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Tatra T-87 sedan Czechoslovakia 1940…notice anything?…
Yes, It is UGLY!
I see vague similarities but it has nowhere near the style and grace that Pierce Arrow designers produced with the Silver Arrow.
I think if you changed the color it would lose most of its similarities.
I think I’ve seen it in a Flash Gordon movie. I wonder if white smoke issues
out the rear when it is in flying mode? I bet Ming is plotting to have one built
with a supercharger and a new generation ray gun!
They are interesting cars, very well built. More like an aircraft than a conventional car. And Peter is correct, they are ugly. They are also good drivers, and very comfortable.
The Tatra’s were designed by Jaray starting in the 1920’s. He was an engineer who did much of the pioneering work on auto streamlining. You can see the elements of Jaray designs before the Silver Arrow. The Silver Arrow took some of the principles of Jaray’s (and others) designs and made them more aesthetically pleasing. Interestingly (to me), he did his pioneering automobile aerodynamic work in the same wind tunnel that the German Zeppelins were studied in.
“Streamlined” cars are usually ugly to our eyes. A truly well streamlined shape requires a long tapered tail to keep the flow from separating off the rear facing surfaces, but the length of that taper is usually quite impractical for a car that must accommodate passengers. As a compromise the back end gets lopped off usually in some unfortunate fairly blunt shape. Famously, Carl Breer’s early work on streamlining at Chrysler learned that the basic late 1920’s shaped cars had less drag going backwards.
A car design that inspired my interest in Classic cars was Virgil Exner’s theoretical 1966 Pierce-Arrow design, I thought it was the best looking fastback design, (I like ’66 Toronados too). However, while just being a basic five passenger car it’s total length would have been a whopping 22 feet.
Jim
The Tatra was an interesting car, technically advanced, designed by Hans Ledwinka, but the early swing axle rear end had many of the problems of the early Corvairs. During WWII, the German Army forbade officers from driving these cars due to their strange handling characteristics. Tatras remained in production until about 1975 when they ceased production of autos and just built trucks.
The Tatra was an interesting car, technically advanced, designed by Hans Ledwinka, but the early swing axle rear end had many of the problems of the early Corvairs. During WWII, the German Army forbade officers from driving these cars due to their strange handling characteristics. Tatras remained in production until about 1975 when they ceased production of autos and just built trucks.