Tatra 603
| Tatra 603 | |
|---|---|
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Tatra |
| Production | 1956–1962 |
| Assembly | Kopřivnice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia |
| Designer |
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| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Full-size luxury car |
| Body style | 4-door saloon |
| Layout | RR layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2.5L Tatra 603F air-cooled V8 |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,748 mm (108.2 in) |
| Length | 5,065 mm (199.4 in) |
| Width | 1,910 mm (75 in) |
| Height | 1,529 mm (60.2 in) |
| Curb weight | 1,400 kg (3,100 lb) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | |
| Successor | Tatra 613 |
| Tatra 2-603 | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Tatra |
| Production | 1962–1968 |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2.5L Tatra 603G air-cooled V8 |
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|---|---|
.JPG) |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Tatra |
| Production | 1968–1975 |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 2.5L Tatra 603G air-cooled V8 |
| Tatra 603 F | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Combustion chamber | |
| Configuration | V8 |
| Displacement | 2,545 cc |
| Cylinder bore | 75 mm (2.95 in) |
| Piston stroke | 72 mm (2.83 in) |
| Valvetrain | OHV |
| Compression ratio | 6.5:1 |
| Combustion | |
| Cooling system | air-cooled |
| Output | |
| Power output | 73.5 kW (99 hp) |
| Torque output | 152 N·m (112 ft·lbf) @ 4800 rpm |
| Dimensions | |
| Dry weight | 180 kg (400 lb) |
| Tatra 603 G | |
|---|---|
| Combustion chamber | |
| Configuration | V8 |
| Displacement | 2,472 cc |
| Cylinder bore | 75 mm (2.95 in) |
| Piston stroke | 70 mm (2.76 in) |
| Valvetrain | OHV |
| Compression ratio | 8.2:1 |
| Output | |
| Power output | 77.5 kW (104 hp) |
| Torque output | 166 N·m (122 ft·lbf) @ 4800 rpm |
The Tatra 603 is a large rear-engined luxury car which was produced by the Czechoslovak company Tatra from 1956 to 1975. It was a continuation of the series of Tatra streamlined sedans started by the Tatra 77. In Communist Czechoslovakia only high-ranking party officials and heads of factories were driven in 603s; the car was also exported to a number of other countries.
Tatra was the traditional maker of state-of-the-art luxurious automobiles in the Czech lands. Austro-Hungarian emperor Charles I used a NW type T; the Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk drove the twelve-cylinder Tatra 80 while his successor Edvard Beneš drove the streamlined Tatra 87. While the T87 was manufactured from 1936 to 1950, the post-war T600 may be considered the first car of the new political establishment. The T600 was much smaller and used an engine of only four cylinders, making it the descendant of the T97, the small pre-war Tatra. Production of the T97 had been stopped by the Nazis in order to cover its resemblance to their KdF-Wagen (which later became known as the VW Beetle). Czechoslovakia had a Communist government since 1948, and its economy was later subject to some regulation by the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), consisting of eastern European Communist nations. After production of the T600 ended in 1952, COMECON decided that Tatra would manufacture only trucks, while luxury cars would be imported into Czechoslovakia from the USSR.
The enthusiastic Tatra designers, however, continued their work on a new car in secret. In 1952 a group of designers led by František Kardaus and Vladimír Popelář started secret development of a new car called Valuta, while officially devoting their time to development of a new three-axle bus T400. In 1953 the communist government got fed up with delays in delivery of Soviet cars as well as with their poor quality and they ordered development of a new luxury Tatra, thus giving legitimacy to the team's previous work. The new car was to have a 3.5-litre air-cooled eight-cylinder engine, and it was to be ready for production by the end of 1954. While the chassis was almost ready due to the work on Valuta, the engine remained an issue. Even in their secret designs nobody had anticipated such a large engine. Engineer Julius Mackerle proposed a "temporary" solution of using the already developed 2.5-litre T603 engine in the new car (it was already successfully used in Tatra racecars and Tatra 87-603), while the larger one was supposed to be ready in the next 4–5 years.
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