View source for Tatra 97

{{Infobox automobile
| name = Tatra 97
| manufacturer = [[Tatra (company)|Tatra]]
| production = {{ubl|1936–1939|508 produced<ref name=Demon>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tatra.demon.nl/cars_history_T97.htm |title=Cars & History: Tatra 97 (1936–1939) |access-date=12 March 2008 |work=International Streamlined Tatra Site |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080324162821/http://www.tatra.demon.nl/cars_history_T97.htm |archive-date=24 March 2008 |df= }}</ref>}}
| image = Tatra 97, constructed in Kopřivnice ,Czechoslovakia in 1938.jpg|
| caption = 1938 Tatra 97 at Petworth railway station, West Sussex, November 2022
| class = [[Compact car|Compact]] to [[mid-size car]]
| platform =
| transmission = 4-speed manual<ref name=Demon/>
| layout = [[RR layout]]
| body_style = [[Sedan (automobile)#Fastback sedans|Fastback sedan]]
| engine = 1.8L ''Tatra 97'' [[flat-four engine|F4]]
| wheelbase = {{convert|2600|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Demon/>
| length = {{convert|4270|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Demon/>
| width = {{convert|1610|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Demon/>
| height = {{convert|1450|mm|in|1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Demon/>
| weight = {{convert|1150|kg|lb|abbr=on}}<ref name=Demon/>
| designer = [[Hans Ledwinka]], Erich Ledwinka, [[Erich Übelacker]]
| predecessor = [[Tatra 75]]
| successor = [[Tatra 600]]
}}
The '''Tatra 97''' (T97) is a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] [[mid-size car]] built by [[Tatra (company)|Tatra]] in [[Kopřivnice]], [[Moravia]], from 1936 to 1939.
==History==
The Tatra 97 was designed to complement two [[full-size car]]s in the Tatra range: the [[Tatra 77]] launched in 1934{{sfn|Tuček|2017|p=289}} and the [[Tatra 87]] launched in 1936{{sfn|Tuček|2017|p=292}} along with the Type 97. Each of the three models has an [[Air-cooled engine|air-cooled]] [[Rear-engine design|rear engine]] and share similar [[Automotive aerodynamics|aerodynamic]] [[fastback]] four-door sedan bodies. But whereas types 77 and 87 each have a large V8 engine, Type 97 has a [[flat-four engine]]. The Type 97 is distinguished by having two headlights and a one-piece windscreen, whereas the 77 and 87 have three headlights and a three-piece windscreen. The Type 97's flat-four engine displaces 1,759 cc and produces {{convert|40|hp}},{{sfn|Tuček|2017|p=294}} giving it top speed of {{convert|130|km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Demon/>
Tatra already had a mid-size car in the same class, the more conventional 1,688 cc [[Tatra 75]] that it had launched in 1933. Tatra continued to produce the Type 75 alongside the futuristic Type 97. In fact production of the Type 75 outlived that of the Type 97 and continued until 1942.
Kopřivnice is in a part of northern Moravia that [[Nazi Germany]] annexed after the [[Munich Agreement]] in September 1938. Production of the Type 97 was terminated in 1939, possibly to avoid comparison with the KdF-Wagen (see below). Production of the Type 97 was 508 cars in total. In 1946 Tatra resumed car production, and replaced the Type 97 with the larger and more modern [[Tatra 600]] "Tatraplan".
