Now, to really understand this fine automobile, you have to watch a bit of Rodeocross racing. Rodeocross appears to be what Czech rednecks do when they mix beer, a dirt road course, beer, Warsaw Pact cars, beer, and beer. The Tatrabant was originally built for Rodeocross, but the organizers wouldn't let it race… because it was "too dangerous." Yesssss!


[Sportovnivozy.cz]

I was a little sad to see the Imperial go, but I love the idea of this monster dropping anchor on some quaint cobblestone Central European street as the locals back away in awe. The Oakland warehouse of the shipping company is so close to Alameda that I was able to walk home after dropping off the Le Baron; BobAsh will have the privilege of driving about 475 miles from the dock to his town in the Czech Republic. I'm envious!


The shipper's parking lot is usually full of interesting cars on the first leg of their journey to Europe; Porsches and air-cooled VWs are most common, along with 50s and 60s Detroit iron. The afternoon I dropped off the Imperial, however, the only other Germany-bound car in the lot was this battered-but-still-majestic Mercedes-Benz 600. No doubt the insanely complicated hydraulic system in this machine has been dead for years, but all that stuff can be ripped out of a rusted-out German 600 and swapped into this oxide-free California car.

When I saw it, I thought it was an April Fool's joke, even though it was April 2nd already. When I saw it again, and again, on other websites, I thought it was a really good April Fool's joke, so good that even fellow journalists got caught. When I saw it in the newspaper and finally in the evening news, I knew it must be The April Fool's Joke of the decade. Because, unlike the news about Oldsmobile being bought by Toyota and going back in business, Jag XF-C or dog-pee-proof BMW wheels, this one seems to be true.

What the hell am I talking about, you ask? I am talking about the thing that electrified the whole Czech motoring media in last 24 hours. Tatra, as a manufacturer of passenger cars, returns!

In the recent interview for Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny, Tatra's main shareholder and CEO, Ronald Adams, stated that Tatra he wants to bring back Tatras of the past as retro automobiles. According to his words, the company is overwhelmed with inquiries about new passenger cars and he wants to capitalize the good name of the company. What he's planning is to take two or three historic models of Tatra (probably 87, Tatraplan and 603) and produce them as retro cars, based on modern chassis and drivetrains from some big manufacturer, "like Skoda, Ford or Subaru", which, as Adams says, can also handle the servicing. The production should begin in 2009 or 2010 and Adams thinks he'll be able to sell several hundred per year.
It must be said that its pretty ambitious plan, not only for obvious technical difficulties, but also because Tatra is busy enough doing its main business- building heavy trucks, mostly for military use. On the other hand, recent successes in this field suggest that Mr. Adams knows what he's doing. Let's wish him well and dream about a Subaru-flat-four powered, rear engined Tatraplan... [Hospodarske Noviny]

The car was located in Fremont, which is about 30 miles from the Island That Time Forgot, and I wanted to hit the Pick Your Part in nearby Milpitas anyway, so I agreed to go over and take a look at the Corvette BobAsh (and a shadowy consortium of Czech Trilateral Commission operatives) had picked out on Craiglist. Once I'd placed my patented Malaisemobile Seal of Approval™ on the car, Lieberman was to lurch leap into action, picking up the cash wired by the Czechs' Nigerian bagmen and blowing every dime on poker and 7-diamond prostitutes catching the next plane up from SoCal.

