The Tatra 603 Was Designed in Secret | 5 Things To Know
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- Опубликовано: 20 июн 2024
- The Tatra 603 is a gleefully strange car, unlike pretty much anything else before or since. That's probably why Jason Torchinsky is so gaga over it, and why these 5 amazing facts about it are so fascinating.
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When standing in front of a Tatra 603, please don't tell me 5 interesting things, tell me ALL OF THE THINGS. Thank you and love the channel!
Agreed, I want MORE
Alright tatra passenger cars use a teardrop like shape so Tatras can go fast with barely any horse power in fact the 603 could go over 100 miles an hour with around 90 horse power and these were heavy
Another interesting fact about this car, since it has a column shift, the gearshift linkage is nearly 10 feet long, and amazingly complex, with interesting geometry , arcs being translated into lateral and longitudinal movement via ball joints at each end of a big boomerang, which pivots on it's center, actuating a rod that both rotates through 3 gates and slides back forth under the floor, backseat, and into the front nose cone of the 4 speed + reverse transaxle. I had loads of fun repairing these linkages and adjusting them.......Once I had to fabricate the lower ball stud on the bottom of that "boomerang" from a 10mm X 1.25 HEX BOLT. I ground the hex head of the bolt down on a bench grinder to as close to a 13mm ball as I could. It got me home and around until I could get a co-worker to fab a new ball end stud on the company CNC LATHE. He owed me a favor since I saved his bacon by EDMing a broken tap out of an expensive $$$ Iconel part.
'
This is the stuff I come to youtube for! Y
Ken U, I'm so scared of you!
Tatras Hans Ledwinka designed a better gearchange for the Volkswagen Beetle!
Great vid. Jason and weird cars is always a good combo.
My dad was a teenager in CZSK when those came out. He can talk for hours about the 603
What does he says about it? Was it really cool? luxury or crap?
Instead of huge Russian Chaika, Zil etc. for highest politicians, this T603 was the best. Super luxury, roomy and really fast.
I had to think about what he said, and he's right. It is the largest 4 door "saloon" and the only with a V8 in the rear.
So yes, no other car with that combination.
Talking about rear engine, there's a Corvair 20 mins from my home left outdoor and decaying
I tried to buy it last year, but he would not sell. I begged he brought it indoor at least - but nah it' stands there snowed over right now.
@@andersforsgren3806 that's plain old heresy I say, check if he'll sell now
@@xander1052 It were painful seeing it standing there, so I agree and I might do exactly that, if for nothing else I will go there to see if he have gotten it indoors at least. The turbo is Corvair is extremely unusual in my area.
"Yasser Arafat s Tatra 603
First owned by East German Stasi (The Ministry for State Security). It was assigned to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in East Berlin between 1971-1980 as a diplomatic car used exclusively as a spy courier car between East and West and involved in many PLO European missions.
1971 Tatra 603-2 four door sedan, air cooled , 2,5 liter , V-8 rear 105 HP engine, four speed manual transmission, hydraulic disc brakes,
500 miles, completely restored to A1 condition, museum quality piece, very interesting history"
One of these would be in my dream garage for sure, right next to a Citroen DS.
'Love the quirkyness of the Tatras.
Jason, you're welcome to do a vid on my Citroen DS. I drive it daily and think it can hold its' own in the league of weird automobiles.
Tatra also had a history of having their car designs stolen by Ferdinand Porsche. Tatra sued VW over the theft of the design for the Beetle and won substantial damages.
Did it influence the Tucker car?
@@jdgshsjchdjejkd545 it isn't a conspiracy. It's a well known fact.
Superbly made vid., congratulation!
Fantastic video! Thanks for posting. 👍
Also if I'm not mistaking, Tatra is the world's second or third oldest car/truck manufacturer.
One of the older Tatra's called Tatraplan (around 1934), was the world's first serially produced aerodynamic vehicle, where the designers used the air tunnel...not sure what exactly the drag coeficient number was, but I heard several experts agree, that such low air drag numbers would be hard to achieve even today.
