1850-2000
History
of the TATRA Works
Historical Review of Production and Development
of
the TATRA Koprivnice Works
(1850)
TATRA
vehicles are supported by more than 150 years of tradition of
manufacture of carriages, wagons, cars and trucks
in the Koprivnice factory. The founding of TATRA Koprivnice is closely linked up with the
industrial revolution of Bohe-
mia and Moravia. First historical records of this nature can be
traced back to 1850 - 1853. Halfway the nineteenth century Ignac Schustala and
Adolf Raska established a coach and cart factory in the east Moravian
village of Koprivnice.
(1860)
The
first stage of development in 1860 - 1862 is marked by the
construction of additional industrial premises, with the acquisition of a steam engine, of power-operated lathes and
saws
as well as of grinding machines.
In addition to the "Neutischeinek" buggies production
started of semi- and fully covered luxury coaches.
The commercial success of the Schustala's coach factory was aided
naturally by showing their products at important industrial
exhibitions and by the acknowledgements that were bestowed on the
Nesselsdorf (Koprivnice) plant
exhibitions in Central Europe. Between 1870 and 1880 the construction of the factory
was completed and its annual production volume rose to 1200 vehicles.
In those days the factory employed as many as 150 workers
(1881)
In
1881 the construction of the Studenka - Stramberk railway
line was completed within a few months. The introduction of
traffic on this line on Dec.18,1881 and the first order of
railway wagons in the middle of 1882 year opened up a new
chapter in the development of the Koprivnice factory.
The
subsequent progressive expansion of the production activities caused
the construction of new premises and an ampli-
fication of the existing production facilities and equipment.
In 1887 the forgery was expanded and the construction of
a new assembly shop initiated, in the latter a carpentry
and cabinet makers shop was installed to cater to the railway
wagon production shops.
(1891)
In
1891 enterprise was converted into a joint stock com-
pany. The working capital under this arrangement amounted al-
ready two million Austrian crowns.
(1897)
With the assistance of a motor car enthusiast baron Lie-
big and following a decision of the factory's general ma-
nager Hugo Fischer, the development and manufacturing of the
first motor car was taken in hand in 1897. With this event
a new chapter of the Koprivnice factory was initiated and
a motor car factory was born which later would evaluate into the Tatra
works as it exists till today.
(1898)
In 1898 the first automobile "NW
Präsident" came out of the
factory, the first Austro Hungarian works built automobile. Leopold Svitak
was the man in charge of the management
of the "Präsident" production.
On May 21, 1898 the "Präsident" motor car started for its
first
long-distance run from Koprivnice to Vienna (328 km) which
was covered in 14.5 hours net travel time.
In 1898
one designed and built its first lorry of a
cab-over-engine type with a flat, four-cylinder engine. The 2.5 ton
lorry had three speeds and could reach a max speed of 20 kph with a
fuel consumption of 4 litres an hour.
The "Präsident" car was then succeeded by various other cars; in
1899
it was the "Meteor" with a two-cylinder engine of 6 h.p.,
the
"Spitzbub" and in 1900 the "Nesselsdorf"
automobile. The
cars manufactured after these were designated merely as the
"Vierer" types, that is, automobiles that could seat four
pas-
sengers.
(1900)
The
first racing car rolled out of the Koprivnice factory
by 1900. The car called the "NW
Rennzweier"
featured a two-cylinder, 12 h.p. engine,
four speeds and was able of a maximum speed of 112 kph. Baron Liebig became the most successful racing car driver of the Koprivnice
factory at the turn of the centuries (among other contests Liebig won
the Nice - La Turbie race in 1900; in that same year he ranked second
in-the Salzburg - Linz - Vienna race. He also took part in the
Paris-Vienna contest and in a race for the Gordon-Benet prize).
In 1900 a steam-driven omnibus for 12 passengers with a
24-h.p, engine was built in the factory.
(1905)
The
manufacture and design of automobiles in Koprivnice is
linked to the name of the legendary motor car designer,
Ing. Hans Ledwinka.
Ledwinka designed most of the types of automobiles manu-
factured in the Koprivnice automobile factory. In the 1905
year he designed new elements for the "S" type, such as a
drive of the rear axle through a drive-shaft and a transmis-
sion gearbox with radial engagement of the gears. With five
gear wheels the design of this gearbox enabled the selection of four
forward gears and a reverse gear.
