1948 Tatra T87 Sedan

The Tatra T87 was based upon the aerodynamic principles of Paul Jaray, the pioneering Hungarian engineer. The Tatra T87 was the work of Austrian-born designer Hans Ledwinka, with help from Czech engineer Erich Ubelacker. Ledwinka was with Tatra's predecessor company, Nesseldorfer Waggonfabrik, of Koprivnice, Czechoslovakia, from 1897. In 1927, the company was renamed as Tatra after the prominent mountain range on the Slovak-Poland border.

The Tatra T11 was introduced in 1923 and featured a torsionally rigid backbone chassis with swing-axle suspension and a front-mounted, twin-cylinder air-cooled engine. The T12 continued the formula, while the T17 of 1926 added fully independent suspension and a water-cooled six-cylinder engine. A series of models with air-cooled four-cylinder engines continued through the 1930s.


The T77 was introduced in 1934 and has been considered the world's first serially produced, aerodynamically designed automobile. The T77 was a six-seat luxury car with a rear-mounted, three-liter air-cooled V8 engine and was capable of achieving a top speed of 87 mph. The successor was the T87, making its appearance in 1936. It had a 0.36 drag coefficient and a top speed of 100 mph with modest fuel consumption. Production of the T87 continued until 1950.

This Tatra T87 sedan was purchased by its current owner from Chicago redevelopment entrepreneur Larry Klairmont. It wears an older restoration and has been scarcely driven. The car has a new maroon leather interior and re-chroming and detailing of the brightwork. It rides on wide whitewall tires on body-color wheels. The engine is an overhead cam air-cooled V8 displacing 2969cc and offering 85 horsepower. It has a four-speed manual transmission and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2015