1924 Tatra T11 Tourer

Lot details
Registration No: DS 8708
Chassis No: 2587
Mot Expiry: Feb 2005

This Tatra Model 11 - whose first owner, a Dr Reinhart Preiser, has been identified from surviving Koprivnice factory records confirming 27 May 1924 delivery - was first imported into the UK in 1970, the vendor acquiring it in 1974 since when the Czechoslovakian four-door tourer has been refurbished as necessary.
Made between 1923 and 1926 to a radical design by Hans Ledwinka, the Tatra 11 has a tubular backbone chassis with front-mounted, air-cooled, opposed-twin cylinder engine fitted in-unit with a 4-speed gearbox with neat remote control central change, and swing-axle independent rear suspension with a top-mounted transverse leaf spring. There are no universal joints, though the halfshafts pivot on the line of the propshaft, each halfshaft having a crown wheel meshing with its own pinion, the drive to the pinions splitting at the spur-gear differential at the rear of the propshaft - a system employed by Tatra throughout its subsequent history.
Equally ingenious is the 12bhp 2-cylinder engine of 1052cc capacity with overhead valve crossflow heads, white metalled shell big-ends, cooling by fanblades on the flywheel blowing air forward to the cylinders and dry sump lubrication. The front suspension owes much to the Ford Model T, the steering box being similar to that used on a contemporary Buick. A total of 3530 Tatra 11s were built.
Current condition of chassis, bodywork, green over black paintwork, brown interior, motor, manual transmission and electrical equipment is described as excellent.