General non-MG related discussions. No politics here please!!
Missed this one. And I'm sure parts wouldn't have been much of a problem. LOL
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=002&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=120114073456&rd=1,1
Jack
Wow! I missed it too. Of course, there aren't many the search Ebay for Tatras! But no-one bid. Send him a message and make him an offer!
That thing is so butt-ugly, it's fantastic. You'd have to fabricate every single part but the tires. Wonder what the reserve was?
R.
I have been looking at Tatras in the auctions and before that just in pictures and articles for years. They are in fact the second most ugly car I have ever seen but they are nearly like crawling into a 49 Hudson sedan as far as room is concerned. I have seen them in the flesh and the pictures don't do them justice for the ugly cousin of the month club. The Czechs are as a rule pretty sharp folks and the things were built well.
I believe that all of them had the same V8 hemi stuffed into the rear end. Handling at speed must have been a real doozy. LOL
Jack
I think the body parts from a '50 Nash might interchange... ;) You'd probably have to order spares from Czechoslavakia.
I wonder if you customized a Tatra whether it would come out looking like a 49 Stude Starlight. LOL Out of the pan and in to the fire! Jack
Jack,
My uncle had one of that body style, but I think a year or two after 49. It had the bullet nose and I remember he mounted a small propeller on it. I think Aunt Minnie just ignored it! He drove that car an awful long time. I remember it had "hill holder brakes" that would hold the car on an UPhill incline so people wouldn't do the roll backward thing between releasing the brake and engaging the clutch. The brakes would hold until the car started rolling forward.
Jack
twigworker Wrote:
The Lane Automobile Museum in Nashville has a handfull of Tatras, and they all aren't quite as ugly. But, they exhibit very interesting engineering concepts.
The Lane museum has more 'strange' cars that I even knew existed.
Jim D
tfisher7621 Wrote:
JackMG Wrote:
A Tatra story I heard was that they were popular with Hitler's Generals - luxurious and fast (for the day). However, Hitler eventually banned his Generals from driving them, too many were getting killed in accidents because of the dubious handling characteristics that come from hanging a V8 behind the rear wheels!
Richard & Sammy ('73 Black Tulip BGT)
Beats the living heck out of lots of lyrics I hear, or try not to hear, these days!
Jack
You are of course speaking of the Studbuster, right Jack? I use to think that they were truly the worst looking things on the road and that the slightly later '53 and 54 Lowey Starliner was The Best. Jack
That sure as heck could be the truth. If you think a Porsche or a VW would be treacherous think of what all that V8 stuff hanging out back there would be like.
Jack
Here you can see the lineup of Tatras at the Lane museum...too bad I didn't get some better photos of the later models...just the older white one...
JackMG Wrote:
twigworker Wrote:
Just in case some of the younger folks here on the board are not aware of the Studebaker history...
They were very highly regarded in the conestoga wagon business back in the 1800s and eventually worked themselves into the car business as the machines replaced Bessie. Over all they were very high quality cars for their times as automobiledom progressed, but aside from their late forties-early fifties engagement of Raymond Lowey, a revered industrial designer of the era their innovations were only moderate. Their engines were stout but uninteresting and the other stuff under the sheet metal was unremarkable compared to the rest of the industry. One high point though was after they acquired Packard, which was legendary all by itself, they started installing Paxton superchargers on the Packard V8s.
All of this was of course prior to the introduction of the Lowey designed Avanti and the accompanying hot rodding aspects of it and the Lark sedans with the R series engines.
Sadly they were the swan's song for Studebaker-Packard. The Avanti repros of later years are some of the most God-awful designs that I have ever seen. Much worse than any caricature that could be dreamed up by a cartoonist.
JDW has a Stude Hawk that I think he bought new, and I hope to one day wangle my way into his will so that, God forbid something happens to the old coot, it can be cared for in a good and proper manner.
Jack
twigworker Wrote:
The supercharged 289 V8 they used in the Hawks had some go-power! The father of another friend from school had a 57 or 58 Silver Hawk 3-speed. With the normally-aspirated engine. It was quick enough!
Not sure what year it came from, but for the last 30+ years I have had a big round Chrome Studebacker nose. I found when I was about 10-12 years old in an abandoned shed near my Grandmothers. It is in perfect shape and hangs on the wall in my garage.
My first car: 1954 Studebaker Champion coupe. Shoulda kept it....shoulda kept it....shoulda kept it.... :( Compared to all the other domestic cars (and most of the imports!) at the time, it was a remarkable design. This one is similar to mine. Mine started life red with a black top, then was green with a white top, and was black with a white top when I sold it. It had the same bumper guards and fog lamps shown in this pic -and it originally had the fender skirts...but they were ditched fairly early on. Mine also had a sunvisor over the windshield (made a hell of a lot of wind noise!), and didn't have the wire wheel covers (had small hubcaps and trim rings instead).
I sure miss that car...
<http://www.moncopulli.cl/hist/54champstarlight.jpg>
When I started my first paper route, you remember them don't you?, I had to walk past a house with a 53 Champion sitting in the driveway. It never moved and I was told that it could be bought for $50 bucks but that was a princely sum back then so it lives only in my memories now. Another family bought a SET of 58 Ford Fairlane 500s, one red and the other black. Real nice, but even then not my cup of tea. My favorite yard was the guy who raced quarter midgets and left the carcasses out in his side yard.
Jack