Tatra 603 Happy Journey (or St’astnou Cestu) is the ultimate in promotional videos. Filmed on public roads at high speeds it has become something of a legend. The car itself is fabulous too.

Tatra filmed this in 1962 video and features a Tatra 2-603. They demonstrated the high speed stability of the rear engined car, something which was not perceived well and criticised.

Driven by Jaroslav Pavelka, a Czech car and motorcycle racer, it covers all sorts of driving conditions, even with a police chase. Wait until the end and watch them roll the car to demonstrate it’s strength.

Happy Journey had become something of a video legend and wasn’t so easy to find, certainly before the advent of the internet. I had read articles about it and was lucky one year to watch it in a small cinema at Retromobile many years ago.

There is no way there will be promotional videos like this again, not official ones anyway, so let’s make the most of the ones that exist.

If you liked this then have a look at the Tatra report from Retromobile 2020. Also there are some more Tatra’s in the Prague Technical Museum report too.