I was young, but remember it. Channel 7 in Australia in got behind it (not least because Australia was the only country to get two rounds) and we got highlights of all the Euro rounds, and full coverage of the local races.
The downfall of the '87 WTCC had nothing to do with rules and regulations, it had 100% to do with Bernie Ecclestone.
A NZ-based group, called Strathmore Ltd, had been involved right from the start of planning for the series in 1985, and by early 1987 they, as the promoter, had a series sponsor in place, a travel fund and everyone was generally quite enthusiastic about the series.
Then during a FISA meeting in February, it was decreed that Bernie Ecclestone would be given the promotional rights to all FIA World Championships (WTCC, World Sportscars, WRC inclusive). Bernie of course was not known for giving anything other than F1 his full support...
In a heartbeat Strathmore were booted, along with the series sponsor and travel fund. Bernie announced that the entry would be $US60,000 per car for a 2-car team($30,000 for 3rd cars onwards etc.. in teams) to register for the championship, there would be no travel fund, and the be eligible to score points you had to register, pay the fee's, and attend every round. Basically that left just the manufacturers to play and the privateers were left as grid fillers with no championship to shoot for....
A number of Australian teams (HDT, Roadways etc..) had been planning WTCC attacks, but gave up in the end to concentrate on the local races (but would compete in the Bathurst, Calder and Wellington rounds)
The 1987 WTCC did attract full grids at all rounds, and big crowds, especially in the southern hemisphere rounds, and many factories cars took part at some point in the series (Ford, BMW, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Holden, Nissan, Toyota)
Had the original promoters stayed in charge, the series would surely have lasted longer than 1 year
Here is a short recap of the first round at Monza (and some of the nonsense that led up to it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZl155k3iaM