1951 Tatraplan - STROMLINIE!
Since we left Germany with an empty trailer, we had to check up on an old lead in southern Sweden...
We have a special interest for the "non-revolutionary"-part of the design history of the Volkswagen Beetle. Mr Porsche was a genious - and wise enough to utilize a lot of the contemporary ideas of automotive design, when he had to design "the peoples car" in no time, and for very little money. A court-settlement defined later how he had copied a lot of inventions, ideas and concepts from his friend Hans Ledwinka - chief designer at Tatra in Tschecoslovakia. The big pre-war T87 and T97 V-8 models were the pioneers, yet a much larger and more luxurious car than the VW was to be. Therefore, the post-war "Tatraplan 600" is really the Tatra that has the most in common with the Beetle - rear mounted aircooled boxer 4, tunnell/floorpan-chassis, the unreal "stromlinie"-design and ..... 5x205 bolt pattern.
We struck a deal on this fantastic patina-Tatra and loaded it on our empty trailer and headed north in minus 10 and snowing. In the same family since 1958 and it came with loads of spare parts as well. The front fenders are rusty - the rest is not. It was driven into its storage-place about 15 years ago and it really should not take a whole lot to get running again.
So - we crossed the border into Norway with a big smile on our faces - thanks #7 for a great trip! And thanks a whole whole lot to everybody we met during this great trip.... The Grundmanns, Björn Schewe, Tomasz & driver, Kreutzi, Dieter, Jürgen and Patrick - we will be back.
A very nice find!
SvarSlett