Weirdly beautiful and cool as fuck.
People, meet the glorious Tatra T87
Born in Czechoslovakia in 1939 with an arse like a space rocket and speed to match;
stolen by the Nazis as "THE car for the autobahn" and driven by Erwin Rommel among others;
the T87's amazingly low drag coefficient and awesome 3 litre transverse engine mounted over the back wheels inspired Doctor Ferdinand Porsche to copy its front end and engine arrangement for the Volkswagen and Porsche 911, an act that got him sued by Tatra for breach of copyright.
A baby like this will set you back around £140,000 (they only made around 3,000 of 'em) but amazingly there's an orange one that regularly races at Goodwood (see posts passim).
The Tatra T87: it's utterly bonkers but I love it.
8 comments:
Do not like the shape of that one …looks like a bike helmet at the back!! ha ha hope you feel better today have a rest…
It's certainly an acquired taste.
Hi, Dive. Hope you're feeling better.
Tatra T87 - How did the lawsuit against Porsche fare? I can certainly see VW lines in the front of the Tatra, maybe some rear end of the Porsche. I think there's a tinge of the rear in the early Corvettes.
Why wheel housing covers on the rear and not the front? That fin is ugly. It was ugly on Indy cars some years back, when the rear wing was so low and flimsy that I saw some that flexed in the air stream. Yikes! Scary! I suppose the fin and covers may've been for stability?
Oh, yeah, speaking of wings -- I looked at an IMA exhibit on design yesterday that included a dining table that had a profile/inner structure resembling an airplane wing. Cool!
I'd like this without that fin. Then again, if it serves a purpose, maybe I need it. Orange? No. The silver-grey is fine.
Fascinating car -- and history! I wonder how it feels to ride in it? Have you been in one, Dive?
I wonder how the seats feel. That is a deal breaker for me.
Speedway, wheel covers on the front would make steering a leetle bit tricky. Hee hee.
The fin actually helped divide the airflow (much as on a D-Type Jag) and gave the Tatra an even better drag ratio and fuel economy.
Yes, it's ugly but I kinda love it.
Orange is pretty outré, Petrea.
I WISH, Ms.M. I have a feeling I'd drool all over the upholstery.
Hi, Maria. The seats probably feel (and smell) a little like 1939.
Tantrac Sex? ... Howdy, Dive! How have you been?
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