Tatra 87

The avant garde streamlined shape of the Tatra 87 is somewhat reminiscent of a fish, especially because of the large fin at the back.

The avant-gardist streamlined shape of the Tatra 87 is somewhat reminiscent of an insect, especially because of the large fin at the back. The three headlights are characteristic of the Tatra design. Thanks in part to the low drag coefficient (Cd value) of 0.36, the three-liter V8 engine can propel the car to a speed of 150 km/h. At that point it does become dangerous, however, because the placement of the heavy engine at the rear makes the car difficult to handle. The Austrian engineer Hans Ledwinka joined the Czech company Tatra in 1921 as technical director. He is the inventor of the backbone chassis and developed aerodynamic designs for automobiles. The design of this Tatra dates from before the war. Because Hans Ledwinka and Ferdinand Porsche were good colleagues, Tatra suspected that Porsche had copied his design for the Volkswagen Beetle from them and filed a lawsuit, but it was interrupted by the war. Later, however, Volkswagen acknowledged the influence of Tatra. A Tatra 87 was on display in 2006 at an exhibition on modernism at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.