--- contrib/python/docker/docker/api/client.py	(index)
+++ contrib/python/docker/docker/api/client.py	(working tree)
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import six
 
 from .. import auth
 from ..constants import (
+    DEFAULT_DOCKER_API_VERSION,
     DEFAULT_MAX_POOL_SIZE,
     DEFAULT_NUM_POOLS,
     DEFAULT_NUM_POOLS_SSH,
@@ -194,7 +194,10 @@ class APIClient(
                                 version,
                                 str
                                 ) and version.lower() == 'auto'):
-            self._version = self._retrieve_server_version()
+            try:
+                self._version = self._retrieve_server_version()
+            except:
+                self._version = DEFAULT_DOCKER_API_VERSION
         else:
             self._version = version
         if not isinstance(self._version, str):