I can't write a better description / history than the seller did, so I'll just cut and paste his here:"A 'Communist Super car??' Well, yes - rear engined HEMI V8 all aluminum overhead cam aircoooled engine! So exotic and weird you can't make this stuff up! With VW/Porsche type rear swing axles (more on that later), 4-speed transaxle with column gear shift!! Czechlosavakian automaker TATRA and their legendary designer Hans Ledwinka are generally credited with INVENTING the whole rear engine/central tube chassis layout and concept from which the VW beetle and thus every classic Porsche derived and evolved! Unknown to most Porsche enthusiasts is that in 1938 Tatra sued Ferdinand Porsche for copying their designs! After WWII Volkswagon settled with Tatra for several million marks. TATRA is both very significant in automotive history and yet relatively unknown.
So, one can argue that the TATRA is the first true four-door "Porsche," not the Panamera!
My Tatra 603 is a good running largely original/unrestored example of the car favored by so many eastern European Communist party chiefs during the cold war era. It is believed that Fidel Castro still has his Tatra 603!
This is my favorite line...
"So UGLY its beautiful!! Personally I describe the styling as "Buck Rogers Spaceship meets cockroach!"
There are many, many cars on my list of cars to own that come before a Tatra. But, if you buy this and bring it to a show in the Northeast, look for me running towards it. I'll probably be all wide eyed and awe struck. I'll also most likely be alone. I think my last "Tatra episode" alienated the last person who'd attend car shows with me.
Located "North of Seattle, WA", click here to see the eBay listing.