The first thing I noticed about the car (after spotting the '88 and '73 Vettes parked nearby) was the amazingly Malaise blue metalflake paint job, like something from Foghat's drum set, circa 1978. The owner was pleasant enough and definitely knew his Corvettes, but I knew I had to be thorough or spend the rest of my days looking over my shoulder for a hit squad straight outta Prague. The car had sat for 10 years prior to the current owner getting it in running condition, which meant all manner of strange problems could show themselves. So I took photos of all the flaws I could find (the photos in these galleries are the very ones I sent to BobAsh) and checked all the stuff I knew (from bitter experience) that GM tended to screw up in the Late Malaise period. Leaky T-tops? Check (though there's not much point in checking those, given that GM T-tops would find a way to leak water if you parked the car on the face of the Moon). Funky electrical system? Oh yes; no heater/AC function whatsoever, no turn signals, flaky headlights. Bubbling paint? Check. But it started, drove, turned, and stopped, the interior was pretty decent for the price, and- aside from the paint job- it was pretty much original. Yes, even the dreaded Computer Q-Jet was still there and in working order. I wrote up my report and sent it off, breathing a sigh of relief as the responsibility passed from my shoulders to those of Lieberman.

Well, I have to say that it was kind of extraordinary afternoon. A week after picking up my new '68 Coronet in the port of Bremerhaven, Germany, I finally got to the old part of airport, where I have the car stored, to fix a few things up and see how it drives. That alone, coupled with the fact that the beast drove much better than I expected from such a piece of junk, would be enough to make it one of the better days in my life. But there was more to come.
As if the first-drive-ever in my Mopar wasn't enough, I ran into a friend in a bar the night before. Nothing unusual, I have some friends and live in a small city with only a few bars. But, unfortunately, not all of my friends have such a great taste in automobiles and even less of them have means to transform it into reality. But Marek is one of them and he and his father have a really nice collection of old European cars. Including a beautifully restored Tatra 603. So, with the latest Tatra-craze on Jalopnik in mind, I saw an opportunity and asked him to come see me and my new toy on the airport next day. And as you see from pictures, he agreed.
I think that for me, as a driver, it was even more interesting experience than a first drive in my Coronet. However it may seem strange, even though I am a Czech, I have driven a few Mopar B-bodies before, but to that day, I have never driven, nor sat in, a 603. I have driven one of the last 613s with 4.36 engine, but never tried anything older. So this was a big day for me, twice.
The car that was going to take me on my maiden voyage to the world of weird and eerie ass-engined limousines, was a 1965 Tatra 603, in typical commie big shot/secret police black paint job, but with the red interior and kind of hot-rod-esque red wheels. If there are some Tatra cognoscenti among you, you may point out that the car on the pictures does not look like a 603-2, which would be appropriate to the model year, but is more similar to the later 603-3. The reason is in the way they were maintained and rebuilt. Unlike the usual working-man's Skodas, constantly patched by their owners to keep them alive as long as possible, these big black beasts that served „the more equal ones" and their dogs were just sent to factory for an overhaul after some time. So when this car went through it's reincarnation in the beginning of the 70s, it became something more akin to then-modern 603-3 than the 603-2 that it was born as.
I'm not going to waste space by talking about outlandish appearance of this car - that's what pictures are for, and besides I can't quite grasp how strange this car must look for someone not used to seeing that (though rarely) for entire life. And parked besides the Coronet it even doesn't look as big as it does on average Czech street.
But we are here not just to stare at the peculiar shape of the car and discuss whether it looks more like a Tucker or a V8 VW. You can do that in museum. We are here to drive. First, Marek takes us for a quick ride around the place (a old, unused part of military airbase, with hangars turned into warehouses), and then I'll get a chance to drive it myself. When you get in, you feel much like in average American car of the era. High, upright bench seat for three in front (not many European cars seated six people), the overall style of the thing... even the V8 rumble resembles American cars, but with some influence of its air-cooled cousins from Wolfsburg and Stuttgart. But when it comes to driving experience, it's very different - and I think it's very different from anything but other Tatras. What strikes you first is how different the ways of technical development were. In US car of same era (I consider 603 a fifties car, even though it was produced also in next two decades) you get everything to make you more comfortable - power windows, power steering and several other toys, but it was common to have non-power brakes and hardly any car had more than three speed gearbox. But this thing is more like an oversized Porsche. The steering is manual and the wheel is a bit heavy, but thanks to light front it's not that big issue and it's weight and feel maybe even helps to protect you from the effect of oversteer. In fact, it didn't feel vicious at all, even when taking turns a bit harder (but I didn't have a chance to drive it on public road - and I was trying not to scare the owner) and for such an old car it handled really nicely. But the real surprise was braking. Granted, this car got power disc brakes in all four corners when it was overhauled, so I don't know how the original model behaved, but the experience of driving an old car with manual steering, but braking performance as good as average new car is still strange.
And when we're speaking about comparison with new car, this beast can surprise even with it's speed. One would say that 2.5 liter, 100hp V8 in such a big car would make for some lazy driving, but that's when you don't take weight and aerodynamics into consideration. Though 603 is roughly the size of an S-klasse Merc, it's only a bit heavier than current model VW Jetta. And when you add some slippery shape and four-speed manual, you'll get some pretty funny looks of drivers overtaken by this black whale, doing nearly 100mph. And, according to its master, this car is even quite good for (European) highway cruising and is able to do more than 110mph.
Only real downside is the gearbox with column mounted shifter. It's beautifully light and delicate, but it lacks accuracy and when you're not careful enough, you can easily break it. And as Marek says, adjusting the mechanism behind it is really a royal pain.
Which is where we come to the greatest nightmare of everyone who thinks about getting a Tatra. The maintenance. As I learned from Marek, my fears from unobtainium-made parts were unnecessary. He told me that you can still get just about everything for these cars, although it probably means knowing where to go and what to ask for. And being in Czech Republic and able to speak our language is certainly a bit of advantage...
Either way, this close encounter further cemented my decision that one day, I must get one of these fantastic creatures. The sound, the driving experience, the history of the car, all its charisma makes the urge to get one real, real hard. And the best of them all would be the orange, racing spec Marathon version. Or at least clone...
Hell, I think I should take a look at the one from the PCH a few weeks ago...

