Tatra 603 (some Porsche content)

[Zeephyrin]

US collector asked me to find a restored Tatra 603 car for him. Over the course of 4 months I saw every Tatra 603 for sale in Czech republic or Slovakia or in their neighborhood (lot of polished or even less polished overprice turd) and only one car fits the bill: I was lucky to find 6 months old ad, which the owner of the car failed to delete, when he changed his mind about selling the car. In fact, he never intended to sell the car, but fighting with terminal illness his wife pushed him to get rid of it. Sad.
7 years nut and bolt restoration finished 5 years ago, 7,000 km since then. I thought the crowd here might appreciate these cars and their similarity to Porsches. They used to haul commie apparatchiks back in its days (people were not allowed to buy these new, buyer had to be state owned enterprise or communist party).
Car could be Panamera of the Ost Block: 4 door limousine, air cooled V8 at the back. Independent gas heater under driver's seat! Original B;aupunkt radio. These cars were produced from mid 50's to 1974 as last of the streamlined Tatras.
This car was a positive surprise in terms of driving: enough power to keep up and accelerate in today's traffic, very potent brakes, light and precise steering with feel similar to early 811. I would not mind use it as a daily driver.
The new owner of the car lives in Scottsdale, AZ and in Montana somewhere and I am sure he will he will drive th car to shows. Perhaps even Pebble Beach, as Tatra is one of the featured marques in 2014.
Sorry about the pictures, they were taken to document the process rather than present the car. And the weather is always grey during winter here.

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[TZombek]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[ErVikingo]

Very cool. Another one for the list of cars to won one day.

Thanks for sharing!