In the
course of the first ten years of automobile manufacturing
the conception of the vehicles changed several times and the
development of automobiles in the Koprivnice factory can rough-
ly be divided into three stages of development. The first one
was represented by the coach-like cars called "Alter Vierer",
in the second stage there figured the "B", "C",
"
D",
"E"
and "F" types which
were characterized by wheels of an identical size, a body that could be
flipped over for engine access, an engine situated between the
axles and chain-driven rear wheels.
The third
stage of development was initiated by vehicles with
a rectangular frame, laminated springs, engine and gearbox in one unit
situated in front and shaft driven rear wheels.
(1912)
Before
the outbreak of World War I the cars turned out by
the factory showed certain stabilization«of character of
each individual type. The factory was divided into three main
sections that manufactured respectively, coaches, railway
wagons and automobiles,
In spite of the favorable acceptance by the public of the
"S" type cars in all their different modifications the
development was continued. The new design improvements
which formed part of a subsequent modernization program
gave birth to a new type, the "Typ
T" which was manufactured from the
beginning of World War I up to 1925. Contrary to the "S"
type
the "T" type engine featured all four cylinders cast in one
block. The valves were
controlled by rocker arms from a camshaft. A bell-shaped
transmission gearbox made it possible, with a minimum
number of two elements with internal teeth and three gear
wheels, to obtain four forward gears and a reverse gear.
(1914)
In
1914 NW put into production their newest in-line-six, the "Typ U"
. This 55hp model would evaluate into the 65 hp Tatra T 10 by 1921.
During World War
I, NW supplied the army with platform trucks based on the Typ T. The "TL
2" two-ton
lorry in fact was a rebodied Typ T. Some passenger cars were built
however. The Koprivnice factory built an luxury type T with
a 20-30 h.p. engine for the emperor of Austria.
(1916)
From
1916 onwards the production "TL 4" trucks began, its
manufacturing being continued even in the post war days until 1924. In the course of the war the production
of lorries increased substantially.
In 1915 a total of 105
vehicles were turned over to their users and in the following
year the annual production figure of lorries increased to
226 which were manufactured along with 12 power-operated
carts of the "T mak" type. In 1917 a total of 342 lorries
were manufactured for the Austrian army. By that time the
factory employed as many as 2500 workers.
(1919)
In
1919 test runs were conducted with "U" type vehicles
for which new brake keys had been designed. The test runs
took place in the High Tatra mountains on difficult terrain in winter
conditions. Some tracks were hardly usable. The vehicles under test
were admired by the local inhabitants of this mountainous region and
said to the drivers "That would be a car for our Tatra
mountains"
Looking for a new name, the Tatra direction remembered these remarks
and decided to rename the factory in a nationalistic wave in
"Tatra" One wanted to get rid of the German names and to
name the cars "Koprivnice" instead of Nesselsdorfer
was not acceptable for commercial reasons. So the first
"TL 4" lorry coming out.of the factory on March 29,
1919 featured the new "TATRA" trade mark. In 1920 the old
trade mark of the automobiles "NW" (Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau)
was definitely replaced by the TATRA trade mark.
(1921)
The
construction of a new automobile factory on an area of
15 000 m2 was inaugurated in 1921. In those days, that is,
after World War I, Hans Ledwinka foresaw that there was a future for
light, inexpensive cars in post-war Europe.
Although there was still a demand for luxurious and comfortable
cars at the world markets, such vehicles were too expensive
and served only a few selected individuals, whereas according
to Hans Ledwinka's point of view the automobile was destined
to become an object of everyday use to modem man. .. Such
an automobile had to be designed with more economy and practicability in
mind. The new car made along these lines had to be simple, easy to
maintain, reliable and with an very economic fuel consumption. All
these parameters were included by Hans Ledwinka in the design of his
new two-cylinder Tatra
T 11.
(1922)
But
Tatra was in trouble. The wagon production that had boomed in WW I and
in the years after the war, the newly founded Czechoslovakia being in
need for new means transport, dropped dramatically in the early
twenties. Vehicle production until then was more or less supported by
the very successful and far bigger wagon production.
A
solution was found when the Prague based Ringhoffer concern, like
Tatra building railway stock and about twice the Tatra size, acquired
a majority of the shares, donating new capital needed to make Tatra
suitable for mass car production.
(1923)
The
new T 11 was presented to the public for the first time at the Prague
Motor Show in 1923.
With this new car TATRA started a new
era of motor vehicle manufacture. The TATRA 11 two-cylinder
car was the first of the Tatra models whose conception entered the history of
automotive engineering as one typical for the TATRA factory.
The air-cooled engine was a 12-14 h.p twin. The
engine was rigidly fitted, through a flanged joint, to the
transmission gear case via a clutch box. It featured swing
half-axles with independent elastic suspension of all wheels.
