Trabant Parade

I visited the local Spandau Arcade shopping centre this morning to buy a little surprise for the 14th and saw all these old Trabants (Trabbies) from the DDR period on display.

The Two stroke engine is simplicity itself as shown in the cutaway sections.

Being Two stroke they are a little smelly when following on the road!

Luckily I had my camera with me.

They are a cult car these days and many can be seen on the roads.
Some in DDR condition and some in Tip Top renovated condition.

Trabant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Your pictures: Trabants around the world

Trabant 601 - page 1


Regards
Tom

 

Those cars have really embedded themselves into the pop culture of Germany. Some fine examples there Tom.

 

Tom

I believe that they were supposed to be one of the easiest and cheapest cars to service. As you say, a classic from that era. Thanks for showing us.

Robert

 

It was the Trabbies that led the way to freedom in late 1989 when a "mass assault" on the Austrian border from Hungary was made by those from the GDR who had been given permission to travel in Hungary for holidays etc and instead diverted to the west.

Saw quite a number in the former GDR when the "wall" came down.Steam trains and towns and villages in a time warp.Visit to Nordhausen Dora and an unhindered walk round without official guides giving the political slant.

 

My contribution to the DDR economy was a MZ 150 bike I bought in the late 70s. What a piece of junk

I painted it "Panzer Grey" but it didn't run any better for it, maybe the opposite!

 

Owen,
Good pictures.
The picture with Mollusc and the Yello Trabbie, is that taken at the Sunday Flea market at Charlottenburg?
The Trabbie is registered in Nauen, Brandenburg, just west of Berlin.

Regards
Tom

 

Just had to post pictures of this monster trabi that I saw early this evening parked outside the Shopping Centre.

Sorry that the pictures are too good as it was dark and my flash is really not up to the cameras quality when taking pictures in the dark.

You can even have a hire Trabi Safari car, which are all painted like Zebra!
Berlin - Trabi-Safari

Regards
Tom

 

Found these two Trabbies at Babblesburg Film Studios this year.

A Back to the future version and a Flower Power model.

Regards
Tom

 

A Trabbie as a Delorean?? Brilliant!!!

 

Owen,
Mine are all Trabant adverts in Germany!

Regards
Tom

 

I reckon I've got some pics somewhere, but they're all in old style so I'll need to dig them out and scan them in first!

 

I have only seen one of these "cold war" vehicles here in Montana, USA. It was in a collection and not being driven. One of the fellows who was looking at the thing mentioned that only the Communist system could possibly make the Germans build a bad car.

As the Trabant’s body panels were made of "Duroplast", this is a form of plastic containing resin strengthened by wood fibers, wool or cotton they got the improper name of "cardboard" cars. Since they did behave very poorly in crash situations (wonder why?), they did come to be thought to have "cardboard" bodies, they weren’t really cardboard but they were pretty laughable anyway. It is turning out that their Duroplast body panels don't deteriorate in land-fills, nor do they rust out, nor are they recycleable. Major flaws in design. BTW, since you brought it up, here are some of my favorite jokes about the little 600 cc. two-stroke stinkers!

First joke; During a visit to the Leipzig Trade Fair a filthy rich oil sheik heard that that there was a car from East Germany with a delivery time of years. Since Rolls Royce usually delivers more quickly than that, he figured it must be quite an exceptional car, which he would certainly have to have in his collection.

Sight unseen, he made a request to order this Trabant. In Zwickau they're aware of this great honor, so they immediately change the running Five-Year Plan and bring forward a specimen, which they place in a shipping container and send it off. In the container, the car reaches the emirate in only a handful of weeks.

The happy oil sheik immediately called his friends together, opened the shipping container, and exclaimed: "Gosh, they certainly must have incredibly long delivery times, well at least they send you a cardboard model in advance to play with!"

Next; Why does the Trabant have a heatable rear window? So that you don't get such cold fingers when you're pushing it.

Then; How do you double the value of your Trabant? Fill up the fuel tank! And how do you triple it's value? Fill the tank and change the wipers!

Finally; How do you make a Trabant into a sports car? Put your gym shoes in the trunk.