The Tatra automobile company still commands respect with its cars. Of course, many in our country may resent her for driving the leading figures of the Communist Party and one, erm, let's say controversial, prime minister of the Czech Republic towards the end of her career. But what we should remember are especially the amazing cars produced from the 1930s to the 1960s. At that time, the Kopřivnica automobile company was one of the most advanced in the world. When the Citroën DS was not even a germ in the minds of French designers, the Tatra 77 and 87 – amazingly aerodynamic and precisely designed limousines – were already being launched under the Beskydy Mountains.
Today it is over, today we can only enjoy amazing off-road and military trucks with a unique chassis concept. But the time of the amazing limousines of designer Hans Ledwinka should not be forgotten. His first design creation was the Tatra V570 , but he fully developed his vision only with the type 77 , which was powered by a fork eight cylinder . By the way, to this day it is still the production car with the lowest drag coefficient.
The successor to the "seven", i.e. the Type 87 , appeared in 1936. The central part of the body, the swinging semi-axles and the rear-mounted air-cooled fork-eight cylinder were adopted by the Type 87 from its predecessor. And this time, too, Paul Jaray , the chief shape designer of the Graf Zeppelin airship, played with the bodywork. The massive OHC engine produced 85 horsepower and thanks to it, the Tatra had no problem speeding at 160 km/h. It was one of the fastest cars in the world. At high speeds, however, the car required an experienced driver due to its specific chassis. And since it was popularly used by SS officers, it began to be nicknamed the " Czech revenge " after a series of accidents. The car was insidious in corners like the first Porsche 911 models. For example, a famous German owner was General Erwin Rommel .
But the Germans themselves were probably to blame for that bad luck, the Tatra 87 had a lot of famous people who survived driving it in good health – Czech car racer Eliška Junková , designer Hans Ledwinka (his car is actually on display in the Munich Transport Museum ), poet Vítězslav Nezval , writer John Steinbeck , Felix Wankel , director Emil František Burian , King Faruk I of Egypt, aircraft designer Ernst Heinkel and Archbishop Josef Beran . American presenter and petrolhead Jay Leno currently has one in his collection. Otherwise, it also served as a presidential car, when Klement Gottwald and Antonín Zápotocký were allowed to ride in its back seat.
And if we write about the Tatra 87 , we cannot leave out Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka , who traveled a large part of the world with it. In 1947, they and Tatra set off from Prague towards the south, crossed Europe and Africa , in order to cross the ship to Argentina . After visiting Buenos Aires, they left for the USA . After the tiring journey, they then returned home to gain some strength before setting off on the second part of their trip around the world with the Tatra 805 .
The Tatra 87 was replaced in 1956 by the more modern Tatra 603 . Although it was more powerful, it still retained a number of aerodynamic elements of its predecessor. For example, a split rear window or three front headlights. It continued the tradition of elegant Kopřivnica cars, which changed radically only with the type 613 designed by the Vignale studio.
Photo: AutoWP