With a realization of such advanced design features the TATRA
Works got far ahead of its time. With its innovative features
Tatra would earn a prominent position among the producers of
vehicles in the history of engineering, despite their moderate production volume
With
the T 11 automobile and, in particular, with the fol-
lowing T 12 type Ing. Ledwinka introduced new structural ele-
ments which have since become the corner stones of Tatra design till
this very day:
- Self-supporting, torsionless rigid chassis consisting of a single
tube, independent springing of the wheels using swinging half axles
without articulated joints, the
unsprung mass reduced to an absolute minimum,
- The adoption of these principles to all vehicles, from the
smallest and lightest ones up to the heaviest lorries has a
significant advantage: the road surface suffers from a minimum
of wear by the traffic.
- Systematic engineering of air-cooled engines.
(1921)
Cars
built according this new concept of the TATRA factory proved their
outstanding features in a number of international con
tests.
In
1921 Josef Vermirovsky ran his first uphill race on the
Ecce Homo track in a "T" type car and got second.
In the climbing contest up the Solitude Hill near Stuttgart
in 1924 the 1.1-litre Tatra 11 run by Vermirovsky won all
the prizes which were donated by the Suttgart municipal authorities
for the fastest and most successful car.
In 1925 the TATRA cars evidenced their extraordinary advantages at the
Targa Florio international car race as well as in the Leningrad -
Moscow - Tbilisi - Moscow long distance trial
on a track of 5300 kms, where the advantages of an air-cooled
engine could be fully proven. Vermirovsky was the only
driver who arrived without a single penalty point and, even more, was
awarded two prizes in appreciation of durability and economy of his
car.
(1927)
The
achievements of the TATRA cars in the international field
made the name of TATRA so popular among the public that in
1927 the management board decided to change the plant's name of "Koprivnicka
vozovka a.s." ("Koprivnice
Car Factory Ltd." or "Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau Fabriksgesellschaft") into "TATRA WORKS Ltd" (Zavody
TATRA a.s.). The successful name of the cars so changed the name of
the works. By the end of 1926 the firm could announced that they had
manufactured since their establishment 150 000 road carts
and similar vehicles of all types, 50 000 railway cars and
8 000 automobiles, apart from a large number of other products.
By that time the Koprivnice factory employed a total of 3000
workers and 300 white collar employees. The annual
production capacity of the factory rose to some 400 pas-
senger wagons, 4000 freight wagons as well as three
to four thousand automobiles.
The
twenties and early thirties saw the expansion of Ledwinka's concept of
air cooled, independedly sprung cars to bigger models and even trucks.
Noteworthy are the T
30, the T 52
and the T
23 and T
26/30 lorries.
Even
luxury vehicles got the comfortable chassis concept. By the end of the
twenties Tatra designed luxury six- and twelf cylinder cars like the T
70
and the T
80
introduced in 1931.
(1931)
In
1931 the public witnessed the arrival of a new development, the "T
57"
It was meant as the successor of the T 12. Again it was a low-cost, lightweight passenger car,
that in a number of different modifications was manufactured
up to 1948. It gained enormous popularity and was nicknamed "Hadimrska".
A larger version of this popular car bore the type
designation "T
75 ".
It was the first car however to get a new grille, imitating a
radiator. The era of the iron shaped front had finished. Other
existing models got similar noses soon afterwards.
With the "T 57" type a culminating point was reached by the
TATRA conception of a car with a central backbone beam, swing
axles and an air-cooled engine situated in the front part of
the vehicles with low cylinder volumes.
(1934)
By
1934 Tatra's streamlined era started when they introduced their T
77 prototypes, the
very first series produced scientifically streamlined car. It
started a row of streamlined Tatra vehicles, all featuring a rear
mounted, air-cooled engine. It had a pontoon body and a box-type
back bone chassis. From 1932 onwards, Tatra had already experimented
with smaller rear engined cars, alike the later VW Beetle. The V
570 still exists and
is exhibited in the works museum.
By
1935 Ringhoffer and Tatra merged completely. New name became
"Ringhoffer Tatra."
The designers
of the "T
77",
were Hans Ledwinka and Erich. Übelacker. Further cooperation
of the two resulted in improved
models like the "T
77a" and "T
87".
A smaller streamliner, almost a scaled down T 87, was built as well.
This
"T
97"
featured a four-cylinder engine, a flat four of course.
