The car looks a bit like an oversized VW Beetle. The front fender is strikingly reminiscent of the million-selling cult-Volkswagen. But Ulrich Platzek from Schrobenhausen does not like to hear this. Finally, his car is a Tatra 87 – one of the 85 units still around.
The air-cooled engine roars under the hood of the silver car. “It does not need to shame for any American sedan,” Till Klewitz says with sparking eyes. The 27-year-old actor from Hohenwart has been hit for some years with the same virus as his uncle Ulrich Platzek who has been suffering from it for countless years – the fascination with old Czech Tatras.
Platzek adapted the virus nearby, in his childhood. “My father owned a Tatra,” Platzek says and points in the garage of his house, while walking up and down, at a vehicle that is truly identifiable as a classic car. “A T 57 , built in 1931″”, Platzek summarizes. Behind the first family car there is another model from the Nesselsdorf Wagenbau Factory – it is 14 years younger. With the first family car of the vehicle it has has little in common: streamlined, silver, with a tail fin on the rear bonnet. Is powered by an air-cooled three-liter V8 engine, which develops 75 hp. “The car’s top speed is 160 kph” says Klewitz, who began three years ago to master the technology and history of the car.
Therefore, the 27-year-old knows something from the past: “Most of the T 87s, were also driven by the German army ended in the ditch.” The luxury cars with leather interior were particularly favoured by officers: “And they have also been very happy to press the gas pedal.” And just becuase of this every Tatra driver should be careful. The big engine overhangs the rear axle, causing the rear of the car to break out when the accelerator was pushed without thinking too deeply. He prefers not to be passed by the rear of his own car, Klewitz admits.
The car is a real head-turner during the short test drive. On the way to the gas station car the sleek car with its characteristic sound leaved behind all disbelievers. In the interior hardly any wind noise can be heard. The leather seats are comfortable. Almost the passenger, both in front and at the rear, like sitting on a sofa. As the engine is located behind the passengers the engine noise even seems lower than than many modern medium-sized cars. Only the gear grinds occasionally. When downshifting, Platzek must double declutch, similar to older trucks. Shifting the gears cup with the partly synchronised gearbox is much easier as modern cars.
Source (in German): http://www.donaukurier.de/lokales/schrobenhausen/Schrobenhausen-Luxurioese-Raritaet-mit-dem-ersten-Kurvenlicht;art603,2270779