Engine Revue

The only comprehensive publication on the development, production and individual versions of the Tatra 813 vehicle is compiled mainly from archival documents of the Central Military Archive/Military Historical Archive Prague. In the introduction, it introduces the reader to the means used to move artillery and very heavy loads after World War II. The main part of the book contains information on the development of the Tatra 813 tractor, on the production of prototypes and their testing, as well as on the design of semi-trailers required by the army. In the most extensive chapter, divided into several parts, you will find tactical and technical data on individual applications of the vehicle, which are supplemented by drawings and photographs of various parts of the vehicle. The basic type of the Tatra 813 8 × 8 tractor (Kolos) is described in the most detail, from which the entire unified series is based. For other versions, including civilian ones, mainly design changes are presented. The appendices contain not only descriptions of the tractor's semi-trailer equipment and the use of T 930 series engines in individual vehicles, but also color photographs of the T 813 vehicles and their successor, the T 815.

The Tatra 805 light truck was developed in the early 1950s – at a time when the whole of Europe was slowly recovering from the consequences of World War II. The first pages will acquaint readers with the then level of motorization of our army, which primarily initiated the need for a mobile 1.5-ton vehicle. In addition to the basic versions of the flatbed and box, other single-purpose superstructures were built on the existing chassis to perform specific army tasks. The comprehensive text will explain to readers what individual designations such as Šárka, Jarmila, Ezop, Mozek, Třinec and Neděle meant. The difficult-to-understand delimitations and transfers of the final assemblies of the T 805 between production plants are still evidence of „planned“ mistakes. Previously unpublished photographs, clearly arranged technical tables and drawings will remind witnesses of the „eight hundred and five“ from common army and civilian versions to unknown prototypes. The publication will help readers of younger generations understand technical possibilities in the context of the time.