The pre-war prosperity made itself felt in the factory from
as early as 1936, particularly in the production of the
"T
27"
three-ton lorries which featured outstanding running charac-
teristics. Together with the modernized type "T 27b" they
were
produced from 1930 to 1947,
(1939)
In
accordance with the traditionally identical principles of
conception which were adhered to in the TATRA establishment
there was created, in 1939, a six-and-half ton lorry of the
"T
81" type with three driven
axles and a 130 - 150 h,p.
eight-
-cylinder engine which was still cooled by water.
(1942)
War
time production (The Tatra Works were occupied by Nazi Germany in
October 1938) included a military version of the T 57, the
T
57K,
but the Nazis thought that Tatra's chassis concept would be suitable
for the eastern front. They asked Tatra to design an air cooled
engine for a big lorry. Result was the the 6.5 and later 8-ton lorry TATRA
T
111 with a
twelve-cylinder air-cooled engine.
Other models like the T
92,
the T 27 and T
85 lorries
and the T 87 were produced for the Nazis in the early war years,
their production stopped when Germany standardized more and and more
when the war continued. Apart from production vehicles, Tatra
built several prototypes that didn't make it to production. Examples
are the V
809 and the
V 855 Sledge
(1945)
After World War II there was recorded an upswing of the pro-
duction volume of the Koprivnice factory, for it was necessary
to build 60 000 railway wagons that Czechoslovakia
had lost during the war years.
The TATRA Koprivnice automobile factory became the.largest
post-war producer of passenger cars and lorries in Czecho-
slovakia. According to statistical data it accounted for
46 per cent of the total production of automobiles in Czecho-
slovakia between 1946 and 1947. In 1945 it already employed
5100 workers.
Ringhoffer-Tatra,
like all major Czechoslovak heavy metal industries, was nationalized
late in 1945. Ringhoffer Tatra's owners, the Ringhoffer family, were
expelled without compensation because as they were regarded as
Germans, the general director Hans von Ringhoffer was arrested. He
died in a Russian secret service concentration camp in Saxony late
in 1946. No trial ever took place. No charges are known.
Hans
Ledwinka was arrested as well. He was accused of collaboration and
sentenced to six years prison .
The manufacture of automobiles TATRA continued the old tra-
ditions in the post-war years. The well-proven "T
57b"
four-cylinder and "T
87" eight-cylinder cars the building of
which had been cut short in 1942, were the first models to be
re-introduced.
(1946)
In 1946 the construction of production lines was taken up
for the "T 27b" lorries and, later on^, these lines were
used
for the assembly of the newer "T
111" and "T 114"
TATRA lor-
ries. There was also built the fleet-belt production line for the
manufacturing
of T 87bodies.
(1951)
Between 1946 and 1947 the factory designed a
new passenger car. Prototypes were called T T
1-107 and
T
2-107,
production models the TATRAPLAN T 600" type. Tatra experimented
with several derivatives, but none made it to production. Worthwhile
mentioning are the T
600 Sodomka convertible, the two door T
601 and the front engined T 201.
Due
to a reshuffle of the heavy industries in now communist
Czechoslovakia, the production of the Tatraplan was transferred in 1951 from
TATRA
to the AZNP Mlada Boleslav (Skoda vehicle works). In that same year the
production of railway wagons was terminated and Tatra National
Corporation was forced to concentrate exclusively on the development
and production of lorries.
In the TATRA works one concentrated on the manufacturing of the
"T
128" and "T 111 R" heavy lorries and, later on,
also the
manufacture of the road towing vehicles "T 141" for
transport
of trailers and of the "T 128" one-and-half ton off-the-road
vehicle.
The design of the "T 128" lorry, was based on to use as much
as possible parts from existing other lorries - mainly the T 111.
The swing axles of the vehicle enabled the 4x4 lorry to be driven
faster on rough surface than vehicles fitted with rigid axles,
(1955)
In 1955 the manufacture of passenger cars could start again. In Prague
the factory developed the "T
603" car with a
95 h.p. air-cooled eight-cylinder engine overhanging the rear. Final
decision about its design were taken in the winter of 1954/1955 when
a
full
size model
could be presented. For the first time a flat floor was achieved
and the helical springs mounted in a silentblocs made it possible to obtain the parameters and running characteristics
which were typical of high-standard cars. Production of the T 603
stayed very modest. Cars were exclusively built for party officials
and the like.
(1952)
The
T 603 wasn't the first vehicle featuring the T 603 engine. In the
early fifties the "T 805" lorry was designed. It was a
successfull one-and-a-half
ton off-the-road
vehicle with hub reduction and an T 603a air-cooled eight-cylinder engine situated in
the front. Cabin was a cab-over-engine.
