Tatra T87 - Intelligent Design 

Dear Mr. Ryan, what German and Austrian autobahn are you referring to? In time of creation of this car Germany had one autobahn in length of 108km and Austria none. This car was a Czechoslovak project, not German, it was used by Germans after occupation, but that doesn't make it a German car.

Tak TATRA T87 se mě líbí velmi. Třeba ten výfuk uprostřed, to mají dnešní sportovní vozy, prostě páráda.

Ledvinka!!Genius originalni

Curator he may be - and doubtless an extremely erudite chap. But he gives every impression of knowing little about the car or where it was made!

super this car well done and the condition wow

Tucker saw one of these during WW2 and tried to make the same car here. Actually, William Stout made the same type of car in the 30's in the U.S., but it was a rear-engined van. Very practical for weight distribution, but I think Toyota made the final statement in that department with their Previa van in the 90's, which had a centrally located engine with optional 4WD and supercharger. Unfortunately Toyota did not see its greater potential as an SUV or pickup, which would have been a winner.

that is correct, even Ferdinand Porsche looked at the idea when designing the Volkswagen Type 1 not to mention Czech made tanks from the late 1930's were used by the germans when they invaded France and the Soviet Union

They learned that the hard way. The early Tatras had tail-happy handling and would lose it on tight curves. At one time, German officers were forbidden to drive them.

the so-called "british" BREN machine gun was based on a Czech design the ZB vs. 26 in fact BREN is short for BRno and ENfield. the gun was designed in Brno the sole reason Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia was because he needed their great industry to produce enough weapons for his war so yes, Czech design was influental

Wien is on east from Prague :-)

just perfect

I agree-a fantastic car of its age BUT to be "Greatest Car Ever" takes much more than drag co-efficient, try Beauty, Performance, Driver appeal as a package.Considering it as a whole I prefer the 603! AND the Lamborghinis mentioned look like contenders.

The SM had quite a lot of problems with the engine (timing chain jumps), and it is also more expensive, the parts are more rare. I use the DS (21) daily (not in winter) and it was a childhood dream. It is quite reliable. My friend has it with an injection 23 engine and its quite strong (140 hp) it can do 170 kph . I would love to have an SM though, if I have all I need in life and stil money left, I may buy one :)

yes, you maybe right, because everyone has their greatest cars, in fact mine is also not the T87 but the car i have (Citroen DS) , but here is no greatest car ever, there are only greatest cars, and the T87 is one of them. the 603 is also one i'd like to have, i found one here in estonia in very bad condition, impossible to restore :/ Lambos are out of my budget :)

i always thought this was a Russian car for some reason. anywho, i love it! it's very inspirational

Now You've got it!! Citroen DS an interesting choice- 19 or 21? What about the SM with the Maserati engine?? I agree about the Lambos,but the 400GT in electric blue is Stunning!

@honussa Sorry, still can't recall this one. Will have a look at Google pictures soon!

Why is he talking about driving down the autobahn? This car is Czech not German! The Germans did steal some the Tatra"s other designs to make the VW bug!

@honussa For some reason I cant recall the 77! Which one was that??

@honussa I guess he meant "driven by german or austrian soldiers in Czechoslovakia" :)

@tertommy there werent so many cars in that time :)

The Previa , but it's a shed in comparison & is a shed , what 55 - 60 years late. For the period,the Tatra ,very brilliant ...but what is good engineering , rather than good marketing . So may be what we should do is get the marketing departments out of the way of the engineers & get at good engineering, and stop the companies only running for profit. I suggest you go on the view the GM EV1 and it's demise , in the same context . It 's the problem of money & the following of mammon .

What are those chrome handles between the front and rear windows at 1:50 of the video?

Middle Europe :-)

FYI:Ferdinand Porshe was heavily influenced by Hans Ledwinka's Tatras when designing VW Beatle.Actually VW Beatle is rip off of one Tatra car(not this one).Tatra sued VW coz of this and eventually VW paid some money to Tatra.

rear visibility must be iffy

Seems like they dont studdy geography in the US

@Thinsid Ever driven a Lamborghini? I am going to let you in on a secret from former owners. They require a lot of service, and their reliability (even if imporved under Audi supervision) is still nowhere near Porsche levels. The Countach had no servo, which meant you had to be buff like a bodybuilder to steer the thing in traffic, the airconditioning was pitiful and on summers it's like sitting in a sauna. The Countach's outrageous looks gave it more fans than its actual quality as a car.

"Greatest Car Ever"?? What about Tatra 603 or Lamborghini 400GT? OR later Lamborghini Countach Just a thought!

This is no made in east Europe but in the middle Europe. This is not the same! The Czech(oslovakia) was one of the most advacend country in the Europe this time. Even after the second world war (on the communist age).

hah OK. Greatest Car ever, anyway.

@McLarenMercedes RE Lamborghini: What you say is correct, BUT it ranks as a great car for the following reasons. When it appeared (About 1975!!) There was NO other car on earth that looked like it OR went like it. Lamborghini claimed a top speed of 193 Miles/ Hour, HOW Long Before ANYONE else claimed a speed in excess of 190?? ABOUT 15 Years!! Even with today's technology there is NO perfect car.

Made in eastern europe :)

I heard czehs were very proud of these cars because they killed many german officers, who enjoyed the (at that time very high) speed (140kph) but couldnt take the first curve :)

Yeah, spoken with all the wisdom of a very obvious troll. You're not trying to convince me that you're serious I hope? Listen up. Even the nazis liked this, and they usually looked down on everything that wasn't German. The aerodynamics was decades ahead of time. The thinking behind it become commonplace in the early 80's when Audi thought they had invented the "aerodynamic car".

Tatra 87 was a death trap. it killed more German officers than the Red Army. It was fast but with the engine in the rear its handling was terrible and it was prone to oversteer.

This thing is outright ugly. Like an over grown VW Bug, except way uglier. Foolish design