In September 1989 we got our Tatra 128 Platform, which we drove home. We left it on the street for a while. Approximately 30 minutes after our arrival our neighbour Mr. Martin visited us. He couldn't resist when he saw what we had brought home.

The Tatra 128 was the first vehicle he drove. In 1952 during his army service he got a completely new Tatra 128 Platform with a winch and he made 30 000 kms on it during his service for the army. In 1954 he started a job in Drevoindustria as a driver on a Ford Canada. At the end of 1959 this factory received a Tatra 128 Platform from the army. Changing Ford for Tatra he distributed wooden materials for the whole of Czechoslovakia.
According to him the Tatra was a good vehicle for the road but off road it had problems because of its weight. Sometimes when the Tatra wasn't distributing wooden materials, it would carry cargo from the sawmill to the railway station and back; passing us 20 times a day.

Mr. Martin says:

"In winter 1961 I was at Štrbské pleso with the Tatra 128. I parked the vehicle. It was minus 28 Celsius outside and I planned to leave in two days. In the morning the Tatra started on the second try. I wasn't able to shift the gear. In those days they made C-oil which was so thick I couldn't shift. I found an old cloth, dipped it in the petrol, put it under the gearshift and after a short while I was able to shift the gear and go. That day I left Štrbské pleso and in the evening I was back home."

The Tatra 128 was a very reliable vehicle and in August 1963 the fire brigade asked Mr. Martin to take them to Košariská for a trip. During this trip they took 4 pictures, the only pictures of the Tatra 128 (LIC # BH 07-06).
The Tatra 128 was used to take cargo from the sawmill to the railway station. Sometime in 1967 Mr. Martin took it to Žilina where Drevoindustria had its main office. It was hard for him to say good bye to it.
In 1989 he saw it again in our yard and when he sat in it he looked 22 years younger. We talked about the pictures then, but we didn't get them until 2002. No one heard about this Tatra 128 and our search for it was not successful.

Lozorno 1989-2003