Does the attached picture look familiar:?: No, its not a Beetle prototype, and anyway none exist, apart from VWs recent recreation.

This is my 1938 Tatra T97. As an early VW enthusiast it was a must have for me for some time, and a dream I realised two years ago.

There are various sites and forums on the web with mention to this car being the Beetle's ancestor. Some even say that the Beetle is a copy-paste of this Tatra. Why, because Porsche was a friend of Ledwinka the creator of the streamlined air-cooled rear engine Tatra, whom he regularly visited while planning the VW in the 1930s. Ledwinka was then finalising the Tatra 97.

The Tatra 97 has a flat-four rear air-cooled engine and swing-axles just like the Beetle.:!: It also has many of the quirky features found in Beetle prototypes but gone in the production model. It however has large rear side air-scoops and an equally big dorsal fin running through the split-rear window, not a VW feature!

Briefly, it is said that Porsche was under a lot of pressure from Hitler to come up with the People's Car quickly. I guess that you would not want to disappoint Mr Hitler:!: Porsche admitted to "looking over his friend Ledwinka's shoulder" when creating the Volkswagen. It seems that many of Ledwinka's ideas may have found their way into the German People's car. :shock:

Is this true? Well, when Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 he had production of the Tatra 97 stopped, (I wonder why?) Production of other Tatra models was allowed to continue though. Also, in the 1960s, after many years of dispute over copyright infringements, Volkswagen made a large payout to the Czech government.:!:

Very few Tatra 97s now exist, and for many years remained hidden away behind the Iron Curtain.

I am very pleased to own this Tatra, I think its as near as one can get to owning a VW prototype. It sounds exactly the same as a Beetle too, but with the plus of the most unusual rear-end styling. 🙂  1938 T97GreySml.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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That's a very nice car you have there, and Tatra's links to VW become even more apparent when they are brought together at shows like 'Aircooled' at Duxford and previously Brooklands. I've always liked their Flash Gordon style streamlining. 😃

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This is the very striking rear quarter view of a T97 :shock:

Nice simple mechanics, just like the VW, and four doors too, front are suicide 😎

I've pasted a picture of the T97 chassis on page 3 of this section.  6425.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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Go to www.answers.com/topic/volkswagen-beetle to see further reference of the Tatra 97 / VW 'Beetle' link. Other sites can be seen to mention this too. 🙂 :!:

Also go to www.answers.com/topic/tatra which is more direct in stating how much the Beetle is believed to have stemmed from the Tatra 97 🙂

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This beauty's in a museum 😎  6425.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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Thats fantastic! Love these things.
I thought the Czechs were funny about people exporting them though? National treasures or something. No cloak and dagger stuff involved was there? 😃

Got a nice profile picture?

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Thanks JD. New picture above 🙂

No cloak and dagger stuff (well not too much), but this really is one of the rarest (and to me an early Beetle fan, the most interesting) of the Tatra cars. So, not too easy to get hold of :!:

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I remember seeing one of those for the first time quite a few years ago, down at the Karmann Konnection swap meet. It was a very rough orange one, I couldn't work out what it was - the engine looked like a big VW one and with the split rear window. :?

Very cool!

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I know the car you have seen, but it is not a T97, it is the more common post-war 'Tatraplan', a development from the pre-war T97.

Unlike the T97 it is a more volume produced car, and has no direct historic connection with the Beetle. It's also less striking not having huge dorsal fin, more conventional front end and many other more modern style features. Still an interesting car though, and an unusual sight, but confusing these two cars is a bit like describing a 1303 as a KdF!

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Nice car you have there.

I was told that the huge fin was placed to prevent the engine lid deforming to much from the heat produced by the engin?

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The fin was supposed to help keep the car in a straight line :lol:

These cars were even more tail happy that the early Beetle :shock:

The T97's big brother the T87 was the one that got very hot at the back. It had a huge V8 air-cooled rear engine. All cooling vents down the back and no rear window :!:

I now have one of these too, and to say the least they are a bit of an experience :twisted:

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Are you defecting from VW to Tatra completely? :shock:

Or keeping a few VWs so you can bring one along to Lavenham in 2008? :wink:

It would be great if you could make it along! 😎

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No, I could never leave the vintage Beetle scene 😃

The Standard model Split Window Beetle is still for me the best car of all time :!:

I will always love these cars, and I certainly will be going to Lavenham :wink:

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Rear engines were super modern in the thirties. Here are some pics of an early Mercedes 170h from 1936. Remember: Porsche was the head of technical design at Mercedes until 1928. As I was told, this car is one of about 17 to be registred as "survivors".

Greetings
Dirk  6451.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

You can certainly see the Mercedes VW mix here :!:

Smashing :wink:

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Looks a lot like the VW30! :shock:

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I'd love to see a few shots of the T87.

hint... hint!

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I'd love to see a few shots of the T87.

hint... hint!

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the real unoffcial daddy of the beetle was the tatra v570 as porsche and ledwinka were friends , and in 1961 tatra took legal action against vw and vw settled one of the claims.

The likeness of the Tatra v570 to the Beetle is amazing, as the picture below shows, and really does give a good indication to just where the VWs genes are from :shock:

This car itself remained a prototype, never going into production. It certainly paved the way for the T97 which was Tatra's flat-four production model, the car that Hitler had removed from production. :wink:  6505.jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

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