What is this? I have never seen one! I remember when I was in Prague in the 1970s… The engine is where? Where is the radiator? These are just some of the comments TFLcar team heard at the Colorado Cars and Coffee gathering this weekend.
The #Prague2Pebble 1968 Tatra 603 is in Boulder, CO. It’s resting and getting tuned up before tackling the Continental Divide on its way to Pebble Beach in California. This allowed much needed time to visit the local car scene and share stories with like-minded people. The Tatra attracted a fair amount of attention and let us meet more great people than seemingly at any previous gathering.
The Tatra visited Charley’s Garage in north Boulder for some work on the transmission linkage and an inspection. Although, Charley’s is a Toyota shop, they also have a passion for eastern-European machinery. Charley was able to adjust the linkage and also found a slight fuel leak in one of the carburetors (Tatra’s 2.5L air-cooled V8 has two carburetors). The car is now in a better state and should be ready to tackle the next 1,300 miles.
The 2.5L Hemi V8 produced around 103 horsepower and 117 lb-ft of torque. It has a four-speed manual transmission with the “on the tree” shifter. The steering column mounted shifter takes a while to get used to. First gear is away and up, second is away and down, third is toward and up, and forth is toward and down. The reverse gear is somewhere near second.
You can watch the episodes and all updates from the road on the Prague to Pebble or Bust project page. Here is the most recent update from the road.