Many thanks, BobAsh! You can check out the complete collection of photos in his Picasa album, in case the gallery below isn't enough Tatra for you. And anyone willing to give him a deal on late-60s Chrysler B-body parts, let us know- they're a bit hard to come by in the Czech Republic!

When I went car-hunting in my neighborhood yesterday, my attention was grabbed by something familiar looking in the shade of a tree. At first glance I thought it was an old Skoda Octavia, but when I came to have a closer look, it turned out to be something even older and a bit rarer.
Skoda 440, also known as Spartak - the name couldn't be used because of possible confusion with similar named Dutch motorcycles Sparta - was made between 1954 and 1959 and during that time it was basically the only automobile that average Czechoslovakian could buy.
It was powered with mighty, 40 horsepower and 1089cc four-banger driving of course rear wheels, it seated four people in a little bit crammed interior and it's most comfortable equipment was probably a heater. But in its time and class, it was a pretty good vehicle, one of the last competitive cars from Czechoslovakia. For a brief moment, Skoda tried to sell these cars even in the States, but even though the reviews were positive (like one in 1957 Motor Trend), this venture wasn't very succesful and lasted for just a short time.
To me, the Spartaks and Octavias will alwas have great sentimental value, because my first car happened to be a 1959 Skoda Octavia. It was very first year for Octavias and the underpinnings were still pretty much identical with Spartak, including one transversely mounted leadspring in the rear (later Octavias had conventional twin longitudally mounted ones), so main difference between this Spartak and my former Octavia is front fascia and the dash. The coolest thing about the car was that the old man, who sold it to me for 1500CZK (about $50 at the time) was the first owner. In 2001, which means 42 years in a row.
I don't think I'll ever own another car owned by a single person for such a long time, and I was so foolish I sold it after some two or three months. I got more than three times more than what I paid for it, but it was still a very bad deal. And I'll never forget one day, when I've done my first powerslide ever in it, on a wet cobblestones, at the old town square in my hometown. I went some 20mph, maybe less, but that thing had so little grip that it was possible to drift it even with that weak powerplant. I think that this car really cemented my love to the RWD cars...

