Old car promotional films are often entertaining, which is just one of the little-discussed perks of being a modern human. Earlier this month I showed you one that was a pretty good time thanks to midcentury awkward funnyman Don Knotts, but the one I want to show you today really makes the car the star of the show, both because it’s a hell of a car – a Czech Tatra 603 – and because of the wildly unhinged and bonkers stuff they do with it.
There’s really not much of a plot, as such, to this promo film; it’s called Happy Journey, and from what I can gather it’s about a young couple who accepts a ride with a Tatra 603 owner who is, charitably, fucking crazy.
They all sit three-abreast in the front seat, though there’s plenty of room in these large, rear-engined cars. I mean, look:
They’re fascinating machines; they keep the aerodynamic, Hans Ledwinka-designed Tatra formula of a rear-mounted air-cooled V8 in a streamlined body, but updated to 1950s-ish styling. The one in this film appears to be a second-generation one, based on the peculiar four-lamp front end, which were made from 1962 to 1968.
You can see the later front end here, in this little video I made a while back about the T603:
But that’s not the video I want to highlight today; this is the one you need to see:
Before you get too into it, though, let me point out a few interesting points.
It starts with something – or someone, an archytpe of a person – that appears to be an internationally-understood concept in this era: the automotive service dufus.
The Czech version is on the left there, but here in America we had ones like Gomer Pyle, shown here before he enlisted in the military, still in his small North Carolina town-era. But both are prime examples of the automotive service-industry dufus, with their goofy demeanors, stupid hats (worn stupidly), and easy, comfortable, automotive maintenance skills. I’m very pleased to see that this wonderful concept transcended global borders.
The basis of the plot is basically the Tatra driver driving like a maniac while being chased by cops; there even appears to be some sort of early speed camera, as you can see up there? I think that’s what it is. The cops also have long binoculars and some other interesting equipment.
The driver, with his white gloves, really seems to love courting danger; he whips the wheel back and forth while at high speeds, usually a recipe for trouble in a rear-engined car of that era, but he does manage to keep everything together even while the car fishtails wildly. Wildly, but always in control, incredibly.
He really is tearing ass; look at all the air he catches up there!
Once in town, we get to see what appears to be an earlier Tatra T600 Tatraplan on the left there, which is always a treat.
The narrow streets of the old city and the comparatively massive size of the car don’t seem to phase the driver, who whips around corners and through narrow, cobblestone alleys like some manner of demon, with those two white rubber impact cones on the bumpers doing a pretty good impression of demon teeth.
Our man plunges the T603 into water, with the ruthless abandon of an overconfident chimp; the car splashes and fords the stream easily, hardly slowing at all.
It whips down dirt roads, unafraid to muddy its whitewalls;
It somehow finds a few feet of snow to blast through, which it does, going absolutely yetishit.
Finally, after the two passengers are let off (and then they rat their driver out to the cops) we see the driver deliberately roll the Tatra down a large hillside, only to have it land back on its wheels and speed off.
Scroll back up and watch this thing! It’s worth it! A great, inspirational and unhinged way to start your day, Tatra-style!
I always interpreted the film as a very confident salesman taking apparently very trusting potential customers on a test drive.
There’s an edit of this film on youtube called “I heard Tatras,” turning it into a music video for David Holmes’s “I heard wonders,” which I honestly like better than the original edit. The music fits perfectly with the action and gives a heart-racing joyous feeling to it, while the shorter runtime keeps all the most exciting highlights of the film and cuts out the fluff.
Also, how could you neglect to mention the one-of-a-kind non-production Tatra T600 van prototype the police are driving in the film!!?? I thought you of all people would be all over that! This is the only known footage of that van driving around and being used! Tatra may not have been allowed to produce and sell it, but they sure as heck weren’t going to use a competitor’s van in their promo film, so they used their own unapproved prototype van in a delightful flight of alternate history fantasy.
My favorite foreign movie. They should show stuff like this in theaters instead of all those coming attractions. What’s on the motorcycle cop’s legs? Are those reflectors or skid pucks?
Started the video while listening to Blue Monday by New Order and dufus’ dance matches the song
I got to drive the 1958 603 that is in the Lane a few years ago on a “Rallye for the Lane”….we drove off thru the countryside, stopping for lunch and a tour of the Jack Danials distillery and back to the Lane. It was an absolute blast and well worth the price. You had to “rent” the car for the day – I don’t know of any other car museum in the world that allows any Joe off the street with the price of admission to drive their cars for a whole day – unsupervised!
A couple of notes about the car – it felt very much like an American car of the era, softly sprung, wallowed on the road……the engine was all of 100hp so the performance was mild, but the hemi V-8 sounded great! On the way home it was getting dark so we were looking for the controls and all of the knobs were labeled, but not with anything we could understand. We dug out the owner’s manual but of course, it was in Chech! We finally just started pulling and twisting knobs and buttons till the lights came on! At one point on a long highway stretch I hit 120KPH, then realized it was only about 70 mph…..lols.
