Tatra V570

Although the car was designed by the head designer of Tatra, Hans Ledwinka, the principles that were used in the project were made by Hungarian-born engineer Pal Jaray, who after working on zeppelins (yes, airships) decided that it would be wise to use the streamlining principles for car designs. He founded the Stromlinien Karosserie Gesellschaft company that was offering the designs to various car companies, including Tatra, so today it would be hard to determine how much of the design was made by Ledwinka and how much by Jaray.

Why is it legendary?

Tatra V570 is not the best looking car in history, it can hardly be called well-known, not to mention popular. Actually it never even entered the mass-production (only two prototypes were made). So why is it legendary? Take a long hard look at the photo and answer yourself - haven?t I seen this car before? Yes, this car was used by Germans to start their most effective car in history - the Volkswagen Beetle. There still is controversy about that, but the resemblance between Tatra V570 and Porsche Type 12 (which later became The Beetle) is striking. Tatra actually even launched a lawsuit, which was blocked when Germany have invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938.