The Tatra 85 was a medium off-road six-wheel lorry with a 6×4 axle layout, built by Ringhoffer-Tatra in Kopřivnice. It was created to a Czechoslovak army requirement and used as an aviation fuel tanker and as a flatbed artillery tractor; a smaller number of the T85/91 variant had a diesel engine and a cab-over-engine body.
Tatra 85 at a glance
| Maker | Ringhoffer-Tatra, Kopřivnice, Czechoslovakia |
|---|---|
| Developed | from 1935 |
| Layout | 6×4, six wheels, both rear axles driven |
| Payload | 3,000–4,000 kg |
| Trailer | 5,000 kg, 7,000 kg for the tanker |
| Engine | water-cooled OHV four, 8,143 cc |
| Gearbox | 4 + 1 plus reduction |
| Top speed | 60 km/h |
| Fuel consumption | 45–50 litres per 100 km |
| Fuel tank | 240 litres |
| Built | about 416, plus 52 of the T85/91 |
There is no English Wikipedia article on the Tatra 85; the page is based on the Czech article.
History of the Tatra 85
Army requirement
On the basis of a 1935 order from the Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defence, Tatra built a prototype of the six-wheeled medium lorry Tatra 85. The vehicle had a payload of 3,000 to 4,000 kg and could tow a trailer of 5,000 kg. The army tested the prototype from September 1935 and, after a positive result, ordered 50 Tatra 85 flatbeds in spring 1936. By the end of December 1936 it had received 48 vehicles for cargo and artillery-tractor duties, fitted with a winch, and two more flatbeds followed in June 1937. Further orders in 1937 and 1938 were not fulfilled before the Munich crisis.
Tankers and special bodies
One chassis from the first series received a tank body for fuel transport. In 1936 the army ordered 168 of these aircraft refuelling tankers, designated letecká automobilová cisterna vz. 37, and took delivery of all of them. They carried 4,400 litres of petrol, benzole, alcohol or their BiBoLi mixtures, with a Wikov pump and measuring and filtering equipment from Hejduk and Faix; unlike the flatbeds they had no winch and could tow a 7,000 kg trailer. Tatra also developed the T110 trailer tanker with 3,000 litres and a two-seat cab, but its development was not finished by 1938 and the Czechoslovak army took none. The Romanian army received 24 tankers and the same number of trailer tankers from a 1937 order, delivered in the early 1940s. After the German occupation the tankers were captured and later served as Kfz. 348 aircraft refuelling vehicles with the Luftwaffe, reportedly 220 of them.
In 1937 a prototype chemical supply vehicle, the CHZA vz. 38, was built by Chema Lutín; in 1938 the army ordered 54 Tatra 85 chassis for it and took 40 before the Munich crisis. These vehicles were to supply the RA vz. 38 spraying vehicles with chemical agents or decontamination solution. In 1939 the Tatra 85A appeared with a cab-over-engine body and was built until 1941, and the T85/91 used a six-cylinder Tatra 91 diesel with the same cab-over-engine layout; about 50 flatbeds and two buses were reportedly built in 1939. In all about 416 Tatra 85 vehicles and 52 T85/91s were made, and a smaller number of chassis went to civilian customers for their own bodies, including buses.
Technology and survivors
The Tatra 85 was 7.3 m long, 2.35 m wide and 2.60 m high, weighed 7,700 kg and ran on six wheels with both rear axles driven. A water-cooled OHV four-cylinder engine of 8,143 cc drove through a four-speed gearbox with a reduction. Top speed was 60 km/h, fuel consumption 45 to 50 litres per 100 km and the tank held 240 litres. A flatbed Tatra 85 is preserved in the Tatra truck museum, and the only surviving one of the two T85/91 buses was rebuilt into running order in 2015 from a wreck found in 1995 and used as a beehive, with a Zetor four-cylinder engine in place of the lost original.
Design and features
- Six wheels, 6×4: both rear axles driven for off-road work.
- Aviation tanker: 4,400 litres of fuel and a Wikov pump.
- Army tractor: a winch and a 5,000 kg trailer rating.
- Cab-over-engine T85/91: a diesel version with a flat-fronted cab.
Tatra 85 versions
- Flatbed: cargo and artillery tractor with a winch.
- Aviation tanker vz. 37: 168 ordered, 4,400 litres of fuel.
- CHZA vz. 38: chemical supply vehicle on 54 ordered chassis.
- Tatra 85A: cab-over-engine version built from 1939 to 1941.
- T85/91: diesel six-cylinder version with cab-over-engine body.
The 85 was the army six-wheeler of the 1930s, before the heavy Tatra 111 and the three-tonne Tatra 27. More trucks are in the Tatra collection.
Sources
- Tatra 85, Czech Wikipedia: history, versions, technical data