In the 30's, the Tatra's double overhead cam aluminum engine must have looked like a UFO of sorts at car shows and expos.
Another interesting fact is, that this same Tatra engine was also used in crop duster planes.
What you are writing about was the Tatra 77. Tatraplan was produced between 1947 and 1952.
Hi guys, I have T603 in my garage (I'm Czech). And...... ok the video is great and big thanks for it, but there is much much more extras of this car :-) But I would like just say, that there is one bigger rear V8 air-cooled. And it is next gen. of Tatra. It is type T613 esp. in version called Special. T603 is 5 meters long, T613 spec. is 5,15 meters long. T603 has 2,5 liter V8, T613 has 4,5 - 5,5 liter V8. Etc. Etc. Etc. And one more thing: to own T603 you just need to check web, and have somebody who knows this car really well to help with restoration. T603 is one of the most complicated cars in the world. Mechanically and technically as well, because it was moreless hand made, so good parts from one piece usualy do not match on other piece.
Thank you
Great review and Tatra can not be overrated in a historical context when it comes to cars.
I love this car!
But since I'm 13, I know I will never be able to buy a Tatra 603. Proudly I can say I knew 3-4 of the facts, even though I have never seen one.
Cheers!:)
Preslav Don't give up on your dreams! Just make them more feasible! I wanted an 80s corvette or 80s rx7 for my first car, but got a MG midget instead. Its a project for sure, but it turns just as many heads as a corvette does
@@loganrogers9157 Yes, I won't give up! I just say that it will be really expencive to own a tatra, it is expencive now, what lasts for other 20 years.
I love classic cars, and glad my dad understands it - now we found a Moskvich (Russian car, it was popular where I live in the 70s) and we'll store and repair it to it's beauty, untill I get a licence.
@@preslav8021 well, if you get lucky, you may have the chance to get a Tatra 603 in the future, also what kind of Moskvich? really love the old 412 due to a friend of mine loving both it and his native Country's Polonez.
@@xander1052 Me and my dad got a Moskvich 2138 (2140 with 408 engine) from 1977, because it has disk brakes and in Bulgaria there are little more parts. Also we found it in great condition - the signal-red paint shines and reflects even without polish, still has tyres from the socialism, the interior has only one part to sew (it has teared up on all Moskvich-es 2140), the engine has to be repaired, but we always had to open it, and we have 4 years until I get a licence.
@@preslav8021 thats really cool, good luck with the engine and hope you and your dad get to enjoy the moskvich for many years!
great vid. great idea about the car refurbishment, an environmentally good thing.
Lancia Delta S4 had the petrol tanks underneath the seats too... Cool idea about the recycling of the older ones!
Jason thnx to you I learned Tatra.
Great job
Finally, a small recognition.
The Tucker 48 was powered by a rear-mounted, air-cooled, 335 cubic inch (5.5 liter) flat-six engine. The engine was designed and produced by Tucker's chief engineer, Ben Parsons, and it was a highly advanced design for its time.
The Tatra T77 was longer than the Tatra 603. The Tatra 603 was 199 inches long and the Tatra T77a was 212 inches long. Both were four-door cars with rear-mounted, air-cooled V8s.
Tatra 613 was also longer than 603. But I'm not sure if it qualifies as rear engine, as its engine is right above the rear axle - if they've made V6 version (prototypes exist), it'd be mid engined sedan, which is also kind of cool.
I will elaborate on some of the points presented in the video here, perhaps someone will find it interesting:
The first one is actually true, Tatra was making T87 and T57 after the war for short while, also the T600 Tatraplan was designed, made and even exported to Austria, Switzerland and Canada, however its production was later migrated to Skoda plant in Mlada Boleslav, then the quality went rapidly down and production soon ended. Tatra workers in Koprivnice made funeral for Tatraplan in disbelief of how the "leadership" decided the fate of the car. Many high profile workers who took part in the protest were put on government watch list, other relocated to different branches of the firm. That is also why the 603 was developed largely in Prague Smichov where Tatra corporate HQ was at the time, and the styling was largely done by industrial designer Zdenek Kovar in Zlin, not so far from Koprivnice.
