Tatras 600

Tatra Mountains
Crime plan
600 / Tatraplan
Production period:	1948-1952
Class :	Middle class
Body versions :	limousine
Engines:	Otto engine : 2.0 liters (38 kW)
Length:	4540 mm
Width:	1670 mm
Height:	1520 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :	1200 kg
Previous model	Tatra 97 , Tatra 107

Tatra 600 Tatraplan

Tatra 600 Tatraplan

Tatra 600 Tatraplan

Heck of the Tatraplan

Tatraplan: boxer engine in the rear

The Tatra 600 or Tatraplan is a mid-range car model with an aerodynamically shaped body from the former Czechoslovak and now Czech vehicle manufacturer Tatra . It was the first Tatra passenger car to be redesigned after 1945 and as such the successor to the Tatra 97 and the Tatra 107, which were only built for a short time . Production ran from 1948 to 1952. Last year it was moved to AZNP (Škoda) in Mladá Boleslav in order to use Tatra's capacities for truck construction. The car was increasingly exported over time and found a number of customers in Europe and overseas. A total of 6342 copies of the Tatraplan were made.

history

Immediately after the end of the Second World War , production started again in May 1945 at Tatra in Kopřivnice (Nesselsdorf). The factory was hardly affected by war damage. Initially, the production of pre-war car and truck models continued. In 1946 the 107 , which had only been built for a year, appeared as a modified version of the previous model 97 with a new 1750 cm³ OHV engine, a new chassis with independent wheel suspensions and a central box frame with a partially self-supporting body.

In 1938, after the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the German Reich, the Type 97 was discontinued by order of Hitler because of its similarity to the KdF-Wagen . Now, the development began a completely new middle class -Pkw of the same design with an air-cooled four-cylinder - rear engine . The new and much more modern designed car, in whose development the experience with the T107 flowed, was to be called Tatra T600 with the nickname Tatraplan . The name Tatraplan is a play on words with a double meaning, because on the one hand the introduction of the state-controlled planned economy in Czechoslovakia was to be symbolized, on the other hand the aim was to allude to the good aerodynamic qualities of the body similar to that of an airplane in an advertising-effective manner (compare e.g. with the English word “Airplane”, Czech), which emerges from contemporary sales brochures and advertising posters. Julius Mackerle, newly appointed by Tatra, took over the management of the project after long-time chief designer Hans Ledwinka had been removed and imprisoned.

The first prototype , "Ambrož" , was built in December 1946 by hand, the second prototype "Josef" in March 1947. The Tatraplan received a newly designed larger air-cooled four-cylinder -Viertakt- Otto -Boxermotor in the rear with OHV - valve control (an underlying Camshaft, bumpers and rocker arms), a displacement of 1952 cm³ and an output of 52 hp (38 kW ) at 4000 rpm. That with a stroke ratio of 85 × 86 almost square designed aggregate had 26 hp per liter the same specific power as the motor of the larger Tatra 87 ( V - eight-cylinder , 2958 cc, 75 PS 160 km / h). The chassis had an independent suspension at the front on two transverse leaf springs lying one above the other and at the rear the pendulum axle , which is already traditional at Tatra , in this case with torsion bar suspension . The car reached a top speed of over 130 km / h , with the optionally available longer gear ratio for mainly use on the flatter land a little over 140 km / h. In the interior of the self-supporting all-steel body , which was unusually spacious for its class, there was space for six people on two bench seats. The drag coefficient was measured to be 0.32.

After extensive testing, series production of the Tatraplan began in 1948 ; Tatra was the same year after the February overthrow of the communists nationalized . At about the same time, the export and use of the car in motorsport began . The Tatraplan was sold quite well and, measured against the rather poor economic situation in most countries in the period after 1945, numerous export buyers as well. Interestingly, in addition to orders from other countries in the Eastern Bloc including the Soviet Union , 168 were received from Canada and 200 from the People's Republic of China . Most of the cars, namely 435, were exported to Austria , 195 vehicles went to West Germany and 153 to Switzerland. The total of 184 cars for Sweden were built because of the left-hand drive with right-hand drive there until 1967 . The Tatraplan was so because of his success abroad as one of the " foreign currency procurer " of the government of Czechoslovakia from 1948, but also proved domestically surprisingly successful, especially since he, unlike the until 1950 produced larger Tatra 87 like with a V8 engine at Space was a lot cheaper.

In addition to the standard limousine with four doors and 6 seats, a version as an ambulance with a station wagon- like structure and a small truck with a rear loading area from the B-pillar were also created . Unlike the sedan, these two variants had a front engine that was installed rotated 180 degrees around the vertical axis.

As a sporty version there were z. B. the two-door Tatra 601 Tatraplan Monte Carlo and the Tatra 602 Tatraplan Sport . From 1948 to 1953 - one year after the end of production - they achieved racing success. Some examples were equipped with the 2545 cm³ V8 engine of the later new model Tatra 603 , with which the Tatraplan Sport could reach over 170 km / h without any further increase in performance.

A special feature was the Tatra 601 Tatraplan Cabriolet , a single open vehicle based on the two-door sports model Tatra 601 , which was built in 1951 with a slightly modified front by the famous body manufacturer Sodomka and given as a gift to the Soviet head of state and party, Josef Stalin .

