REVscene Automotive Forum - A Car Collection going up for Auction

I've been spending some time reading the descriptions of some of these cars. Some fascinating history to be learned about these rare cars and their importance in automotive history.

Go edjumacate yourselves if you don't know already!

Example:

1948 Tatra T87

1948 Tatra T87 | Monterey 2015 | RM Sotheby's

Quote:

Based upon the aerodynamic principles of Paul Jaray, the pioneering Hungarian engineer, the Tatra T87 was the work of Austrian-born designer Hans Ledwinka, assisted by the Czech engineer Erich Übelacker.

Ledwinka was with Tatra’s predecessor company, Nesseldorfer Waggonfabrik, of Koprivnice, Czechoslovakia, from 1897. For the Tatra T11, introduced in 1923, he engineered a torsionally rigid backbone chassis with swing-axle suspension and a front-mounted, twin-cylinder air-cooled engine. Successive model T12 continued the formula, while the T17 of 1926 added fully independent suspension and a water-cooled six. A series of models with air-cooled four-cylinder engines continued through the 1930s.

Tatra, as the company had been re-named in 1927 after the prominent mountain range on the Slovak-Poland border, began studying aerodynamics in the early 1930s. Working with Übelacker, Ledwinka investigated the designs of Jaray, who had designed airships for Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. This led to the T77, introduced in 1934, which has been called the world’s first serially produced, aerodynamically designed automobile. A large, six-seat luxury car, the T77 had a rear-mounted, three-liter air-cooled V-8 and was capable of 87 mph. The T87, its logical successor, first appeared in 1936. It improved upon the T77’s handling and exhibited a remarkable 0.36 drag coefficient. A top speed of 100 mph with modest fuel consumption and remarkable acceleration were its hallmarks. The T87 remained in production until 1950, and notables such as King Farouk of Egypt, Archbishop Beran of Prague, Czech president Klement Gottwald, and American, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Steinbeck each owned one. The cars were also a favorite ride of German officers during World War II. Legend persists that they were so reckless in the Tatras that the Wehrmacht Command forbade them from further use.