As for the second point, the 603 could actually seat six people, not four, and its boxy successor, the T 613, was definitely longer. If not the standard car, then at least those long wheelbase models were (Yes, the communists did bother to build themselves a long wheelbase cars while they were pushing the country towards bankruptcy and exploited millions of their own people). (And those cars did have also an aircooled 3.5l DOHC hemi V8 in it)
The point 5 also stands, and it is great shame as those three light models were just gorgeous to look at, however road safety legislation change was passed and thus the unfortunate four-light mask was born. Also this program was even continued several years after the successor, T613 was being made. Due to labor intensity of those refurbishments (some of which were really a new built cars on old papers, due fact that demand for the new car far exceeded "centrally planned output") and the fact that the work was performed alongside production of new cars by same workforce, the economics of production were... well I doubt someone even cared about them.
As for the Fidel bit: I have heard that several times before and in reality It is documented that he got a white T603 from Tatra, however little is know abut the specifics. But more interesting is the reason for which he was given the car: The Tatra engineers were eager to put T603 directly to test with Corvair, its prominent American counterpart. They went to extreme lengths to obtain one, and bring it to Czechoslovakia, however there was of course ban on importing this type of goods to Eastern Europe and several cars were seized by US and European customs, including one being seized by West Germany on border crossing. It was later discovered that Fidel indeed had one Corvair in his extensive collection of american cars and he was given the 603 Tatra in exchange.
thx for the story, love it
That's fascinating. It's an eerie, imposing looking car, the black ones are menacing and magnificent!
Indeed! That's why it was only available for the communist party bigwigs and large state enterprise managers, in those times when "all people were equal but some were more equal than others". I was born in Czechoslovakia at the time when these cars were common on the streets and I always looked at them with a mix of envy and contempt. There was no way an ordinary guy like me could ever ride one, let alone buy one.
Only a bit over for minutes? I really hoped to see you drive in it or hear the sound of the V8 etc. But still an awesome video.
I think the bigger issue is he may just fall in love with the car even more lol
That seven-year rebuild thing is genius, wish we could get that in North America. My 944 could use a recondition and having Porsche do it right and at scale could make it a decent affordable-ish buy.
Tell us moar Jason, tell us about all the Tatras.
They did the rebuild thing because the car industry didn't have the raw materials to make enough new cars. In all Warsaw Pact countries, the military got first dibs on all the steel and rubber. The 7-year-itch was a clever workaround.
As most 603's belonged to the state it was mandatory to keep workerrs in a job, even though most of the workers weere employed by Rival Skoda. It was no accident that skoda 1100R looks like a scaled down 603,rear engine and all .
@@Mercmad As far as I know the real reason for the rear engine in the Skodas is that it had to have a small turning radius (and i owned one, and it is quite small actually) and they couldn't do it with front engine front wheel drive, because it required expensive western parts, so they said fuck it, and put the engine in the back. Altough it might be some eastern european myth or smh
@@cooperp6429 Ι 've heard that they asked Soviets to provide them with assistance on building FWD cars (since the latter, athough didn't had FWD cars on production back then, did have the technology), but they refused, 'cause they knew a FWD Skoda would 've been better than any other east-block car!
Awesome looking car. I've heard of the Tatra T87. It's a damned shame it was never offered here in the USA.
Hi. Jay Leno has one. It's on RUclips
Jason, you're just the best! I thought I knew everything worth knowing about the 603, but no; never knew it was designed in secret, nor about the heater. P.S. Paul is awesome; friction drive cars plus the 603, plus his house and neighborhood--it's the stuff dreams are made of!
Man, do I prefer the weird and unusual cars from such colorful makes as Tatra, TVR, Borgward, Nash, Hudson, Packard, Studebaker, and so many others. They have so much more to offer both in character and general feeling than any conventional brick-like Big Three product that I've seen in the States!
