1930 Tatra T26/30 news, pictures, and information
The Czech Rebublic based Tatra was founded in 1850 as Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer. In 1897, they became the first company to produce a motor car in central Europe, the Prasident. They are the third oldest car maker in the world after Daimler and Peugeot. The name was changed to Tatra in 1919 after the Tatra Mountains. Their specialty was producing technically advanced luxury cars ranging from air-cooled flat-twins to fours and sixes. Production of Tatra cars ceased in 1999, but the company still produces a range of primarily all-wheel-drive trucks.
The 1930 Tatra T26/30 was a very important vehicle in the companies history, as it was the forerunner of all Tatra trucks to come with rear-wheel independent suspension, a central tube chassis and an aluminum, air-cooled boxer-type engine driving through a transmission with six forward and two reverse speeds. The axle differentials can be locked and one of the rear shafts can be disengaged. In total, there were only 181 T26/30 trucks produced with various bodies and only five or ten are known to survive.
This truck was ordered by a Mr. V. Meister of New York, acting as a front for Studebaker, which was manufacturing trucks for the U.S. Army and wanted to investigate Tatra technology. The current owner discovered the car for sale in Ohio in a crate with the Studebaker name. It has less than 5,000 original miles and the engine still runs very well. For more information and related vehicles, click
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