Tatra T-97

[Old Wombat]

Tatra and the conception of the Volkswagen Beetle

Both Adolf Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche were influenced by the Tatras. Hitler was a keen automotive enthusiast, and had ridden in Tatras during political tours of Czechoslovakia. He had also dined numerous times with Ledwinka. After one of these dinners Hitler remarked to Porsche, "This is the car for my roads". From 1933 onwards, Ledwinka and Porsche met regularly to discuss their designs, and Porsche admitted "Well, sometimes I looked over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine" while designing the Volkswagen. There is no doubt that the Beetle bore a striking resemblance to the Tatras, particularly the Tatra V570. The Tatra 97 of 1936 had a rear-located, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine accommodating four passengers and providing luggage storage under the front bonnet and behind the rear seat. Another similarity between this Tatra and the Beetle is the central structural tunnel. Tatra launched a lawsuit against Volkswagen for patent infringement, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97. The matter was re-opened after World War II and in 1965 Volkswagen paid the Ringhoffer family 1,000,000 DM in an out of court settlement.

Tatra and Volkswagen's body design were preceded by similar designs of Hungarian automotive engineer Bela Barenyi, whose sketches resembling the Volkswagen Beetle date back to the 1925.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_(company)


See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_87

[Nick]

Looks great.  Didn't Tatra try to sue VW because the Type 1 (Beetle) was, according to them, a rip off of the Type 87?  You can certainly see what they mean!

The front end on this T97 certainly looks a lot like a VW Beetle to me. Having the engine in the rear is another similarity.

[PR19_Kit]

And it's a flat four too, although Tatra switched to V8s in their later models.

[NARSES2]

Tatra launched a lawsuit against Volkswagen for patent infringement, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97.

One way of settling a civil claim 

[jcf]

And it's a flat four too, although Tatra switched to V8s in their later models.

T77 and T87 are V-8 powered, the T97 was the last of the pre-war streamliners and the
only one with a four.

The Porsche copied Ledwinka/Tatra story is messy and not as straightforward as many
have been led to believe, nor was the layout and shape of the cars unique. NSU and
M-B had also built similar vehicles. At the end of the day VW was only found to be in
possible violation of one patent, that covering the use of a fan for forced-air cooling of
the air-cooled engine, this is what was finally settled between VW and the family of the
former owners of Tatra. The court found all other aspects of the suit regarding body
shape, rear-engine location, engine configuration and "backbone chassis" to be without
merit because none were individually unique to Tatra. Also as the VW used a platform
chassis rather than a backbone chassis the last was the weakest of the contentions.

The fact is that there were several people/groups concurrently working on similar notions
from the late '20s into the mid '30s, and physics being what it is the engineering solutions
ended up being very similar.

[royabulgaf]

Another car to look at that is the 1925 Hanomag 2/10 PS.