(1959)
In 1959 TATRA brought to the market a new type of lorry, the
"T
138", with independent springing system and swing axles.
the springing of which is provided by longitudinal torsion
bars for single axles and by longitudinal leaf springs for
the double rear axle. Engine was a 192 h.p, V8
air-cooled one. The gearbox was operated pneumatically.
(1963)
Tatra
updated their T
2-603
and even experimented with new new
bodies
(1966)
A new type of vehicle that was put to series production in
1966 was the "T
813" three-axle and tipper of 250 h.p. and,
after further development, a new four axle 1967 model towing vehicle on giant
tyres. The inflation pressure of which could be varied while
the vehicle was running. The T 813 would be known as the Tatra "Kolos"
Since 1964 the industrial production volume of the firm in-
creased by 60 per cent, A large proportion of the products
goes for export which accounts for a full 32,5 per cent of
the factory' s total production.
(1967)
To
honor Tatra's seventieth birthday of car production, the T
603
was updated once more. The model was dated now, it's production only
lengthened as the production of the new model T 613 was
postponed year after year.
(1969)
The
T
613 prototypes were the
first Tatras styled outside the Tatra Works. The less strict
communistic ties of the time enabled Tatra to contact Carrozzeria
Vignale. They built three cars for Tatra, at the time featuring a
updated T 603 engine, the T 613 engine still under development.
(1973)
While
the western world suffers from the oil crisis, Czechoslovakia is
about to introduce its first non streamlined Tatra since the
mid-thirties.
(1974)
Tatra
starts production of the T 613 in their works at Pribor, just north
of Koprivnice
(1975)
The
last and 20.422th T 603 leaves the Tatra Works in August. More than
40 years of streamlining comes to an end.
(1980)
Tatra
decided to give the T 613 a face lift. Plastic parts replaced
various chrome parts while the engine got more economic on fuel. In
the eighties other unsuccessful face
lifts
followed, the T 613 losing its Vignale grandeur.
(1982)
Both
the very successful T 148 lorry and the giant T 813 were replaced by
a new cab over engine model, the T
815. It was built in numerous versions from 4x4
tractors and 3-axle tippers to 12x4 6 axle cranes and everything in
between. (6x6, 8x8, 10x6)
(1989)
Czechoslovakia's
velvet revolution meant a disaster for Tatra. They didn't have a
selling organization, everything centralized in communist
Czechoslovakia. Gone were the traditional markets. Tatra suddenly
having to compete with western products.
New
markets were found in Lybia and North Korea. They were disastrous.
Due to the crash of the Panam-Boeing at Lockerbie, the U.N.
introduced an economic boycott for Lybia. Tatra was left with
hundreds of unpaid custom built trucks with airco, the works grounds
and test track full of sand-yellow T 815s.
Hundreds
of black T 613s ordered by North Korea weren't delivered as North
Korea cancelled its order.
Both
trucks and T 613s were finally sold for scrap prizes.
The
12.000 employees of the communist days, used to work in shifts, saw
thousands of colleagues fired.
After
Tatra and Tatra G.B. tried to make the T 613 acceptable for the
western public, fitting the T 613 with a cat and fuel injection as
well as redesigning the interior, Tatra decided upon a last try:
With the help of British designer Geoff Wardle the T 613 was shaped
into the T 700. With much publicity it was
introduced in the Prague Hilton in April 1996. A year later it was
already redesigned, giving the car, known as the T
2-700 a
more modern back.
(1998)
Not
enough customers were found however, the T 700 prizes rising year by
year.
Production
was finally stopped in 1998. 100 years of car production came to an
end.
Tatra
had become a truck-only vehicle producer. Despite their successes in
Paris Dakar, Tatra had great difficulties finding new customers.
Annual production sank from 15.000 units in the mid-eighties to
around 2000 in the mid-nineties. Products were improved however
despite the lack of finances. Engines were improved and could choose
from Deutz engines or Tatra engines. Anti-pollution measures forced
to meet with Euro I and Euro II demands. Tatra managed to reach
these standards in a short time.
Westerners
refused to buy Tatras in quantities however, their servicing network
in Western Europe being poor. By the end of the nineties, Tatra
concentrated themselves on their traditional markets: former
eastern-bloc countries and the Third World. Co-operations were
started in India and South America.
By
1998 Tatra introduced even new models: the TERRN° 1 and the JAMAL,
the latter one a tipper model with a classic nose.
(2000)
In
2000 Tatra became part of a revitalization program of the Czech
government, that took the enormous debts from Tatra's shoulders.
Nowadays Tatra is much smaller but reports black figures again.
Kees
Smit
March
2001
