(Prague, Czech Republic) We dodged a bullet today. It was such a close call that I’m still amazed that we officially took ownership of the 1968 Tatra 603 Classic. The plan was to complete the paperwork and drive to Prague from Liberec but we hit a huge snag at the police station. There was a two week wait to register the car’s new owner.
All the slots were taken and the machine that prints out appointment tickets said none were available.
It looked liked all was lost until a woman in line at the police station heard us discussing the fact that I had flown all the way from Colorado to buy the car and she took pity on us. She had by accident made two appointments and she gave us one. Much paperwork later at both at the police station and insurance company, and the car is ours.
We drove it to a local mountaintop to get some video and thanks to Volkswagen we have a Skoda Superb as our chase car for the European leg of the trip.
We also have the Technical Docs for the Tatra.
So cool!
We are the 5th owners of this car and most of the car’s life has been spent in and around Prague. That’s about to change in a very dramatic fashion.
We also discovered a Tatra 603 barn find today.
This 1968 Tatra is completely original and certainly in some serious need of TLC.
But the car is all there, just waiting to be restored.
And speaking of restoring cars, our Tatra has serious some issues. Second gear may be on the way out and the engine smokes. No time to make repairs. The boat sails for the States at the end of the week. We’ll just have to baby it all the way to Pebble Beach.
Why not follow us on Twitter @TFLcar and #Prague2Pebble for live updates as we drive to Germany and the boat tomorrow.
