| | Did the air-cooled Tatra's precede the Tuckers for rear/air-cooled...??
Wasn't there, but from what I read: Yes.
"In 1921 Hans Ledwinka, who had again been hired back after leaving NW for the second time in 1916 (because of a management decision to invest profits in rail wagon production instead of cars), directed the design of a new automobile for the masses. The new car would have to be adapted to the poor roads in Eastern-Europe, meet the needs of customers, be simple to operate and maintain and have a good fuel-economy. The new design used a front-mounted horizontally opposed air-cooled two-cylinder boxer engine of 1056 cc and 8,8 kW (12 HP) giving the car a top speed of 60-70 km/h. The car used a central tube chassis with rear swinging half axles. After thorough testing the new model, the Tatra T11, was introduced at the Prague Autosalon in 1923. The Tatra T11 and T12 represented Tatra on the European racing hill climb of those days. A couple of modified T11's, the first Czechoslovakian competition cars with Czechoslovakian drivers, were also entered in the 1925 Targa Florio race, placing first and second in the under 1100 cc class."
"In the early 1930s Tatra has started experimenting with aerodynamics for use on a production car. These experiments resulted in a most unique car, the Tatra T77, fitted with a rear-mounted air-cooled V8-engine of 2973 cc and 44,1 kW (60 HP). The Tatra T77 was first introduced to the press on March 5th, 1934 in Prague. By then this was the first serially produced aerodynamic car and was a real sensation in the motoring world."
Excerpts from:
tatra.demon.nl
BTW, if you saw the Lemony Lnicket movie with Jim Carrie, you was the Tatra 603:
tatraworld.nl |
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