Tatra 87 History

The Tatra 87, introduced in 1936, was a lighter and more practical evolution of the T77: Ledwinka and Übelacker shortened the wheelbase, trimmed nearly 400 kg of weight, and fitted a 2.9-litre overhead-cam air-cooled V8 producing 85 hp, giving the car a top speed approaching 100 mph (160 km/h). Despite its rear-engine layout and the challenges of pre-war production, 3,056 T87s were built — making it one of the more numerous luxury cars of its generation.

The T87 became notorious during World War II for the difficulty Nazi officers had controlling its handling at speed — the rear-engined weight distribution demanding different driving technique from front-engine contemporaries. Its aerodynamic shape and engineering directly influenced Ferdinand Porsche's Volkswagen prototypes, resulting in a post-war lawsuit that Tatra settled with Volkswagen AG for 3 million Deutschmarks.

Notable owners included American author John Steinbeck. The T87 remained in production until 1950, bridging the pre-war and early communist eras, and is today regarded as one of the most significant automobiles of the 20th century in terms of technical influence.