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Comment by undebuggable | Hacker News Reader

Before entering the post I was certain it's about Tropfenwagen [1] displayed in e.g. Technikmuseum in Berlin. Either way for the newly constructed highways they indeed shifted to aerodynamic cars with the body extending over the front wheels, but to the model ...cough... "borrowed" from Czechoslovakian Tatra [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpler_Tropfenwagen

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_87

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I don’t understand your comment. Neither the Tropfenwagen nor the Schlörwagen look anything like the Tatra you linked to.

He probably meant to link to the Tatra 77, which some people say was the first aerodynamic production car. Though, I believe a dozen other cars also get that title, for varying definitions of aerodynamic.

That one https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_77 also doesn’t look like either Tropfenwagen or Schlörwagen.

I don’t doubt there are many cases of blatant copying in technology, but I am having trouble to see any connection between either Tatra and the cars discussed in the post. Also: the “Czechoslovakian” Tatra linked to was designed by an Austrian and a Hungarian.

Bodies of 77/87 Tatras were probably the most aerodynamic compromise suitable for mass production at that time. Just compare them with Fords from 30s and 40s [1].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ford_vehicles#1930s%E2...

I believe that gp was referring to a certain nazi propaganda project that was basically a radically cheap downsized copy of that Tatra which somehow never stopped and turned out quite popular in the end.

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