Rare Rides: The 1997 Tatra 700, One Last Hurrah
Rare Rides featured exactly one Tatra automobile previously, and it was the grandfather of today’s subject. While today’s blue beauty doesn’t have the state authority and terrorist provenance of the black Tatra displayed on these pages before, it’s important for a different reason: It was the last attempt Tatra made to sell a passenger car.
Tatra’s rear-engine sedan story began in 1934 when it debuted the 77. That streamlined sedan lead to the evolutionary 87, which begat the 603. With its novel power train layout and headlamps inset into the grille, the 603 was an enduring model for Tatra. The first version in 1956 was revamped into the 2-603, which remained in production until 1975. It was immediately replaced by the more modern 613, which was reminiscent of the Volkswagen 411 that debuted some years before.
The 613 remained Tatra’s flagship large car through the end of communism in 1989, and stayed in production through 1996. Though it was in production for over over 20 years, the 613 proved a difficult car to sell, and only around 7,000 were produced during its run.
Despite a bleak outlook, the Czech manufacturer decided to give the rear-engine luxury sedan game one last go and debuted the 700 in the spring of 1996. Though it received a more impressive model designation, underneath the 700 was still a heavily reworked version of the already thrice facelifted 613.
Unlike most versions of their flagship, Tatra toyed with offering the 700 in two body styles: sedans of two– and four-door guise. According to available photos, it seems only one two-door was produced. Initially, all examples were powered by an air-cooled 3.5-liter V8 engine and produced 198 horsepower. Later in the (very short) run, a 700-2 version promised more sporty driving, and utilized a 4.4-liter V8 instead, for a more impressive 230 horses. All examples were fitted with a five-speed manual. Top Gear reviewer Chris Goffey did a nice story on the Tatra brand up through the 613.
But nobody in 1996 was buying a refreshed rear-engine sedan from 1975 for big-time money, and when production halted midway through 1999, just 75 700s had been completed. And with the end of the 700 came the end of Tatra’s passenger car production.
The company stepped away from its unprofitable car operation, and instead focused on commercial vehicles. Tatra ownership passed to America in 2003, but back to an international holding company in 2006. DAF purchased a stake in 2011, and in 2013 the company and its debts were sold to a new entity, Tatra Trucks. It currently makes four heavy-duty trucks, for sale in Europe.
Today’s Rare Ride is for sale in Germany and is from the earlier part of the run. With 109,000 miles on the clock, this very rare Tatra asks $188,000.
[Images: seller]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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I want to say that Tatra cars were available in Canada, in small numbers and for only a few years, once upon a time during the cold war. I can't seem to find much evidence of it though.
Been a long time since I've been there, but the Lane Museum in Nashville has (had?) nearly the entire progression of Tatra sedans in its collection about 10 years ago. Pictures don't do it justice, these are immense and strongly built cars.