What a great experience, thanks to the best car museum in the world IMHO – the Lane!
Bloody hell, the Czech paparazzi really were persistent. Audrey Hepburn just wanted to go on a quiet date with her new boyfriend, but instead the chauffeur had to drive like a maniac to escape the long lenses.
If only Princess Diana had been in a Tatra 603.
Given the history of Tatra’s handling and the circumstances of Diana’s accident, I can only assume a tunnel would’ve spelled disaster for these folks as well.
The history of Tatra’s handling is probably what they were trying to get across – “THAT machine killed fascists, THIS machine doesn’t kill communists.”
Either that, or those privileged enough to have a Tatra in the early 60’s were desperately seeking any thrill they could get to deal with the ennui of bureaucracy?
Why did they admire whistling so very much in that era? There are few things that annoy me as much as an extended session of listening to someone whistle, yet there were entire albums sold of just that!
It was a Soviet/Communist thing. All music must sound happy cheerful sunshine because communist way of life better.
No, it wasn’t. Was The Andy Griffith Show a communist thing?
I could provide dozens of other examples, but just don’t care to do so because then I’d have the earworms bothering me all day.
I was joking. No need to prove it. I believe you.
Regarding Andy Griffith, yes, that show was pure Red Propaganda. Barney Fife was meant to mock decadent stupid American pigs.
Or wordless singing.
https://youtu.be/5UjbxcDlp30?si=Ohi1JRFTNBXySv2d
I don’t even need to click the link to know what it is. Gotta be that insane Russian cover. I’m not even going to click to verify. It just has to be.
What’s worse than listening to extended whistling?
Watching extended whistling that’s dubbed in – because that actor is not whistling.
Years ago the Lane Motor Museum had a small CRT TV set next to the Tatras on display on which they played that video on a loop. At the time my kids were quite young; one was/is quite into cars but the other wasn’t so much and would get antsy if we stopped in one spot for too long, you know how kids are, lol, so we didn’t ever get to watch the film in its entirety though my kid into cars did manage to find it on YouTube later & we were able to watch it at home. Quite a fun watch; it’d been a good few years since I last saw it so thank you for posting it here!
As for the police car, the wagon or van with the rear-hinged doors, that has trouble keeping up with the 603 and gets stuck in the snow it’s apparently and quite inexplicably also a Tatra, specifically a Tatra 600 Tatraplan, either a prototype or a custom job produced by Tatra: http://imcdb.org/vehicle_48727-Tatra-600-Tatraplan.html
Pitting Tatra against Tatra, with one failing so ignominously, seems like an odd move for a film ostensibly promoting Tatras, the 603’s ultimate victory notwithstanding. Yeah, gleefully bonkers, indeed.
The whistling from this video drove the staff crazy.
My parents had a Volvo 240 sedan that whistled around the passenger-side C Pillar.
Drove me crazy.
The 600 van was a prototype Tatra wanted to put into production, but was denied permission to do so because communism reasons. They were apparently salty enough about it to use it in their promo film anyway.
When I tried driving down a bunch of back alleys in a small Czech town, I ended up blocked by a horse cart and had to back all the way out. Maybe because I was in a rental Toyota and not a real Czech car (not even a VAG-era Skoda). The Czech driving gods were not on my side.
I just want to point out that there’s an actor named Vaclav Babka in this film. I can’t tell if it’s a stage name or not.
The license tag that falls off in the river and is returned at the end reads “Have a safe journey”. And the blah blah at the end is just stuff like The Tatra 603 handles well in all situations and gives comfortable ride on rough roads. The air cooled engine is appropriate for all climates… etc.
150-160 km/h in a 30 zone? The Czech version of a Charger Hellcat or Big Altima Energy, right here.
An early demonstration of Czechs and balances.
*golf clap*
Beats Slav-ing away in a factory all day.
This is why, regretfully I no longer own a Tatra, this sort of stuff kept happening. I started to think it was me but realised the car was, well, utterly bonkers.
It’s not just Tatra! Suspect all air cooled rear engine cars share a deviant disposition. My Karmann Ghia got me threatened with a federal offence! Just enjoying nature away from roadways, when a couple of rangers came to chat. “You know son, now that this park has been reclassified as National, we can charge you with a federal crime, impound this car, and completely disassemble it if we want.” Yes sir, sorry sir. Iet us go with a warning.
My Corvair could totally do all that stuff. Totally.
Bit of clever editing for the tumble down the hill. I’d like to see how that really ended. All the same, that’s some impressive driving!
Man, The Transporter movies pre-Statham were definitely a bit more campy.
The service guy at the end waving like, “TTFN, Tatra For Now!”
That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!