The history of TATRA 54
The new history of Tatra 54 from Ostrava is written since 1997. As in last year tore through central Europe floods, we wrote a short report to Austria Mr. Buchta of austroclassic.com so that we could all told affected – head up, everything will be good again !
Proud owner of the Tatras ” Verma ” itself was also affected by the floods , if it happened in the northern Czech Republic in Ostrava in 1997. Fortunately, he has not someone do not lose the roof over your head , nor life, near his surroundings. But it was TATRA 54 of 1931 , which was parked in the garage at the flooded river Odra , and which was completely destroyed by the floods .
As it is written above , lovers of veterans and old things do not hang your head . It’s a cruel thing if the item your family jewel will destroy , but man is a fighter by nature and is able to fight with such a fate . We know from personal experience – as Verma with his father lit the whole Tatra , cleaned, polished, as you have produced new parts or entire sections , the parts that were either destroyed or washed away. We could write the veterans still many pages about a total renovation , such as Tatra was gradually dismantled to screw , as the shack was prepared as everything had to fit , prepare for the paint and how it was painted, as the machine raised back to life but it would not be so interesting and after few lines you would get bored . Sometimes the problems were bigger , sometimes everything went so smoothly and sometimes you had to rewrite some parts even three times before the result was satisfactory. After 14 years my friend came almost to a complete objectives and the renewed Tatra was almost ready to go on the road.
Unfortunately, the thieves came and the refurbished Tatra stolen. That was in 2011 and we have for the first time almost all veteran clubs in Europe addressed , for the case that maybe somewhere our veteran appears. Fortunately, the police found after a short time in Ostrava Tatra again, and we have recalled alarm for which we have called immediately after the loss between friends , acquaintances and strangers and in the media.
The whole last year and already this season is also marked by the travel with this old machine , we regularly take on competitions elegance and orientation rally part . It pleased the whole family and especially my friend after all the years of hard work in the garage feel thoroughly enjoys .
Now we are happy to introduce a little Tatra 54 . Developmentally comes from the Tatra 11 , which was designed in 1923 by Hans Ledwinka . It is an air-cooled four-cylinder boxer that is on the front axle and rear drive capacity 1679 cm3 Bore 75×95 mm, with electromagnetic ignition Scintilla and 12 V vehicle electrical systems . Fuel flows by gravity into the carburetor Zenith 30U mounted above the engine with cylinder connected oblique sucking , wire rope drum brakes with shoes on the front and rear axles , worm control. Solid front axle with leaf spring suspension and rear axle that has two swinging half-axles , the transfer of the 4-speed transmission with dry disk clutch. Body type is two-door , four seat with solid roof made of artificial leather . Tatra was made in 1931 and since 1938 has been owned by our family. She was rescued from the Second World War and the Communist bureaucracy and survived the great flood in 1997 and theft in 2011.
We would like to wish all of you bring their bikes or cars back to its former glory . Do not be afraid of the time , investment and effort that you need to insert into the machine , you overcame the problems that arise in the restructuring . We wish you all understood the family when you turn to the repair of their machines all your free time .
Nataša a Jiří Verma from Ostrava
Program & invitation Noordwijkerhout: http://www.tatraclub.at/index.php?lang=de German: http://www.tatraclub.at/index.php?lang=en