1948 Tatra T87

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Elkhart, Indiana | October 23-24, 2020

The Tatra T87 is a special car. Designed by Hans Ledwinka and Erich Ubelacker, it was based on the earlier T77, which was a very low-production car from the mid-1930s. The T87 went on sale in 1936 and lasted through 1950… you know, with an interruption for the war.

It had a streamlined body, a rear-mounted 3.0-liter V8, and suicide front doors. Horsepower was a modest 85, but the car had an incredibly low drag coefficient and could hit 100 mph. After production ceased, Tatra retrofitted some of the T87s with the 2.5-liter V8 from the 603. This is one of those cars.

Not a cheap car in its day, the T87 was produced in limited numbers with just 3,056 examples completed. It’s a beautiful, streamlined masterpiece, with design elements lifted from the German zeppelins of the era. It’s one of the coolest cars in this sale, and, like the others, it will sell at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from RM.

Update: Sold $302,000.