The half-ounce gold medal of the Czech Mint, which is part of the free cycle of the most beautiful unrealised designs entered into the Czech National Bank's competitions, pays tribute to the Tatra 603 passenger car.

Tatra cars with streamlined bodies have entered the history of motoring. They were not only beautiful, but also powerful and reliable - just think of the Tatra 87 with which Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund travelled the world. Nevertheless, the Kopřivnice car factory had to stop production of passenger cars. Communist central planning required Tatra to produce only heavy trucks in 1950. The development of the Tatra 603, the last streamliner passenger car of its brand, was therefore carried out in secret. In the end, however, communist officials were happy to sanction its production. For their purposes, they needed a service limousine that would be representative, which could not be said of the Soviet GAZ and ZIS machines. The air-cooled eight-cylinder was produced between 1956 and 1975 and was loved by ministers, directors of national enterprises, secret service personnel and President Antonín Zápotocký, who received the first production example for his birthday. The avant-garde work of art, which became the most famous Czechoslovak post-war car, is still admired by motorists today.

The design by the academic sculptor Zbyněk Fojtů was used as a model for the commemorative medal. The expert committee of the Czech National Bank awarded it second place in the art competition, highlighting the imaginative rendering of the technical drawings on the reverse side and the composition of the car with the company logo on the obverse side of the medal. The texts on both sides state TATRA 603 – 2023 – ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA.

The medal is issued in an edition of only 99 pieces. Each piece is hand-numbered on the edge.