The later model T77a, introduced in 1935, has a top speed of over 150 km/h (93 mph) due to its advanced aerodynamic design which delivers an exceptionally low drag coefficient of 0.212.

Under the direction of Hans Ledwinka, the company employed many of the genius minds of automotive history, including Erich Übelacker and consultant Paul Jaray, who together designed the Tatra 77.

In 1927 he founded a company specializing in developing streamlined car bodies and selling issuing licences to major vehicle manufacturers.

Instead, Jaray constructed two prototypes for a concept designated the Tatra V570, which more closely conformed to his aerodynamic streamlining principles, featuring a beetle-shaped body.

Tatra aimed to make state-of-the-art cars that would be fast, stable, nearly silent, economical and built to the most rigorous engineering standards, as well as reflect modern aerodynamic research.

[12] The T77/77A cars were quite probably the last production use of the "walking-beam" valvetrain principle, their dry-sump air/oil-cooled V8 engines having overhead valves in hemispherical heads, but no pushrods.

Instead the valves are opened by enormous drilled rockers operated by a single high camshaft between the two cylinder banks' heads, and pivoted inboard of their centres to extend the lift applied by the cams.

A consequence is that the mechanical layout is much less obvious to the observer, with the big box-shaped engine giving few immediate clues to its V configuration, unlike its T87 OHC successor.

[13] On March 8, the Tatra was presented at Berlin motor show, where it became the centre of attention due not only to its atypical design but also 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.

[18] A number of designers around the world were trying to construct an aerodynamic car at the time, but Tatra was the first one to successfully introduce it into serial production.

There were numerous reasons why Tatra designers took such a revolutionary approach to the conception of the new car: First of all it was their aim to reduce drag, mostly air-drag, which increases with the square of the speed.

As the designers wanted to reduce the rolling resistance, they did their best to produce an engine as light as possible: an air-cooled V8 with a crank case made from elektron, a magnesium alloy.

The frameless body was characterized by its central structural member, which was firmly welded to the floor panels and which covered the linkage to the brakes, gearbox, etc.

Some sources, though, claim that this figure was based on a 1:10 scale-model test, and it has been confirmed recently that the drag coefficient for the real full-size car is 0.36.

All other T77's had the steering wheel on the right-hand side as Czechoslovakia (like a number of other European countries) drove on the left before the Second World War.

[21] A 1936 Tatra 77 was shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London from November 2019 to April 2020 included in their exhibition "Cars: Accelerating the Modern World".