Thursday 2nd March 1967
Hans Ledwinka (89), the engineer who created the Tatra marquee, died in Munich, Germany. In 1923, the first official Tatra automobile, the Tatra T11, was completed, and Ledwinka’s hope for an affordable “people’s car” was realised. The reliable, rugged T11, like Ford’s Model T, gave many Czechoslovakians their first opportunity to own an automobile. In 1934, Tatra achieved automotive notoriety with the introduction of the Tatra 77, the world’s first aerodynamically styled automobile powered by a rear-mounted air-cooled engine.