Gatter Autowerk Reichstadt

After the Second World War and his expulsion from Czechoslovakia, Willibald Gatter tried to sell another small car in West Germany, the so-called Gatter-Mini (1952-1956) which remained a prototype.

Following the First World War, Gatter worked as lead engineer and department head for Austro Daimler in Wiener Neustadt.

He played a major role in the development of Austro Daimler's models AD 6-17 (1921–1924), ADM II (1923-1927), and ADV (1924–1927).

Together with Ferdinand Porsche, then technical director of Austro Daimler, Gatter developed the 1.3-liter Sascha racing cars.

Within Austro Daimler, a company then producing mainly luxury cars, Willibald Gatter lobbied for the production of small and affordable vehicles for the working class.

[1] Having recovered from this shock and having secured sufficient financing, Willibald Gatter founded in 1930 his own automobile company in Zakupy (formerly known by its German name Reichstadt).

[2] These studies omit however cars sold to the German Reich, where the Gatter company had several sales outlets, such as in Saxony and in Franconia.

In order to reduce weight, the first Kleine Gatter model had only one central headlight, one door only, and had no reverse gear.

[3] When a recession his hit Czechoslovakia in the mid 1930s, which affected especially the industrialized border areas of the country, Gatter's middle class clients were not able to afford new cars.

[5] At the end of the Second World War, Willibald Gatter found himself a refugee in Western Germany after the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia.

[6] In the Czech Republic a Gatter-collector's badge was dedicated to him in 2006, commemorating his 110th birthday and the 80 years since building his first prototype of a “people's car” in 1926.