Tatra does not build many cars like the Tatra 90: a 4-door sedan with 2.5L Tatra 82 F4, built from 1935 when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together.
The story
The Tatra 90 is a Czechoslovak prototype mid-size car, made by Tatra in Kopřivnice in 1935. The car has an air-cooled four-cylinder OHC 2,490 cc boxer engine, the same as in the Type 82. The engine produced 55 hp (41 kW), giving the car a 90 km/h (56 mph) top speed. The engine is front-mounted engine with rear-wheel drive.
Transmission is via a single-disc dry clutch and four-speed transmission with synchronized third and fourth gears. The car has a tubular backbone chassis, front axle with transverse leaf spring, and oscillating rear axles with a transverse leaf spring. The body is a four-door, six-seater sedan, reminiscent of the aerodynamic Type 77 at the front and rear, but with separate fenders and integrated headlights and running boards. Probably two prototypes were built. The car did not enter series production.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 2.5L Tatra 82 F4. Kerb weight is 1450 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 3220 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Chevrolet Suburban, the Bugatti Type 57, the Volkswagen Beetle. Nearby in the Tatra catalogue sit the Tatra 10 and the Tatra 600 kabriolet.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Tatra 90 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.