1940 Tatra T87 Staff Car

The Wehrmacht's interest in Tatra was in their trucks, which Germany never had enough of. Ringhoffer-Tatra attempted to interest the Wehrmacht in many military vehicles of their own design, but these projects all proved unsuccessful. https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2025/06/tatras-military-vehicles-1935-tatra-t82.html

Tatra's standard civilian car, the Tatra T57 did see some service in 'Kubelwagen' format, but production was slow and only 5,415 of the type were built between 1941 and 1945. https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2022/09/1941-tatra-t57k-kubelwagen.html

Tatra had been permitted to continue building the Tatra T87 limousine, largely due its popularity with the German elite. This was an extraordinary privilege shared only with Mercedes-Benz. All other automobile manufacturers in Greater Germany and the occupied territories had been forced to shut down civilian production and divert to war production. To safeguard their civilian production privileges, Tatra needed to secure a military contract for the T87.

The Tatra T87 was already popular with elite German officers, but an official contract required to Tatra to meet specific German staff-car requirements. The most challenging requirement was for the car to be a cabriolet. The pressed steel streamlined body was a key feature of the car, so removing the roof required strengthening the floor to ensure structural integrity. The folding cabriolet roof also proved to be a challenge as it was much longer than a usual Mercedes-Benz staff car as well as needing to fit into the streamlined rear deck lid.

Adjustments were also required to the air scoops above the engine bay. 

The scoops needed to be extend outwards as the cabriolet roof would have blocked the standard scoops when the roof was folded back (see below).

The scoops did mar the formerly smooth lines of the T87.

A second requirement was for fully reclining seats to permit drivers and passengers to sleep on long-haul drives.

Photos from a test shoot





Two examples were built but no formal contract was obtained. Nevertheless, despite never being an 'official' military staff car, individual units ordered cars for staff car use right through to the end of the war. After the war ended most of these were commandeered by the Allies, which continued using them for many years. Of the two T87 cabriolets, one of cars was retained by the factory for official use. The second was used by the Bohemia-Moravian Nazi occupation government. Both were taken over by the new Czechoslovakian government and used as official government cars, appearing regularly in public parades for many years. Both cars have subsequently disappeared.