Tatra T87
Encyclopedia
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Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
manufacturer Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...
. It was praised by German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
officers in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for the superior speed and handling it offered for use on the Autobahn. It was powered by a rear-mounted 2.9 litre air-cooled 90-degree overhead cam V8 engine that produced 85 horsepower
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
and could drive the car at nearly 100 mph (161 km/h). The Nazi armaments and munitions minister Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure, the founder of Organisation Todt. He died in a plane crash during World War II.- Life :Todt was born in Pforzheim to a father who owned a small factory...
declared: "This 87 is the Autobahn car ..." After the war between 1950 and 1953 T87s were fitted with more modern 2.5 litre V8 T603 engines.
The Tatra 87 has a unique bodywork. Its streamlined shape was designed by Hans Ledwinka
Hans Ledwinka
Hans Ledwinka was an Austrian automobile designer.- Youth :Ledwinka was born was born in Klosterneuburg , near Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire....
and Erich Übelacker
Erich Übelacker
Erich Übelacker, 19 October 1899 – 30 June 1977, automobile engineerÜbelacker studied mechanical engineering at Prague Technical University and subsequently worked there as an assistant to Professor Rudolf Dörfl. During 1927-1939 he worked at Tatra Works in Kopřivnice in Moravia under the...
, and was based on the Tatra 77, the first car designed for aerodynamic purposes. The body design was based on proposals submitted by Paul Jaray
Paul Jaray
Paul Jaray , 11 March 1889 Vienna–22 September 1974 St. Gallen, was an engineer and a pioneer of automotive streamlining.-Life:Jaray, of Hungarian-Jewish descent, was born in Vienna...
of Hungarian descent, who designed the famous German Graf Zeppelin dirigibles. A fin in the sloping rear of the Tatra helps to divide the air pressure on both sides of the car, a technique used in later aircraft. Tatra T87 had a drag coefficient of 0.36 as tested in the VW tunnel in 1979 as well as reading of 0.244 for a 1:5 model tested in 1941.
Small sets of windows in the dividers between the passenger, luggage space and engine compartments, plus louvers providing air for the air-cooled engine, allowed limited rear visibility. Its entire rear segment could be opened, to service the engine. The front doors are suicide doors, whereas the rear doors open in an orthodox manner.
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Tatra V570
Tatra V570 was a prototype early 1930s car developed by a team led by Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray. The aim of the construction team was to develop cheap people's car with an aerodynamic body...
and the later T97 were copied by later car manufacturers. Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian automotive engineer and honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is best known for creating the first hybrid vehicle , the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles...
was heavily influenced by the Tatra 87 and T97 and the flat-four-cylinder engine in his design of the Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
, and was subsequently sued by Tatra.
The price new (in 1940's) was 25,000 SFr
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
. Price today is around $125,000.
Examples on display
- A T87 is on display in the United States at the Lane Motor MuseumLane Motor MuseumLane Motor Museum is located in Nashville, Tennessee and features a unique collection of mostly European automobiles.-History:The Lane Motor museum was established in 2003 by Jeff and Susan Lane and began with Jeff Lane's personal collection of 70 vehicles. The collection is housed in the former...
in Nashville, TennesseeNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The museum displays 13 Tatra, including a 613 ambulance. It was this car, used to pick up comedian Jay LenoJay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
from the airport, that prompted him to purchase one as well, and become an advocate for the brand. - A 1948-built silver T87 is exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of ArtsMinneapolis Institute of ArtsThe Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
.
Notable owners
- Hans LedwinkaHans LedwinkaHans Ledwinka was an Austrian automobile designer.- Youth :Ledwinka was born was born in Klosterneuburg , near Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire....
- the Tatra constructer (when pensioned he got one as a gift from Felix Wankel. This car is now on display in the Deutsches MuseumDeutsches MuseumThe Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...
in Munich) - Eliška JunkováEliška JunkováEliška Junková , born as Alžběta Pospíšilová and also known as Elizabeth Junek, is regarded as one of the greatest female drivers in Grand Prix motor racing history.-Upbringing:...
- one of the greatest female drivers in Grand Prix motor racingGrand Prix motor racingGrand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
history - Ernst HeinkelErnst HeinkelDr. Ernst Heinkel was a German aircraft designer, manufacturer, Wehrwirtschaftführer in the Third Reich, and member of the Nazi party. His company Heinkel Flugzeugwerke produced the Heinkel He 178, the world's first turbojet aircraft and jet plane, and the Heinkel He 176, the first rocket aircraft...
- German Nazi aircraft designer, whose company produced the world's first turbojet aircraft and jet plane, as well as the first rocket aircraft - Felix WankelFelix WankelFelix Heinrich Wankel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named. He is the only twentieth century engineer to have designed an internal combustion engine which went into production.-Early life:Wankel was born in Lahr, Baden, in the upper Rhine Valley...
- German engineer, inventor of the Wankel engineWankel engineThe Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons. Its four-stroke cycle takes place in a space between the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing and a rotor that... - Emil František BurianEmil František BurianEmil František Burian was a Czech poet, journalist, singer, actor, musician, composer, dramatic adviser, playwright and director. He was also active in Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politics.- Life :...
- Czech poet, journalist, singer, actor, musician, composer, dramatic adviser, playwright and director - Vítězslav NezvalVítezslav NezvalVítězslav Nezval was one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the twentieth century and a co-founder of the Surrealist movement in Czechoslovakia....
- one of the most prolific avant-garde Czech writers in the first half of the twentieth century and a co-founder of the SurrealistSurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
movement in Czechoslovakia - Erwin RommelErwin RommelErwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
- famous German General and Field Marshal of World War II - Andrey Yeryomenko - famous Soviet General and Field Marshal of World War II (got first T87 made after the WW2 as present, this car is now on display in Tatra museum)
- John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
- American writerAmerican literatureAmerican literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British... - Farouk I of Egypt - the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali DynastyMuhammad Ali DynastyThe Muhammad Ali Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan, from the 19th to the mid-20th Century. It is named after its progenitor, Muhammad Ali Pasha, regarded as the founder of modern Egypt. It was also more formally known as the Alawiyya Dynasty...
and the penultimate KingKing of EgyptKing of Egypt was the title used by the ruler of Egypt between 1922 and 1951. When the United Kingdom ended its protectorate over Egypt on 28 February 1922, Egypt's Sultan Fouad I issued a decree on 15 March 1922 whereby he adopted the title of King of Egypt...
of EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the... - Josef Beran - Czech CardinalCardinal (Catholicism)A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
of the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Archbishop of Prague - Edvard BenešEdvard BenešEdvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
- a leader of the CzechoslovakCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia - Antonín ZápotockýAntonín ZápotockýAntonín Zápotocký was communist Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953 and President of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957....
, Klement GottwaldKlement GottwaldKlement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
- communist leaders, presidents of Czechoslovakia after the 1948 coup d'étatCzechoslovak coup d'état of 1948The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 – in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" – was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades... - Jay LenoJay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
- an American stand-up comedian and television host - Norman FosterNorman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames BankNorman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
- a British architect