Cars
Brilliance cheated of its due
This article tells the story of Tatra, a car manufacturer that built innovative vehicles and had a remarkable understanding of the future of aerodynamics, but never got the recognition it deserved due to the turn of historical events in the last century.
As we see in this story, the turn of historical events in the last century meant that an extraordinary brand, which built innovative vehicles and boasted a remarkable understanding of the future of aerodynamics, never got the recognition it deserved. We are talking about the car maker Tatra. Founded during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this company grew during the First Czechoslovak Republic, but was then humiliatingly crushed by the German invasion and occupation, and the subsequent Soviet regime.
The company had a brilliant driving force in engineer, Hans Ledwinka, who, blessed with a nose for the avant-garde, found his perfect working partner in aerodynamics wizard Paul Jaray.
The 1933 VS 10 was the forerunner, both conceptually and esthetically, of the future Volkswagen Beetle. However, the rear-mounted, air-cooled engine installed in this first prototype was a two-cylinder unit.
