Karmann Ghia drive and the origin of the Volkswagen Beetle

At long last I take Shelly's 1962 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia for a drive and chat. In this video I start at the beginning and explain the origin of the world famous 'People's Car.'  I have written about this history before so if you'd like to go into more depth, you can find those posts here: 

Part 1 - Origin: http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/volkswagen-world-beating-peoples-car.html
Part 2 - War: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2014/07/volkswagen-at-war.html

Part 3 - Resurrection: http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/the-death-and-resurrection-of-volkswagen.html

The Volkswagen Manifesto: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-volkswagen-manifesto.html

BIOS Final Report No 922 - Tatra Car, Type 87, V8 Air Cooled Engine at Rear

In the aftermath of the Allied victory over Germany in the Second World War, the western allies established an intelligence sub-committee to investigate and analyze German technology. Technicians and specialists delved into every aspect of German industry, from aeronautics, optics, electronics, radio, chemicals, mathematics and, of course, automobiles. The Americans had little interest in German automobile technology, but the British were very interested. Every type of German vehicle they could get their hands on were shipped to Britain and studied. Vehicles studied included the Auto-Union and Mercedes Benz Grand Prix cars, the DKW F9 prototype (the Werner car https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2017/07/1939-dkw-f9-prototype.html) and, most famously, the KDF Volkswagen. The Volkswagen was passed to the Rootes Corporation for evaluation. Rootes dismissed the Volkswagen as 'not meeting the minimum requirements of a motor vehicle' and the rest, as they say, is history. Assessing new technology and unorthodox designs was not a strong suit of the British auto industry, which remained wedded to traditional techniques and concepts.

Vauxhall Motors received a Tatra T87 former staff car for evaluation in 1945. The car was in terrible condition, with its suspension shot, engine out of tune and a different set of tyres and rims on each of the four wheels. The car not repaired but tested 'as is' and, consequently received a very poor evaluation. The Vauxhall report warned that the type was dangerously unstable at anything above a medium speed, concluding with the assessment that the T87 was effectively a bad design with nothing to be learned.

Many of the criticisms in the summary are niggardly and superficial, such as complaining about the floor mounted gear shift impeding the driver and front passenger from switching seats - this is inherent in all floor mounted gear shifts. Similarly the luggage compartment being behind the rear seat - again, a very common feature in cars from the 1930s which did not have an external opening boot. This only became a standard feature in the 1940s. These weak arguments reveal that the examiners were not really interested in learning from unorthodox.

If the British auto industry were really interested in evaluating the Tatra, they could have tested the T87 of Captain Fitzmaurice, who had owned one since the late 1930s. Fitzmaurice's car would have been maintained and performed as designed, but that was not the purpose of these reviews, which were propagandist in nature. There was nothing to be learned from the Germans and the British motoring industry could continue as it always had, free from new ideas.

I have been searching for years for a full copy of the BIOS Report No 922, but have never been able to get my hands on on. This is from a scan of three introductory pages. If anyone has a copy they would like to share or sell, please let me know.

Report on Rear Engined V8 Tatra Car Type 87

Foreword

Following arrangements made by the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee and the S.M.M and T regarding material from Germany, the car was made available to this Company for trial.

Because of its unorthodox design, the Tatra possesses many features of interest, most of which have been commented on in this report.

The report is by no means exhaustive, as no attempt was made to carry out a strip-down, detailed weight analysis or bench test, but rather to check up and report upon the general effect from the user’s point of view of this rear-engined layout. The various specific tests included are those which we considered to be of interest and capable of execution in the time available.

M.A.Dean
Passenger Vehicle Experimental Engineer,
Vauxhall Motors Limited.
Luton
15th July 1946

Page No 4.

Summary and General Conclusions

The designers of this unorthodox car have produced a vehicle that is full of interest, having several very good features. Although the body is of striking design, this has not been accomplished at the expense of the passenger accommodation, on the contrary the front seats are of generous proportions and the rear will accommodate three persons in real comfort.