A friend bought the 603 that appeared in the Lemony Snicket movie. An amazing machine
Doug would have a field day pointing out all its quirks and features.
Always loved the 603 and it’s sleeker successor the 613. Shame that one is kinda rough, they look great all clean and fresh and in government-spec black! Also as great as these little videos are, still holding out for more Jason Drives!
Black is classic but if I was restoring one, I would make it pearl white :)
I believe the dymaxion and stout scarab are larger rear engined V8 cars albeit not aircooled
The spare wheel was a thing for Skoda, too. 1000MB had spare compartment dorr in the front "grille" panel, while 1202 had extra door in the back. Later rear engined skodas had just basket beneath the trunk floor, accessible from the outside.
Never seen one, even in Los Angeles, where there are undoubtedly a few. I love the Tatra, T87.
2:21 that's the turbine, the petrol is being sucked from the tank. This system is still being used today. One of the more known manufacturers of such system is Webasto.
My dad used to have Tatra 603 when i was a kid, but i didn't know about this heating system until now. Interesting.
@@MilanPokorny The last Tatra 700 had this system as well, with a programmable computer. You could tell the system the hour and day when it was supposed to be turned on, so every morning, before you go to work, you would have the car pre-heated (nowadays, Tesla makes a big deal from this feature). On liquid cooled engines, this system even can pre-heat the engine. You can fit this system to any petrol/diesel car.
The VW Beetle also had a similar system in some years. It was located in the back and ducted through the rocker panel to the front.
@@questioner1596 VW Beetles utilized excess heat from the engine exhaust manifolds for this purpose. The heat transfer units were located under the heads, and fed to manifolds under the rear seat. This was a very effective approach, because the Beetle was small and tightly sealed. VW did offer a gas burning heater option, which was primarily used on microbusses in cold climates.
Very cool
About the spare wheel placement, I have the same solution on my Citroen XM. The spare wheel is under the boot in a separate cage, that drops down after loosening a screw inside of the boot. The jerk is there too, in a closed polyfoam container inside the wheel. Many French cars use this solution. The big advantage is as said here, there are some disadvantages too, like that everything rends to be dirty when you need to use it. I had to refurbish the cage too, it was rather rusty. But not a bad thing all in all.
I was fascinated with this car when I first saw it in the movie Lemony Snicket's A series of unfortunate events,I want one of these unique classic cars.
Most interesting car!
I've driven one,belonging to a mate who also has a Tatraplan . The Engine was also used in Tatra Trucks,the type you can't get stuck anywhere.
Bodacious Tatras!
you said it is the largest four door sedan with a rear engine , I think the Tucker Torpedo must be bigger then that . But I can't argue if it is the largest four door with and air cooled engine
my citroen Saxo (and the peugeot 106) also has the spare tire in the back under the car.
Open the drivers side rear door and the small lever on the wheel arch is the hood release. A later model than shown in the video had a larger fuel storage with an external filler cap located in the middle of the grill which looked like the brands logo badge. The Czech consulate sold it's old one in Melbourne Australian. As the new owner could find neither the petrol cap or hood release lever he had to phone the Consulate.
I rode in a later-model Tatra taxi in Brno yeas ago. It was very roomy and comfortable, and the ride was quite pleasant. The seats were great, too. Even the buzz of the engine behind me was not bothersome. I was impressed. It's really sad that they killed it. Skoda was much less interesting, but got a new lease on life (well, it's essentially a VW in a slightly different body now), while Tatra, a true innovator and an original, is gone forever.
It isn’t the biggest rear engined saloon because the original Tatra T-77 was bigger, several feet longer at least
For sure
Is that a wood panel on the front end?
I want one.
Without Tatra we'd probably have no 911 right now.
The crap od the day ...
or the beetle
That's debatable.
@@felixvanstaden so debate please:)
OK...question - Was this the type car featured in the Lemony Snickettmovie? - I believe the drivers name was "mr Poe"
Nice car. How about a Lada next time. Or Moskvich, GAZ, or ZiL.