In the same year 1951 the state planning department of the ČSR decided to move the production of the Tatraplan to AZNP (Škoda) in Mladá Boleslav . After the last car model was discontinued, Tatra was to be completely switched over to truck production - as planned by the Comecon . This decision was extremely unpopular with the workforce of both companies, and since production at Škoda got off to a bad start, a decision was made after just one year, despite the success in the market that the car had (and could have continued to have) in Mladá Boleslav in 1952, which caused regret, especially in the export markets. The Tatraplan was the last mid-range car from Tatra and after its end of production found no successor later. A total of 6,342 units were built, 4,242 of them in Kopřivnice and 2,100 in Mladá Boleslav.

The cars built by Škoda can be easily distinguished by the rounded instead of the more pointed underside of the rear bonnet and a few other small details, but are otherwise the same. Overall, Škoda had difficulties meeting the Tatra quality standards.

In the last year of production, 1952, three prototypes of the Tatra 600 Diesel , also known as Tatraplan Diesel, were made . The vehicle had the chassis and body of the production vehicle with a gasoline engine, but an air-cooled 4-cylinder diesel boxer engine with a displacement of 1952 cm³ and an output of 42 hp (30.8 kW) at 3300 rpm. He accelerated the car to 100–110 km / h with a consumption of 8 to 9 l / 100 km. The start of series production was planned; economic difficulties prevented this.

The Tatraplan is also one of the popular classic cars and collector's cars of this brand today .

Versions

Prototypes

• Tatra 600 "Ambrož" (1946)
• Tatra 600 "Josef" (1947)
• Tatra 600 Tatraplan Sport (1950), Aspang Automobile Museum in Aspang-Markt in Lower Austria
• Tatra 600 Diesel (1952)

Serial versions

• Tatra 600 Tatraplan

Tatra 601 Monte Carlo

Special versions

• Tatra 600 Tatraplan ambulance  (with front engine)
• Tatra 600 Tatraplan pickup truck (with front engine)
• Tatra 601 Tatraplan Cabriolet (unique item as a gift for Josef Stalin )

Racing versions

• Tatra 601 Tatraplan Monte Carlo (including single copies with the V8 engine from the later type 603 )
• Tatra 602 Tatraplan Sport

Export countries

country	number of pieces	Remarks
Albania	20th
Egypt	45
Belgium	167
BR Germany	195
China (PR)	200
GDR	46
Yugoslavia	76
Canada	168
Morocco	29
Netherlands	60
Austria	435
Poland	97
Romania	17th
Hungary	146
Sweden	184	With right hand drive
Switzerland	153
Soviet Union	126
total	2164

Motorsport

The Tatraplan was used in a performance-enhanced version or as the same two-door Tatraplan Monte Carlo or Tatraplan Sport with racing car body also with considerable success in motorsport and took part in various national and international racing events:

year	run	country	placement
1948	Jeseníky	ČSR	1st place (gold medal)
1949	Jeseníky	ČSR	1st / 3rd / 4th space
1949	Velká Jihočeská soutěž	ČSR	1st place in both sections
1949	1st Austrian Alpine Tour	Austria	Quadruple victory (from 22 in 2000 cm³ class)
1951	Alpine trip	Austria	Alpine Cup and gold medal
1951	Larga-Larga Gilgil in Nairobi	Kenya	Class win At the same time as the fastest
1953	Coronation Safari	Kenya, Uganda , Tanzania	1st place in class C

Technical specifications

• Length: 4540 mm
• Width: 1670 mm
• Height: 1520
• Front track: 1300 mm
• Rear track: 1300 mm
• Ground clearance: 225 mm
• Motor: four cylinder - four cycle - boxer engine with OHV - valve control , air-cooled (1 axial cooling fan)
• Mixture preparation: 2 downdraft carburettors Solex 32 UBIP
• Bore × stroke: 85 × 86 mm
• Displacement: 1952 cm³
• Compression: 6: 1
• Output: 52 hp (38 kW ) at 4000 rpm
• Clutch: single-plate dry clutch
• Gearbox: four-speed manual gearbox (4 + R) with center shift, 2nd / 3rd / 4th. Gear synchronized
• Drive type: rear-wheel drive
• Front axle: independent suspension on 2 transverse leaf springs, one above the other
• Rear axle: swing axle , torsion bar suspension
• Brakes: Hydraulic four-wheel drum brakes , hand brake acting mechanically on the rear wheels
• Empty weight: 1200 kg
• Top speed: 130 km / h (factory specification), with optional longer gear ratio 140 km / h
• Consumption: 11 liters / 100 km

literature

• The Tatraplan - a quality product of the Czechoslovak motor vehicle industry in: Motor vehicle technology 5/1952, pp. 138-141

See also

• Tatra Mountains
• Tatra 97 - the predecessor
• Tatra 107 - the modified 97

Web links

Commons : Tatra 600  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website about the Tatraplan with images and data (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.tatraplan.co.uk/ accessed April 21, 2013
2. ↑ automotive technology 11/1951, p 271