The weight distribution is of particular interest being 30% at the front and 62% at the rear (see page 14). The rear engine location gives the considerable advantage if maintaining an approximately constant ratio of front to rear wheel loading irrespective of the number of passengers carried. This advantage is however more than offset by the fact that under all load conditions the vehicle is inherently unstable at moderately high speeds. It is surprising to find this characteristic in a powerful streamlined car fitted with a high gear ratio and presumably intended to be capable of sustained high speed autobahn travelling.

Noise measurements inside the car show up very favourably when travelling above 30 m.p.h. in top gear, despite the fact that the engine was particularly noisy, (partially due to the fact that it was air cooled, aggravated by its poor general condition). This is one of the advantages of locating the engine in the rear. No doubt a water cooled engine so placed would result in a body exceptionally free from airborne engine noise, although any additional weight at the rear could not be tolerated.

One cannot help feeling that the benefits of some of the original ideas incorporated have been largely nullified by the adoption of constructional features rendering it impossible to take full advantage of the layout. For instance the adoption of an internally housed backbone frame has made it impossible to obtain a low flat floor, which is one of the great advantages that can be gained when the propellor shaft is dispensed with. The gear lever and handbrake are located on top of the backbone frame making it impossible to move readily from one front seat to another.

The forward driving position combined with the windscreen side glasses result in excellent forward vision. The front wheel arches protrude into the toeboard making it necessary to incline the legs inwards slightly, some people found this uncomfortable. In an effort to get some of the weight forward, the two spare wheels, the two batteries, and even the petrol tank have been placed in the front. With the front and the rear thus occupied the luggage accommodation has had to be situated behind the rear squad, limiting its capacity and adaptability, also making it necessary to disturb the rear passengers to obtain access to it.

A study of this rear engine car from the point of view of disposition of passengers and luggage, tends to confirm the view that the space available in a passenger car is more usefully employed when the engine is located between the front wheels, and the luggage, petrol tank, spare wheels etc., located in the rear.

The effortless motoring at medium speeds in top gear, good ride over rough roads, and silence at normal road speeds are worthy features, but must be remembered that the car is high priced coming well into the luxury class.

Description.

Engine:
The power unit is placed behind the read axle. The cylinders of the V.8. air cooled engine are arranged at 90 degrees. The cylinders are separate, each assembly consisting of a cast iron cylinder barrel with machined fins and an individual light alloy head having cast fins. Light alloy pistons with two compression and one scraper ring are fitted.

The engine compartment is divided up so that cool air is sucked in viz. each side scoop and drawn past the cylinders into the inner chamber and from thence blown out through the back louvres.

The two air cooling blowers are belt driven, one from a V. pulley on and extension of the crankshaft and the other from a pulley off the timing gear drive. Belt adjustment is obtained by moving the actual blower motors outward in their casings, the adjustment nuts are at the rear of the engine and reasonably accessible. The two overhead 5 bearing camshafts are chain driven from the rear of the crankshaft.

On the front of the left camshaft is a pulley driving the dynamo by means of 2 V. belts while the other camshaft drives the distributor.

For more of Tatra posts check out my dedicated Tatra blog: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/

Christmas Tatra Drive 2019

For more of Tatra posts check out my dedicated Tatra blog: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/

Tatra Restoration update

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a naive Tatra owner placed his Tatraplan in the hands of his mechanic friends for some general maintenance which ended up stretching out for two years. The details of the saga can be found in this post http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/tatra-restoration.html

We are now at the end of the saga. The gearbox was finally rebuilt and returned to Classic Gasoline for installation in December 2017. I can appreciate the point of view of the gearbox reconditioning service. They did not want to proceed with the reconditioning of a gearbox that was in such poor condition as the end product may not reflect well on them.  Their insistence on NOS parts was understandable but the supply of NOS Tatraplan gearbox parts has long since dried up and everyone must live with what they have.

Anyway, what's done is done and that includes the gearbox. When the guys started the reassembly we realized the engine mounts were toast so once again I had to go back to Czechoslovakia for parts. That took a couple more months of waiting.

