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John Tjaarda - a forgotten design visionary

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Created on February 25, 2025

Text:

Gerhard Schütz

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Archiv Gerhard Schütz

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Archiv Tom Tjaarda (SD)

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Archiv Gerhard Schütz

10

Archiv Tom Tjaarda (SD)

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Tom Tjaarda's father - John Tjaarda with the ready-to-run Briggs prototype of his Sterkenburg with aluminum V8 engine in the rear

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Sterkenburg C3 (1924) - The "radiator" is only used for interior ventilation

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Sterkenburg C3 (1924) - Conventional design. The air slots in front of the rear wheel reveal the central engine

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Sterkenburg C3 (1924) - sectional drawing showing all the advanced details

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Sterkenburg Sedan (1931) - prototype of a streamlined sedan with windows in the roof edge and V8 in front of the rear axle

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Sterkenburg Sedan (1931) - The streamlined sedan anticipates the Tatra. The wheelbase measures 132 inches (3353 mm)

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Sterkenburg Sedan (1931) - Model of the streamlined prototype. The headlights stand steeply in the wind

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Sterkenburg Briggs Sedan (1932) - Headlights now integrated into the mudguards in a teardrop shape

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Sterkenburg Briggs Sedan (1932) - Almost a one-box design: long wheelbase and six side windows

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Sterkenburg Briggs (1932) - elegant back with two portholes and two "hoods"

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Sterkenburg Briggs (1932) - The central engine seen from the front, behind it the radiator above the axle

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Summary

John Tjaarda was one of many visionaries who proclaimed the self-supporting body and the streamline for automobiles in the early 1930s. However, as with his like-minded peers, it took years or even decades before his ideas were implemented in series production. Our portrait is dedicated to the Dutch-American designer.

This article contains the following chapters

The Type C3
1931: V8 engine
1932: Edsel Ford gets involved
World car with air-cooled central transverse engine
Epilogue

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Tjaarda - isn't that the Dutch-American designer of the De Tomaso Pantera, the first Ford Fiesta, the Corvette Rondine, the Fiat 124 Sport Spider and numerous other creations from the sixties? Yes - but Tom Tjaarda( 1934-2017), John's son. John Tjaarda (1897-1962) trained in England, primarily in aerodynamics, and then worked in the Netherlands as a pilot and as an engineer for aircraft manufacturer Fokker. From 1923, he worked in the USA for the rest of his life. He initially worked for several established coachwork and automobile companies, but also developed his own projects and then set up his own business after the Second World War. He was an unconventional, visionary personality who found large industrial structures rather difficult.

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