==Resemblance to Volkswagen KdF-Wagen==
In both streamlined design and technical specifications, especially the engine design and position, the Type 97 has a striking resemblance to Volkswagen's [[Volkswagen Beetle|KdF-Wagen]].{{sfn|Tuček|2017|p=295}} However Tatra 97 itself does not appear original, as it has resemblance to sketches<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apnews.com/53243665f30f4d97a2a292e3c7e76a41 |title=From Nazis to hippies: End of the road for Volkswagen Beetle |last=McHUGH |first=DAVID |date=2019-07-09 |website=AP NEWS |access-date=2019-07-09}}</ref> by Hungarian engineer [[Béla Barényi|Bela Barenyi]], conceived in the 1920s and published in 1934. In any case [[Adolf Hitler]] is reported to have encountered and said of Tatra's cars; "This is the car for my roads".{{sfn|Mantle|1995|p=18}}{{sfn|Margolius|Henry|2015|p=100}} [[Ferdinand Porsche]] was accused of using Tatra designs to design the Volkswagen quickly and cheaply.{{sfn|Mantle|1995|pp=17-19}}  In Porsche's words; "Well, sometimes Ledwinka looked over my shoulder and sometimes I looked over his". {{sfn|Margolius|Henry|2015|p=98}}
Tatra sued Porsche for damages, and Porsche was willing to settle. But Hitler cancelled this, saying he "would settle the matter".<ref name=Demon/> Soon after Germany occupied the [[Sudetenland]], Tatra stopped production of the Type 97 and the lawsuit was discontinued. After the Second World War Tatra resumed its lawsuit. In 1965 Volkswagen settled it by paying Tatra {{currency|1,000,000|DEM}} in compensation.{{sfn|Schmarbeck|1997|p=174}}
==Gallery (selected)==
<gallery widths="175px" heights="175px" perrow="6">
File:Tatra_T_97_1938_(15221399414).jpg|Company badge
File:TatraT97-interior.jpg|Tatra 97 interior
File:TatraT97-rear.jpg|Tatra 97 rear quarter view
File:TatraT97-engine.jpg|Air-cooled, rear-mounted flat-four engine
File:TatraT97-front.jpg|Tatra 97 front
File:Tatra 97 Kopřivnice.jpg|Type 97 in the Tatra museum at Kopřivnice
</gallery>
==References==
<div style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em; width: 21.5em; text-align: right; font-size: 0.86em; font-family: lucida grande, sans-serif; line-height: normal;">
<div style="border: 1px solid #999999; background: #ffffff; text-align: left; padding: 1em 1em; text-align: left;">[[File:Tatra 87 (Foto Hilarmont).JPG|200px|center]]<br>'''Streamlined Tatras'''
*'''[[Tatra V570]]''' <small>''1931, 1933''</small>
*'''[[Tatra 77]]''' <small>''1933–38''</small>
*'''[[Tatra 87]]''' <small>''1936–50''</small>
*'''Tatra 97''' <small>''1936–39''</small>
*'''[[Tatra 600|Tatra 600 Tatraplan]]''' <small>''1946–52''</small>
*'''[[Tatra 603]]''' <small>''1956–75''</small>
</div></div>
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last=Mantle |first=Jonathan |year=1995 |title=Car Wars: Fifty Years of Greed, Treachery and Skulduggery in the Global Marketplace |place=New York |publisher=Arcade Publishing |isbn=1-55970-333-4 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Margolius |first1=Ivan |last2=Henry |first2=John G |year=2015 |title=Tatra – The Legacy of Hans Ledwinka |place=Poundbury |publisher=Veloce Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-845847-99-9 }}
*{{cite book |last=Schmarbeck |first=Wolfgang |year=1997 |title=Hans Ledwinka: Seine Autos Sein Leben |place=Graz |publisher=H Weishaupt Verlag |isbn=3-900310-56-4 |language=de |page=174 }}
*{{cite book |last=Tuček |first=Jan |year=2017 |title=Auta první republiky 1918–1938 |place=Prague |publisher=Grada Publishing |isbn=978-80-271-0466-6 |language=cs |pages=294–295 }}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Tatra 97|position=left}}
{{Tatra models}}
[[Category:Cars powered by boxer engines]]
[[Category:Cars introduced in 1936]]
[[Category:Cars of the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Rear-engined vehicles]]
[[Category:Rear-wheel-drive vehicles]]
[[Category:Tatra vehicles|97]]