Oh yes... and BobAsh doesn't just drive Czech iron. He's a Mopar Man now! In his words: By the way, this is what will fry me for many upcoming months. '68 Dodge Coronet 440 with 318 engine. Ugly on the outside, but solid and great to start the "Project Hippie Hot Rod" ('68 Super Bee clone with Mod Top and 5.7 Hemi, if everything goes well).

Holy crap! A Super Bee clone in the Czech Republic! As we keep saying, Jalopnik readers go far, far beyond just talking the talk. Keep up the good work, BobAsh!

"Skoda Auto, once the butt of auto industry jokes for its reputation for producing low-quality cars during the Communist era, now has Volkswagen laughing all the way to the bank."

"Skoda: From Butt To Bank"

Skoda Auto has record 2006 sales, production [Reuters via Automotive News]

Related:
The Production of Laughter and Forgetting: Record Skoda Numbers! [internal]

In 2006, Skoda's Czech plants turned out a record 556,443 cars, a 12.5% jump over last year. Somewhere in Paris, Milan Kundera is dreaming up a story of two forlorn, lovelorn Beethoven-consumed factory workers who respectively install valvestems on Fabias and steering-column stalks on Octavias, obsessing over Stalin and feminine scents while dreaming of a Black Sea road-trip vacation in a Felicia Fun with only a pirated cassingle of the Shins' "Phantom Limb" stuck in the tape deck and a Vaclav Havel anthology to keep them company. We shit you not. – Davey G. Johnson

Skoda Auto turns out record 556,443 cars at Czech plants in 2006 [Prague Daily Mirror]

Related:
Skoda Felicia Fun Spotted Alongside Porta-Loo in Budapest [Internal]

We're not exactly why we're so stoked that we found this. But we're happy as clams to have found it. It being the official homepage of Czech truck manufacturer Tatra. Of course, Tatra used to make totally rad, weird cars that were favored by Nazis during the Second World War. They also used to die in them fairly often, due to the cars' tricky handling. Now they've limted themselves to medium and heavy trucks for military and civilian use, are American-owned, and if they know what's good for them, should build a damn El Camino and sell it over here.

Tatra, a.s.

Related:
You Meet the Looniest People on a Tatra [Internal]

Volkswagen division Skoda has put their collective Vaclav Havel (kind of the Czech version of one's John Hancock, but with better taste in music) on a deal that'll get their cars into Taiwan via Formosa Automobile, itself a unit of Formosa Plastics Group, the island nation's largest private company. FPG VP Seiko Chen figures the company will be able to sell 2,000 cars in Taiwan next year, with annual increases of ten to twenty percent in following 365-day cycles. Interesting tidbit we gleaned from the source article: the Taiwanese, much like Americans, prefer automatic transmissions. That's because they're not freakin' commies like the Red Chinese, the Cubans, the Floridians and the French. After all, operating a manual transmission dilutes the purity of one's precious bodily fluids, much like fluoride. Or Florida. Whichever.

Skoda Auto to launch sales in Taiwan by year's end [Prague Daily Monitor]

Related:
Caterham Men Choose Skoda! [Internal]

VW's koda Auto, this week, released photos of its updated, rally-bred Octavia RS ahead of its debut at September's Frankfurt motor show. Long a favorite among European petrolheads for its performance value, the new model picks up the new, 197hp 2.0 FSI direct injection engine (with BorgWarner turbo) found in the VW GTI and Passat and Audis A3 and A4 (leaving Audi's erstwhile 180hp 1.8-liter turbo four to the ghosts of rpms past). The new powerplant improves acceleration (62 mph in 7.3 seconds, compared to 7.9 on the previous sedan) and top speed (149 mph vs. 146mph).

Related:
New Skoda Yeti Concept to Debut in Geneva; Prosecutors Probe Alleged Corruption Scandal at VW's Skoda [internal]