I'm back !

[CraigS]

Did you miss me ? Probably not ! I have been travelling over the past couple of months - notably to Vietnam and Australia, and working on my cars. I have sold one of my 6.9's to someone in Sydney, and replaced it with another Tatra - this time a T600 or otherwise known as a Tatraplan.

I do regret the sale of one of my 6.9's, but since I still have 3, I guess I can't complain, but when the opportunity came along for the Tatra, I couldn't refuse, and didn't want to outlay any more money on cars, and the Tatra 603 is now registered and available for use - once a few tuning things are sorted out.

The car needs total restoration, however the car is relatively complete, having been stripped down in the 1990's, stripped and panel beated where necessary, and the engine rebuilt but not assembled. The owner at the time reputedly had some severe gambling debts and had to sell. Little or no work will commence for the next couple of years while I determine what if any parts and missing and are located.

Here are a few pictures of what this beast looks like. For the technically curious, it is an air cooled, 2lt 4 cylinder boxer engine.

 

[BenzBoy]

Congrats on a truly inspired move Craig. A Tatraplane has to be one of the most desirable cars ever in my books - and now you have one. I am impressed!!!
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Michel]

Nice to see you back Craig...

One Tatra, Four 6.9s
Two Tatras, Three 6.9s
More Tatras? and less 6.9s

 

[CraigS]

Everything is possible Michel ! The main thing is that the total is intact. It matters not that they are not all Mercedes, as long as they are interesting. I could have bought the Panhard Dyna that the same seller had, but I declined - as interesting as it was !

 

[Lukas]

Do you have some pics of your Tatra (in pieces presumably)?

 

[CraigS]

Sure do - they can be found here

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n77/Aegeanfoods/My Cars/Tatraplan/

 

[chrisp]

Very nice, Craig! And yours appears to be RHD too. Is that common? I assume it's been converted later rather than built that way?

Regards,

Chris

 

[CraigS]

No - it was built factory right hand drive. No one is sure how many were made in RHD form, but they did export a lot (relatively) to RHD countries. Here is a list of where they went.

 

[chrisp]

Well you learn something new everyday, or in my case, lot's of new things! Thanks for that. They really are amazing looking cars. I don't think I've ever seen one in the flesh, though.

 

[CraigS]

If you want to see some good pictures of a low mileage example, take a look here:

http://www.hymanltd.com/search/Details.asp?stockno=3849&recordCount=1

 

[SELfor50]

If you want to see some good pictures of a low mileage example, take a look here:

http://www.hymanltd.com/search/Details.asp?stockno=3849&recordCount=1

That's AWESOME!!! They're such a styled car, so sleek.

Any thoughts for increasing the HP?! Maybe a turbo?

When you say total restoration, how much is "total"?

Cam.

 

[CraigS]

When you say total restoration, how much is "total"?

Cam.

Ground up ! No choice really, but the panel work has been done as you can see. It was stripped and repaired where necessary, although I can't see any patches, so I'm assuming it was pretty much rust free beforehand - maybe just a little tired and why they decided to strip it down. There are a couple of rust holes now - but there is less than a few hours work to repair those. The engine has been rebuilt (apparently) and all the pistons have been marked with their piston sizes, so it would appear so, but it will be stripped and checked. Likewise the gearbox and axles. RonB will do these for me. I will need to source a wiring loom, but will probably buy something like a VW type 3 pre-made one and adjust as required (trafficators, etc.). There is not a great deal of chrome, but will still need to budget on $2,000 - $3,000 for replacement and/or rechroming.

Hopefully my brother will come to the party with the upholstery (red vinyl) and the paint from my nephew - although he can be a little elusive ! Colour will likely be Silver as in the first photo, or something close to it. This way, I can have the total car sprayed Silver, including the dash, so no worries about overspray. The underside will all be done in Black stone guard. Probably won't go with the wide whitewalls - just a bit too flashy for my liking, but will go with Indian made MRF brand van tyres. They make a 600.16 bias ply tyre which has pretty much the original profile, and are less than $150 each. It carries two spares, so that is already $900.

As mentioned, it is at least 2 years away before I start any major work - I have some others to start first, but will gather parts in the meantime as I find them, but will do small things from time to time, such as having wheels sandblasted, and engine parts wet blasted.

 

[SELfor50]

Damn... I guess you've got it planned pretty sweet. Having the rellies to help out sure helps!

