The Experiment
When the Tatra 57 B was unveiled in 1938,
there was a desire to use this passenger car also
as an ambulance. The task of turning this into
reality was entrusted to the then-renowned
bodywork company “Carrosserie
Sodomka.” The skilled model builders and
mechanics in Vysoké Mýto tailored the
new bodywork so that a patient could be transported in a reclining position
on a stretcher that could be moved on
rollers—due to the limited length of the
entire vehicle, the stretcher
most likely took up the entire length from
just behind the rear window to the
front windshield. The sparse
interior was accessible only through a rear door
hinged on the left side, as there was no room
for anything else besides the stretcher. This reflected the
contemporary concept of patient transport,
and two small, round signal lights bearing the
red cross on the radiator grille and on the roof of the
rear made the Tatra 57 B visually recognizable
as an ambulance. Furthermore, the
mandatory half-covered windows also indicated
this intended use.
Nothing is known about the history of this prototype
other than the surviving photographs,
but it is certain that it remained a one-off and
did not survive. Whether political developments during
this brief prewar period stood in the way of any
potentially planned series production cannot
be ruled out.
