Tatra 603, a chic limousine designed especially for apparatchik

The automobile heritage of the people's democracies is not limited to the East German Trabant sufferers or the monumental Soviet ZILs that ape the Americans. Among the cars designed on the other side of the Iron Curtain, there is one that made a strong impression by its presence and the boldness of its technical and aesthetic choices. The Tatra 603, a Czechoslovak limousine that appeared just sixty years ago, occupies a special place in the pantheon of aesthetes.
Unveiled in 1956 at the Brno Fair, this vast six-seater sedan was born out of the Czechoslovak oligarchy's impatience with its Russian big brother. The Party dignitaries, tired of waiting for the delivery of Soviet ZILs, decided to acquire a vehicle worthy of their status as representatives of the people. This decision allowed the Tatra, until then condemned to produce only trucks (despite the superb precedent set by the Tatraplan in the immediate post-war period) to return in favour, leaving Skoda the task of producing models for the proletarians.
An advertising poster.
An advertising poster. Tatra
The Tatra 603 proudly unfolds its enormous body, which its designers have sculpted without regard for convention. The three headlights housed under a glass wall in the center of the bow (which eliminates the need for a grille since the engine was installed in the back) give it a haughty yet perfectly atypical look. From the stretched profile, with its majestic air intakes and impressive glass surfaces, emerges a magnificent heaviness - and, by the way, excellent aerodynamics - far from the cannons of beauty of Western models.

This stylish "rear-engine luxury car" is powered by a 2.5-litre, 95-hp V8 engine. The interior, where you can see the white levers and steering wheel, is particularly spacious. There's an independent heater under the driver's seat. It's a kind of gas stove that was probably the cause of a few fires.
A little lymphatic when starting
At the forefront of progress, the Tatra 603 had hydraulic rear suspension, a self-supporting body and, from 1968, disc brakes. A little lymphatic at first (it takes 16 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h), it is nevertheless capable of reaching speeds of 170 km/h at top speed. Behind the wheel, you have to be tactful because its architecture, which concentrates a good part of the weight in the back, makes any attempt at fast driving downright dangerous. As a result, it will be the object of some mockery and the persistent legend that it has eliminated more Party potentates than the Stalinist purges.
A chic limousine for apparatchiks, the Tatra 603, which today fascinates fans of unconventional cars, is hardly associated with fond memories for the people of Czechoslovakia in the leaden years. Reserved for taxis but above all for the leaders and the political police, it is the car of the regime. When you saw a parked Tatra on a street corner in Prague, you knew you had to keep a low profile. In L'Aveu de Costa-Gavras (1970), Yves Montand is taken on board this model manu militari by the police.

Tom Danita (CC BY 2.0)
Two thirds of the 20,000 or so models produced up to 1975 were exported to China, Cuba and other countries of the socialist bloc. Czechoslovak engineers who thought they had designed a model that could make an impact in Western Europe will be disappointed. There will be three registrations in Federal Germany, two in Belgium, one in Switzerland and the Netherlands. Apparently none in France. No doubt the result of a conspiracy hatched by Western car manufacturers, in other words, big business. It took several decades and the collapse of the communist bloc to realize that a prestigious Marxist-Leninist sedan could have class.

www.lemonde.fr/m-voiture/article/2016/11/18/tatra-603-une...

Taken on: February 8, 2017

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