page_title: Tatra 77
section_title: Public response
hierarchical_section_title: Tatra 77 / History / Public response
caption_attribution_description: English: Tatra 77 advertisement
context_page_description: The Czechoslovakian Tatra 77 is by many considered to be the first serial-produced, truly aerodynamically-designed automobile. It was developed by Hans Ledwinka and Paul Jaray, the Zeppelin aerodynamic engineer. Launched in 1934, the Tatra 77 is a coach-built automobile, constructed on a platform chassis with a pressed box-section steel backbone rather than Tatra's trademark tubular chassis, and is powered by a 60 horsepower rear-mounted 2.97-litre air-cooled V8 engine, in later series increased to a 75 horsepower 3.4-litre engine. It possessed advanced engineering features, such as overhead valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, a dry sump, fully independent suspension, rear swing axles and extensive use of lightweight magnesium alloy for the engine, transmission, suspension and body. The average drag coefficient of a 1:5 model of Tatra 77 was recorded as 0.2455. The later model T77a has a top speed of over 150 km/h due to its advanced aerodynamic design which delivers an exceptionally low drag coefficient of 0.212, although some sources claim that this is the coefficient of a 1:5 scale model, not of the car itself.
context_section_description: Hans Ledwinka was the chief designer responsible for the development of the new car, while Erich Übelacker was responsible for the body.  Development was very secretive until the last moments of the official presentation on March 5, 1934 at Tatra's offices in Prague. The car was demonstrated on the road from Prague to Karlovy Vary, where it easily reached 145 kilometres per hour (90 mph), and amazed journalists with its great handling and comfortable ride at speeds of about 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph). That same year the T77 was presented at the Paris motor show, where it became the centre of attention due not only to its atypical design but also to its performance. There were even demonstration rides after doubt was cast on the ability of the car to reach 140 kilometres per hour (87 mph) with a mere 45 kilowatts (60 hp) of engine power: normally at that time twice the power was required for a car to reach such a speed. Director Maurice Elvey was so amazed by the looks of the car that he used the T77 in his science-fiction movie The Transatlantic Tunnel.
  "It is a sensation when it comes to its construction, to its appearance and to its performance. However, it isn't a sensation that has just fallen from the skies, but is a logical extension of roads [themselves], which Hans Ledwinka made thirteen years ago. The ideological principle of the new Tatra is an understanding that the car is moving along the dividing line between the ground and the air. ... The car maintained 145km/h, it has astonishing handling, it drives through curves with speeds that are both mad and safe, and it seems just to float on any kind of road. ... It is a car which opens new perspectives to car construction and automotive practice." 
  Vilém Heinz, Motor Journal, 1934 
  "That is the car for my highways!"
  Adolf Hitler to Ferdinand Porsche  See Volkswagen controversy
caption: "The car of the future, Tatra 77": contemporary advertisement
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