There is one car we instantly associate with the Czech Republic—Skoda, now part of the Volkswagen Group. Yet for many years Tatra cars (named after the mountain range) were also made there, although they were sold mainly in the home market and elsewhere in the then Soviet Union.
Indeed, the only Tatras I ever saw belonged to Czech ambassadors and diplomats stationed in other European countries in the 1950s and 1960s. I recall them as big, black and cumbersome with three or four huge headlamps. Unusually for a large car, they were rear-engined with a long sloping back end, giving them a highly streamlined look. They also had a “two-part” rear window—one just behind the rear seats and a second one above the engine in the long tailgate.
Tatra can claim to be the second-oldest European vehicle manufacturer, after Peugeot, with an unbroken history. It was started in 1850 by Ignatz Schustala, became Nesseldorfer Wagenbau in the 1890s, produced its first car in 1897, called the Praesident and largely with Benz components, and finally changed its name to Tatra in 1919. During the second world war it made tank engines and vehicles for the German Army and resumed civilian work after 1945 and during the Soviet era.
The company still exists today, mainly manufacturing all-wheel-drive trucks and off-road vehcles, but car production ceased in 1999. Their all-wheel-drives have a solid reputation—a Tatra 815 truck, driven by the Czech truck racer Karel Loprais, won the trans-Sahara Dakar Rally six times between 1988 and 2001.
However, Tatra’s biggest claim to fame is that it inspired the Volkswagen Beetle. In the early 1930s, they produced the 77, regarded as the world’s first streamlined car, with well-rounded bodywork and an air-cooled rear engine. Other models followed and Hitler was highly impressed by them, as was Ferdinand Porsche, who worked extensively with Tatra’s then chief engineer, Austrian Hans Ledwinka.
Although one can’t quite call the Beetle a mini-Tatra, many Beetle design and engineering features were copied from Tatra, especially its small 97 model. Indeed, the firm sued VW for patent theft, a process stalled by the war but in 1965 they finally won a one million Dmarks out-of-court settlement from VW. The Beetle’s global success has its roots in Tatra.