Also, first versions had 3 headlamps, the middle one i think even turned as you were turning the wheels.
I do believe you are thinking of a Tucker, which is also an air cooled rear engine car.
that thing is gorgeous
That car is kinda like me......grayed out on Kinja!
SALUDOS CORDIALES PARA TODOS LOS QUE ESTÁN PRESENTES EN ESTE VIDEO DESDE CARACAS VENEZUELA! EN LO PERSONAL COMO ME DUELE EN EL ALMA QUE LOS VEHÍCULOS TATRA NO VIENEN A VENEZUELA MUY LAMENTABLEMENTE ME ATREVO A DECIR QUE ME GUSTAN MUCHO QUE EL MERCEDES BENZ !!! DE VERDAD! QUE AUTOS Y QUE MOTORAZOS!!! INCOMPARABLES!!!
VW Vanagon has the front tire at the front, under, as well
The Maserati Khamsin's V-8 engine was placed so far back in front the space-saver spare tire slid out from a tray located underneath the radiator and front bumper.
THANK YOU FOR THAT VIDEO! i just looked for a 603, the B*mb under seat culd stay empty in Summer?
AND YES have a look at wiki:
The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960-1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle,[1] it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine. The Corvair was manufactured and marketed in 4-door sedan...
My 61 corvair has a gasoline heater. It works really well.
several aircooled VW also had a gasoline heater
Borat appeared on one of the "tonight" shows with one of these...Ha.
we liked to live dangerously back then, lol, and i can tell you, it was a much much more interesting day to day life
Can you pls do a 5 things video on a polski fiat 126p?
Check out the Tucker Torpedo.
miracle car its amazing car
A truly great car. One of my all time favourites. And that, GM, is how you make a rear-engined car and not a Corvair..
The 603 was just as much of a deathtrap as the Corvair and the Porsche 911. Physics.
@@cisium1184 with four passengers in it, the weight distribution was 47-53 front-rear. That air cooled hemi V8 weighs only 180kg/397lb. But yeah, swing axles in the rear....
Still today the vast majority of driving public don't check their tire pressure. Not even after more modern publicity of the Ford exploder that Firestone said, UH, No.
Fortunately, ignorance of the limitations incurred by heavy rear bias killed about half a dozen high ranking nazis officers.
Not equal comparison to Chevy. This was a very expensive, well appointed car equal to Cadillac.
Škoda Estelle (105/120/135) had similar spare wheel system.
Back in the 60's and 70's many french car brands had creative solutions to store the spare while keeping it accessible. Peugeot 403 had a twin trunk floor , the spare wheel sat between them. The later Peugeot 404 and 504 had the spare hanging under the trunk floor in a dedicated cradle. The Citroen BX had the spare hanging under the trunk floor as well.
The Tucker 48 was a rear engine, not sure if it was air cooled, but bigger than the Tatra. It had a helicopter engine in the back!
The helicopter engine was air-cooled. Tucker had trouble with cooling when the engine was places in the back of the car. So they had to install water jackets around the engine for it to stay cool.
I imagine the reason modern cars lack convenient spare tire access is the same reason most lack a spare tire - modern people are lazy and call tow trucks over flat tires.
As a 20 year old I impressed friends born in the 80s or 90s with the ability to install a spare. I personally thought this was an intuitive skill that comes with having a driver's license and the ability to read the owner's manual - apparently not.
The heater was very useful when you needed to make sure the kgb couldn't get info out of you
0:55 *professional driver on a open course! and do I see an MSD ignition controller 2:02? To bad this wasn't a driving example.
This is similar to the Tucker 48 with an air cooled engine in the rear. I do believe the Tucker is a bigger car overall.
No engine sound? :(
The Tucker 48 is a larger car with a rear engine, but it has water cooling
And only a flat 6 engine
It's not strange, it's actually beautiful
What the hell happened to the fabric on the front seat? It looks like it was on fire (but not from the heater beneath).
