle, František Kardaus, Vladimír Popelář, Josef Chalupa, Zdeněk Kovář