In Socialist Czechoslovakia, only high-ranking party officials and heads of factories were driven in 603s; the car was also exported to a number of other countries.

After production of the T600 ended in 1952, COMECON decided that Tatra would manufacture only trucks, while luxury cars would be imported into Czechoslovakia from the USSR.

In 1953 the socialist government became frustrated with delays in delivery of Soviet cars as well as with their poor quality[1] and they ordered development of a new luxury Tatra, thus giving legitimacy to the team's previous work.

In the end the one proposed by František Kardas and fine-tuned by Vladimír Popelář and Josef Chalupa was chosen for production.

In 1966 the car gained power brakes, while in 1967 other changes were added: for example the windshield's height was enlarged by 66 mm.

The unofficial -3 (or Tatra 2-603 II) omits the grille and places the headlamps flush with the car's front fascia.

The car got disc brakes on all four wheels and was officially changed to a five-seater for legal reasons (from 1968 the safety belts became obligatory for passengers on front seats).

About a third of T603 production was exported to most of the central and eastern European countries allied to Czechoslovakia at the time, as well as to Cuba and China.

To the west of the Iron Curtain the car was mostly unknown, though some were used by Czechoslovak embassies in western capitals, and for a brief period some were exported to Canada and the USA, following on the success of the rear-engined VW Beetle.

In 1958 the Ministries of Interior of both countries took part in trials, which East Germany's Minister of Machinery personally attended.

The spare wheel was in a separate drop-down bin opened from inside the front boot, thus making it possible to reach it without taking out luggage.

The V8 overhead valve hemi engine weighed only 180 kg (397 lb), allowing the car to have 47/53 front/rear interaxle weight distribution when fully loaded.

The gear stick was placed under the steering wheel in order to make room for the middle occupant of the front seats.

In most cases production cars with minimum modifications participated in races, but more modified versions also emerged later, notably one with ejector cooled engine.

One month later the same crews drove the 31st Rallye Wiesbaden (1231 km); Alois Mark was the best foreign driver and got 3rd position overall, behind two Mercedes cars.

[5] Tatra aimed to take part in Rally Monte Carlo of 1960, but already from the beginning they faced opposition from the official Czechoslovak institutions.

First the sport association wanted to place its own drivers into T603s instead of the company ones, while later it officially banned participation of both Tatras and Škodas.

This of course made the people from the Moravian company furious - they saw in the decision typical Bohemian Pragocentrism, especially after the participation of Škoda was allowed.

Due to very bad weather during the last two nights only 13 of 43 cars made it to the finish line; two of them were 603s, taking 3rd and 4th position in class (4th and 5th overall).