The engine out and in the shop.

The new mounts finally went in but the clutch was so worn that a new one was required. Fortunately a Volkswagen clutch was fine. The flywheel required remachining.

The rear brakes, which had been damaged by leaking gearbox oil were refurbished.

And finally, after a little over two years the Tatra has finally returned home in running condition. There are still a few issues to iron out and the gearbox will take some getting used to, but I can now drive and enjoy it at last.

After its first long drive. It really is a wonderful, handsome car. I can't help feeling lucky being its custodian.

Just as a point of interest, when we stripped the car for painting we discovered its original colour was dark green, as in this example in Ireland. Silver has become the standard for Tatras these days but dark green is a very nice colour.

For more of Tatra posts check out my dedicated Tatra blog: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/

Tatra Museum, Koprivince

The Tatra Technicke Muzeum is in Koprivinice, in north-eastern Czechia. Koprivinice is, of course, the home of Tatra and the technical museum is the foundation that stores and exhibits Tatra's archive of historic vehicles. From Prague its a four hour train trip involving three changes, so it isn't the easiest place to get to, but the museum is fantastic so its well worth the trip.

In front of the museum stands the Slovenska Strela (Slovak Arrow aka Tatra 68), a streamlined diesel-electric railway coach. The Arrow was built in 1936 and remained in service until 1953. The train is protected under an awning but is in need of restoration. Behind the train to the right you can see the Tatra Hotel where we stayed. https://www.grandhoteltatra.cz/cs/o-hotelu/

The presentation below follows the route through the museum.

A replica of the first Nesseldorfer car - the Prasident of 1898. The Prasident was the first automobile built in Central Europe. The actual original car is preserved in the Prague Technical Museum.

Four Tatra T12s in various body styles. The Tatra T12, with its central tube chassis, air-cooled engine and all round suspension, truly was a revolutionary step in the evolution of the automobile.

Roadster bodied Tatra T12

Display case of Tatra maquettes. These were used for styling purposes and wind tunnel testing.

An early Paul Jaray maquette for the Tatra 77. The curved windscreen was a particular feature of Jaray's early designs.

The Tatra 87 maquette

The Tatra 97 maquette

The early Tatraplan maquette show the simplified lines of post-war austerity.

This second Tatraplan maquette includes the production false radiator grill

An early Tatra 603 maquette. The body styling is similar to the production car but the bonnet and front is styled like the earlier Tatraplan.

Tatra 603 type 1 maquette. The covered rear wheel was abandoned in the production vehicle.

A Vignale bodied 613. It is a great pity that this handsome car never made it into production.

Pre-war Nesseldorfers. On the right is the 1902 Nesseldorfer Type B and the left a 1912 Nesseldorfer Type S.

In terms of scale the Type S is enormous. The type came in

A Steyr of 1925. These enormous cars were designed by Hans Ledwinka after he left Tatra were based on the earlier Nesseldorfers.

Hans Ledwinka's revolutionary 'People's Car' - the Tatra T11. Gone were the heavy chassis rails and enormous engine, replaced by a simple tube chassis which doubled as a transmission tunnel and at its front a compact, air-cooled boxer engine. Combined with independently suspended wheels, this robust little car could comfortably tackle the terrible road conditions in Central Europe.

Tatra T11 limousine

Tatra T12 coupe

Tatra T57s

The Tatra 57 was a modernised and improved T12 developed in 1934. It was probably Tatra's most successful car.

The Tatra T11 template was extremely versatile, being able to be stretched to limousine form and accommodating a four cylinder engine.

As an offshoot of the T57 project, Erich Ledwinka and Erich Uberlacker developed a rear-engined test car. This was developed further by Uberlacker, Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray into a budget streamlined car, which received the designation V570. Only two test examples were built. Both were later sold to private owners. One was lost but this one was driven until the 1960s when it was purchased by the Tatra foundation. The car is powered by a two-cylinder T57 engine mounted in the rear.

Tatraplan Monte Carlo rally car. Unlike other Tatraplans it only has two doors and the body is aluminium.