No whitewalls?? Man, it's gotta have whitewalls.

2-3K for chroming? would that be everything though?

 

[CraigS]

Here is another interesting Tatra for sale in France. The price is very cheap for what it is, but the restoration cots would also be pretty high.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0332935588&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&viewitem=

 

[Styria]

Hi CraigS, obviously time is not always on one's side to do all the things we want to attend to, so our resources need to be utilized as best as possible.

It is nice to have you contributing again, even if it means that all is Tatra.
Personally, I think they're a fascinating car, ruminating as they do with all things that my childhood was connected with - including Tatras that were invariably owned and driven by Gypsies. They'd have a horde of kids, and they would be just piled into the cars with all their goodly possessions. We used to laugh at them.

Mind you, the ones I saw were usually black and drab looking, with that sinister rear tail and they were no one's favourite. The silver Tatraplan is certainly striking looking and something for you to aim for - initially, I had thought that the latest purchase had in fact been the silver car, and I kept thinking why would you need to restore it !.......until I saw the follow up pics. I've got to say "Good luck" because that is going to be a sizeable job but I have seen what you have done with your other Tatra which looks pretty good - that's a V8 though, isn't it ? Anyway, I am looking forward to your future contributions. Regards Styria

 

[CraigS]

Don't worry - I will get back to things Mercedes in due course ! Any new project takes a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm and I love getting to know the cars intimately and learning as much as I can. I have already made some significant progress on the parts supply - from Germany to the Czech Republic to the US. Likewise, I have located parts, owners and service manuals in English, which will make the restoration somewhat easier.

While it looks like a major job, I don't think it is. Maybe I am fooling myself, but I don't think there is too much in the panel work. The upholstery is not complicated as I have the existing seats as a pattern and the hood bows are there for the headliner, the wiring loom will be bought as a standard VW beetle (with trafficators) and modified, the engine will be disassembled, checked and cleaned, and reassembled by Ron B - and likewise the diff and gearbox. The windscreen and side glass will be made by one of two suppliers in Brisbane, and the curved back windows also by one of them, but in their factory in Indonesia. I have found (but not bought) all the windscreen and rear rubbers, so progress is being made. I have also identified the tyres (600.16 bias ply), and these are available also from Brisbane.

The only chrome on the car are the bumpers, centre strip down the bonnet, hubcaps, name badge on the sides and some chrome strips on the dash. I have most of these, but will likely have the bumpers rechromed and the others I will probably replace with new. Window frames are body colour, so no chrome there. A lot of the cost will be time - pulling things apart and checking them, cleaning (wet blasting), then painting them.

As always, the limitng factor is the fact I am not there most of the time, so I will need to be very organised next time I am there to get as much done as possible. The 1960 Buick is next on the list to be done (new inner/outer sills) so not too much will be done on the Tatra until that's finished, but I will get the wheels sandblasted and in primer and things like that that don't require too much effort on my part.

 

[Styria]

He says "I'm back" but he's gone again. Anyone know of his whereabouts ? Please let me know because well, I don't know about others, I miss him ! Regards Styria

 

[Michel]

He says "I'm back" but he's gone again. Anyone know of his whereabouts ? Please let me know because well, I don't know about others, I miss him ! Regards Styria

I was also wondering where Craig is.
I think I saw all his 6.9s advertised for sale somewhere

 

[CraigS]

I'm here ! Still lurking in the background. Been away on a Greek Island for the past few days and off to the sea side for a couple of days today - it is summer over here you know, and no one works here in summer.

Been busy gathering parts for the Tatraplan and making progress. Also made a good contact at the Tatra Archives and they were able to give me details of when the car was shipped to Australia - It was ordered by Halifax Motors in Broadway, on the 19 September 1950, and was originally Black. They also verified the chassis and engine numbers.

Other than that, I havem't been doing too much on the Mercedes front. I have sold two of the 6.9's that were in Brisbane. I sold one because I had no storage for it after buyung the Tatraplan, and the second one by accident - I was contacted by someone that was looking for something else and it just happened, but not a big deal - I still have the two in Melbourne and they are the best of the ones I had !

 

[Lukas]

The first 6.9 that you sold, the dark blue one (to a guy in Sydney) is the one that ended up with me. It's currently enjoying the brisk Canberra mornings by dripping oil on the garage floor. There was a fair mould farm in the boot too.

I looked up the codes for it the other day - it started life in classic white.