Hans Ledwinka

Biography

Hans Ledwinka was born in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, on 14 February 1878. After working as a mechanic and studying in Vienna he joined Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau in Nesselsdorf, now Kopřivnice. He worked first on railway carriages and then on the firm's early passenger cars, among them the 5.3-litre six-cylinder Type U.

In May 1916 he accepted the post of director at Steyr and moved there in 1917. He returned to Nesselsdorf in 1921, by then using the Tatra name, and ran its passenger-car design as chief design engineer until 1937. His Tatra 11 is known for its backbone chassis and swing axles, and the Tatra 77 for its streamlined body and rear-mounted, air-cooled engine; the Tatra 87, 97 and 111 also came from his projects. He kept his Austrian citizenship throughout.

After the Second World War he was accused of collaboration with Nazi Germany and imprisoned, and in 1948 he was sentenced to six years. Released in 1951, he refused to work for Tatra again and moved to Vienna and then Munich, where he died on 2 March 1967. The Czechoslovak Supreme Court exonerated him posthumously in 1992, and in 2007 he entered the European Automotive Hall of Fame.