The Tatra 70 is a Czechoslovak luxury car that was made by Tatra at Kopřivnice from 1931 to 1937. It succeeded the Tatra 31.

Tatra 70

The model was launched in 1931, the same year as the

Tatra 80 The Tatra 80 is a First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovak Luxury vehicle, luxury full-size car built by Tatra (company), Tatra between 1931 and 1935. History Hans Ledwinka designed the car in 1930. It was launched in 1931, the same year as the ...

, and the two models have the same

backbone chassis Backbone tube chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional Vehicle frame#Ladder Frame, ladder-type structure, it consists of a strong tubular backbone (usually re ...

and

swing axle A swing axle is a simple type of independent suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903 for the rear axle of rear wheel drive vehicles. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) whee ...

suspension. The front wheels have a rigid axle with overhead transverse leaf springs. The rear wheels are on a swing axle with half transverse leaf springs. The Type 70 has disc wheels, whereas the Type 80 has

wire wheel Wire wheels, wire-spoked wheels, tension-spoked wheels, or "suspension" wheels are wheels whose rims connect to their hubs by wire spokes. Although these wires are considerably stiffer than a similar diameter wire rope, they function mechani ...

s. But the underlying difference is the engine. The Type 80 was given a 5,990 cc, 65-degree V-12

sidevalve engine A flathead engine, also known as a sidevalve engine''American Rodder'', 6/94, pp.45 & 93. or valve-in-block engine, is an internal combustion engine with its poppet valves contained within the engine block, instead of in the cylinder head, as ...

, but the Type 70 has a water-cooled six-cylinder

OHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustio ...

3,406 cc engine that produces . The engine camshaft is driven by a

bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage, they are often interchanged, while in technical usage, they ...

. Transmission is via a multi-plate dry clutch and four-speed gearbox to the rear wheels. The car weighs about and its top speed is . The model was offered with a choice of bodies that included a four-seat sedan, two-door

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

, four-door convertible and six-seat

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

. A

fire engine A fire engine or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

version was also built. Total production was 50 cars by 27 April 1932.

Tatra 70A

In 1934 the Tatra 70A replaced the 70. Its engine and transmission were derived from the Type 70 but engine capacity was increased to 3,845 cc. This increased performance to and top speed to . The weight of the revised model is . Total production was 70 cars by 28 August 1936. Production ceased in 1937. However, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Tatra built one Tatra 70 from spare parts, which it supplied on 23 May 1947 to President

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...

References

Sources

* * {{Tatra models Automobiles with backbone chassis Cars introduced in 1931 70 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sedans