Like other companies involved in the Nazi war economy, Tatra was stripped of its assets and machinery after World War Two. The Czechoslovak government nationalized the company in 1945 and set to work building necessary consumer goods. This is a Tatra kneading machine.

Tatra refrigerator

Tatraplan four cylinder boxer engine 1952cc

Tatra 603 V8 engine

Tatra 603 model 2

Tatraplan 1948-52.

Tatra T77A 1934-35. Tatra introduced the stunning T77 in early 1934 while the car was still in development. Consequently no two T77s were exactly alike. By late 1934 the car had settled into something of a 'standard' configuration, most obviously the addition of the signature three headlights. Only 134 T77 and 77As were built.

Tatra's archetypical T87 and Stalin's Sodomika bodied Tatraplan coupe

Tatra 87 and 77

1938 Tatra 97 and the Tatraplan coupe

Tatra 603 ambulance

Vignale bodied Tatra 603 prototype. This promising Italian styled car unfortunately never made it into production.

T603 and Tatraplan

Tatra also build aircraft and aircraft engines in the interwar period. The Tatra T131 was a licensed copy of the German Bruckmann. Following Germany's annexation of the Czech republic Tatra's aircraft manufacturing arm was shut down.

A view down on the streamliner section

The Tatra 87 and 77A

The Tatra T87 and 77A

View down on the Tatraplan



The military version of the T57

Tatra 72 light truck. Jiri Baum drove a T72 like this across Australia and around the world during a series of expeditions in the mid 1930s. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/across-australia-by-tatra.html

Tatra is remembered mainly for its rear-engined streamliners, but Tatra also built conventional front engined cars based on the earlier Nesseldorfer designs.

Tatra 80. Despite being known now for their rear-engine cars, Tatra continued building conventional, front engine cars. The big Tatra 80 was used as a luxury limousine, one becoming the president's car.

Tatra 17/31

Tatra Type S fire engine

The racing section, led by the Tatra T605 racer trainer of 1957

Tatra Type T racer. This late 20s racer was based on the earlier Nesseldorfers

Tatra Type S

Tatra 607 Monoposto 1953

Tatra 613

The last Tatra cars - the Tatra 700

Tatra railway service car (based on a Tatra 12 chassis and body)

The chassis and engine of the Tatra T77a. Although you cannot see from the photo, the floorplan is made of plywood. This was not such an unusual thing in the 1930s and the T77 itself was of wood framed construction.

Tatra 49 triporter chassis. Many companies in the 1920s and 30s bought out commercial triporters but these were usually based on motorcycle components. Tatra's light commercial triporter was based on the Tatra 11 chassis and was therefore a far more substantial affair. The car was powered by a single cylinder 529cc engine that was essentially half of a T12 engine. The car could be bodied as a single seater motorcycle with tray or with an enclosed car body. Not the curved exhaust running along the chassis.

The Tatra aerosledge. This prototype propeller and tracked vehicle was developed for the German army's use on the Russian front in 1943. The Russians made extensive use of light motor sleds during their winter campaigns, which the Germans attempted to copy. Tatra built several experimental aerosledges but they did not progress to production.

Tatra's enormous truck engines culminating in a gigantic W24 layout.

Tatra's pioneering 'lieferwagen' of 1899. The world's first truck. The two cylinder engine was mounted between the rear wheels under the tray. The original truck is long gone. This is a replica.

Tatra's 1898 truck

Two of Tatra's wartime trucks; the Tatra 93 and Tatra 27. The Tatra 27 heavy truck and its many variants was used extensively by the Germans. The Tatra 93 medium truck was built for the Romanian army.

The Tatra T111 - Tatra's most successful truck was introduced in 1945 and would continue in production into the late 1960s.

The successor to the Tatra T111 was the T138, which entered service in 1959 remained in production until 1971. It enjoyed significant export success.

If any Tatra truck could be called 'cute' it must be the T805 'baby'

Tatra T813 Dakar rally truck

For more of Tatra posts check out my dedicated Tatra blog: https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/