Tadeusz "Tadek" Marek (1908–1982) was a Polish automobile engineer, known for his

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated wi ...

engines. Marek was from

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

and studied engineering at Technische Universität Berlin before working for

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiar ...

in Poland and also for General Motors. Despite a serious racing accident in 1928, he raced the 1937

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeas ...

in a Fiat 1100 followed by a Lancia Aprilia in 1938 and an Opel Olympia in 1939. Driving a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

Master sedan, he won the XII

Rally Poland The Rally of Poland (in Polish, ''Rajd Polski'') is a motorsport event for rally cars that was first established in 1921. It is third-oldest rally in the world, preceded only by Österreichische Alpenfahrt and Monte Carlo Rally. The event became a p ...

(1939) before moving to Great Britain in 1940 to join the Polish Army. He joined the

Centurion tank The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post- World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seei ...

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

engine development (1944), but returned to Germany, working for

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

. In 1949 he joined the

Austin Motor Company The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Li ...

, and eventually joined

(1954). He is notable for his work on three engines, developing the alloy straight six-cylinder engine of the

Aston Martin DBR2 The Aston Martin DBR2 was a sports racing car built in 1957 as a sibling to the Aston Martin DBR1, yet competing in a larger engine capacity group. Development The DBR2 was created from a short lived Lagonda project known as DP166 (DP for ''De ...

racing car (1956), redesigning the company's venerable straight six-cylinder Lagonda (1957), and developing the Aston Martin V8 engine (1968). The Lagonda engine received a new cast iron block with top seating liners, used in the DB Mark III that debuted in 1957. After modifications, the DBR2 engine was used in the DB4 (1958), DB5 (1963), DB6 (1965) and DBS (1967). The V8 first appeared in the DBS V8 in 1969, going on to power Aston Martins for part of five decades before being retired in 2000. A prototype was fitted in the mid-'60s in a one-off DB5 extended 4" after the doors and driven by Marek personally, and a normally 6-cylinder

Aston Martin DB7 The Aston Martin DB7 is a grand tourer which was produced by British luxury automobile manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. The car was available either as a coupé or a convertible. The prototype was complete by Nove ...

was equipped with a V8 unit in 1998. Marek and his wife moved to Italy in 1968, where he died in 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marek, Tadek Engineers from Kraków Automotive engineers Aston Martin 1908 births 1982 deaths Polish emigrants to Italy