Tatra MTX... anyone know anything?

[flurbyjim]

Bear with this video if you're not a Kanye fan...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Xai7ffhvM&fea...

What a beaut! I couldn't find anything on here about them. Anyone know anything?

They sound great too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3m7dIz8ugg

Good choice Kanye!

[Conian]

why 2 threads on the same thing?

[RichTT]

Looks good on the music video but as soon as they pull up in the second one it pretty much looks like a barge pulling in at the side of a canal. Oh, and that x-zibit pimped said canal boat and added lambo doors...

[tog]

Air cooled V8s tend to sound good No idea how many they built, but they had the air-cooled quad-cam V8 from the Tatra 613 in them, probably tuned in some way. Standard engine was a 3.5, but the later Tatra T700 had a 4.3 litre version, so the MTX may have had that I guess?

[flurbyjim]

I read somewhere that only 4 were ever built.

Somewhat barge-like, I'll admit, but it has road presence.

I've parked one in my Fantasy Exotic 90's Supercars Garage between the Jag XJR-15 and the Venturi Atlantique...


Hint of Pagani Zonda?

[Twincam16]

tog said:

Air cooled V8s tend to sound good No idea how many they built, but they had the air-cooled quad-cam V8 from the Tatra 613 in them, probably tuned in some way. Standard engine was a 3.5, but the later Tatra T700 had a 4.3 litre version, so the MTX may have had that I guess?

Seem to recall reading somewhere that they had twin turbochargers.

As far as I can tell Tatra are still around making heavy-duty commercial vehicles and military trucks. Pity they don't build on their heritage - as far as I can tell there's a lot of latent interest in Tatra, and they always had a reputation for good build quality so I see no reason why a new, small range of cars would go amiss. They'd be utterly unique if they kept to the Tatra recipe - I'm imagining a rear-engined four-door, almost like a saloon 911, alongside an updated MTX.

[tog]

They did try to revitalise the brand in the nineties, and even made a few RHD 613 prototypes. They were well reviewed and as you say, utterly unique among brands, but sadly no-one wanted a Jag or Merc rival that they hadn't heard of and was made in the same Eastern Bloc that they mentally associated with Skoda, Yugo, Lada, etc. When I had mine people were always thinking they were made by Skoda, being the only Czechoslovakian car they knew.

[ZOLLAR]

flurbyjim said:

I read somewhere that only 4 were ever built.

Somewhat barge-like, I'll admit, but it has road presence.

I've parked one in my Fantasy Exotic 90's Supercars Garage between the Jag XJR-15 and the Venturi Atlantique...

[

Somebodies stolen your fantasy Garage!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

[Balmoral Green]

Twincam16 said:

Pity they don't build on their heritage

They were utterly skint, no money to develop them, other than along the lines of tinkering in the shed, and supplying VIP cars to their own government.

tog said:

They did try to revitalise the brand in the nineties, and even made a few RHD 613 prototypes. They were well reviewed and as you say, utterly unique among brands

It's a real shame that VAG weren't interested. When you look at Skoda, can you imagine what could have been done with Tatra?

A big four door luxury sports saloon with a rear mounted V8, a Panamera rival?

As for not many knowing of the firms heritage and engineering, that would have been a good theme for sales & marketing focus. Pre-war they were a top luxury brand, as well as producing bread & butter cars that were popular in Europe and also in the UK.

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2008/07/tatra-903-fue...

Edited by Balmoral Green on Monday 22 November 10:26

[Balmoral Green]

tog said:

They did try to revitalise the brand in the nineties, and even made a few RHD 613 prototypes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfqZ2XBOVnk

Why do some links cut & paste as a clicky, yet some don't?

Edited by Balmoral Green on Monday 22 November 11:09

[tog]

Balmoral Green said:

They were utterly skint, no money to develop them, other than along the lines of tinkering in the shed

But they certainly knew what they were doing in the shed. One story I recall being told is that when they were developing the cars for the UK they were told they'd never sell here without a 5-speed gearbox. Since the engine / gearbox / final drive unit is obviously totally bespoke to the car it is not as simple as you might think to just drop a different gearbox in. However, they were told one was required so they set to work designing one. Only a couple of weeks later they came back and said, "Right, we've done that. What next?"

[flurbyjim]

ZOLLAR said:

flurbyjim said:

I read somewhere that only 4 were ever built.

Somewhat barge-like, I'll admit, but it has road presence.

I've parked one in my Fantasy Exotic 90's Supercars Garage between the Jag XJR-15 and the Venturi Atlantique...

[

Somebodies stolen your fantasy Garage!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

Didn't realise I was in posession of an actual fantasy garage! Or that I still owned all my previous cars.