Lord K’s Garage - #90. The Incredible Tatra:

.There were difference post-war facelifts for the model:All of them inferior to the original clear look. Just compare the car below with 1938 or 1941 models:

The T97 was designed in 1936 as a smaller alternative to the large T87. Instead of a V8, it was powered by a 1.8-litre flat-four engine, also air-cooled. With engine power of 29.4 kilowatts (40.0 PS; 39.4 bhp) the car could achieve top speed of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph). The design was also simplified, using just two headlights instead of three, a single-piece windscreen, and an overall smaller body.Production of the car was canceled after the Nazis annexed Czechoslovakia in 1938, possibly to avoid comparison with the KdF-Wagen. At that time, 508 cars were built. In 1946, production resumed, but the new communist government quickly dropped the T97 in favor of the cheaper to build and overall ‘more communistic’ Tatraplan, which was named after the Communist Planned Economy.The Tatra 600 Tatraplan was designed in 1946-47 by Josef Chalupa, Vladimír Popelář and Hans Ledwinka (the latter was soon accused of collaboration with the German occupation forces and imprisoned).
After two prototypes “Ambrož” (December 1946) and “Josef” (March 1947), the 600 went into mass production in 1948. In 1951, the state planning department decided that the Tatraplan should henceforth be built at the Skoda Auto plant in Mladá Boleslav, leaving Tatra to concentrate on truck assembly. This was quite unpopular with the workforce at both plants: as a result Skoda built Tatraplans for one year only before the model was discontinued in 1952.The Tatraplan had a monocoque streamlined six-seater saloon body with a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.32. It was powered by an air-cooled flat-4 cylinder 1,952 cc rear-mounted engine. 6,342 were made, 2,100 of them in Mladá Boleslav. In 2010, in the UK, Tatraplan had been selected by public vote in the 'Classic Car of the Year’ competition as the winner of the 1940s category.

Tatra the Beautiful:

Sources: Wiki (1, 2, 3, 4), Jessica Donaldson @ Supercars.net (use the link to see a great set of the 77 photographs).

Special thanks to paul.malon, TATRA 603, Avi_Abrams, tatraskoda, Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden, Davydutchy, AnalogKid203, Dmentd, René Vallente, Stig Baumeyer, xavnco2, Sticky Fingaz, T600Tatraplan, tomislavmedak @ Flickr