Carport Chronicles h
Wasn't the Tucker originally air cooled?
Edit: he drilled water jackets in the Howard Hughes surplus helicopter engines...flat 6 engines I think
It was but it looks like the design came from Tatra as well, several years earlier
Want!
I'm sure there is more, but one modern-ish car that has a separate pull down spare wheel tray is the Citroen Xantia.
You're probably right about the biggest air cooled rear engined sedan. But if we consider water cooled cars, the Tucker and the Stout Scarab were rear engined and probably bigger.
Tucker has a boxer and the Scarab was only a prototype...
One can not win the PowerBall jackpot unless all the numbers match. Tucker used a 6 cylinder boxer converted to water cooled, not air-cooled 8. Because Stout used a water cooled Ford, it doesn't match the parameters of being in the uniqueness. Yes, they were longer.
Tatra's pre-war T87 model was over 1 foot shorter.
get a tatra kolos next
Ever heard what sound that air-cooled V8 makes? You should !
Isn’t the Tucker Torpedo a bigger and aircooled car with a rear mounted engine?
Torpedo has a flat-6 -- not V8
well in original plans for the car you would be correct (589 cubic inches) but in production, it received a smaller flat 6 from a chopper
That's what I was thinking, with the 4 door Corvair as well. The guy must think the only rear engine air cooled cars are VW and Porsche.
@@ICECUBE682 The Tucker 48 used a O-335 engine that was modified to be water cooled.
@sanjathefabulous It may have been a influence but it wasn't a copy and it wasn't bigger than the Tucker.
Most Modem cars don’t even come with a spare tire !!
Saw one totally rustes out recently, not very good looking. But funny interior.
a lot of peugeot's have that spare wheel solution, but in the back, and with a bolt in the trunk door opening.
The biggest 4door aircooled sedan is... Tatra 700 😉
Most Tatras have four doors, rear engine, air cooled V8. Also you could get the pre-facelift Porsche 955 Cayenne with a gas heater
I saw this car in a lot of old gta games
What a jalopi
Before the war, Tatra built cars that were notorious for killing Nazis, the Nazis didn't know how to handle rear engined cars, and they put the brakes on during sharp turns instead of slowing down first and accelerating during turns and they flipped.
Don't forget Tucker it is a rear mounted engine 4 door and it is almost bigger
No. A tucker has a flat engine, cooled by water with 6 cylinder....the T603 is an air-cooled V8...
Biggest rear engine air-cooled sedan was Tatra 613 special I think
Truly weird. Wonderfully weird.
Dydia put out a small engine fire with a bag of frozen spinach in that car......Also she still managed to drive it after the gearshift came apart at AeroBooks in Burbank last August. I was impressed, Dydia is a real trooper! If you looked closely, you might find bits of carbonized spinach near the carbs.
We used CAR WATER AIR CONDITIONER in tatra its work in dry hot air
the tucker 48 is a bigger 4 door, rear engined, aircooled car.
Air cooled Volkswagens could be ordered with an auxiliary espatcher petrol heater similar to one in this car
VW was in lawsuit with Tatra over this engine, but iron wall happened, so germans were able to keep it.
VW Things also had gas fired heaters
And one more thing. Shown car is the last type. Try to check web for previous generations. Esp. the first with three headlights is super cool. This car T603 has been produced in 1955 - 1975. On vide "Happy journey" here on RUclips, you can see the seccond generation called "boss-eyed" or "cross-eyed".
I DO THINK THIS IS THE KIND OF CAR WE FILMED for a strange horror film we shot in Buda Pest in 2000 called A BREED APART (for which I was 2nd unit director). I think most of the scenes we shot of it were later trimmed from the completed film. The Tatra--if indeed it was the car we filmed---was a dark kind of blue color, and very cool looking. I wanted it!---even if it meant having to have to ship it all the way to California. But I believe the owner was not at all interested in selling it at the time!
For years the VW Beetles and Vans came with a gasoline fired heaters with an igniter inside the driver's compartment.