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Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

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Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#51

Post by flohofwoe »

maxerickson wrote: post #47
antattack wrote: post #41

One unbeatable feature of Trabant was that it cost only around $5000 in today's money. It also seems quite capable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WRQcJ0QnTU

Wikipedia says there was a 10 year wait list? Seems worth mentioning when discussing the purchase price.

The typical procedure was to order one "just in case", because even if you don't need it for yourself you can still sell it "used" for a nice profit. My father for instance "traded" his new Trabant for a used Volga M21, which was a much bigger but also older Soviet car (and later sold this Volga to a Russian soldier returning back to the motherland, and "upgraded" to a used Shiguli, aka Lada 1500 - which was a really fine car considering the "competition" :)

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#52

Post by Tomte »

CurtHagenlocher wrote: post #43
Tomte wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we were living in Boeblingen, near Stuttgart Grew up in Herrenberg (a few kilometers from Böblingen). When neighbors learned that my father was thinking of replacing his old Audi someone put a Mercedes calendar on our doorstep. Swabians are very particular with their cars.

My father grew up in Herrenberg (on "Auf'm Bildkäppele") and has never driven anything but Mercedes.

That's funny, I grew up about 100m away. Small world. :-)

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#53

Post by hulitu »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #32
mangamadaiyan wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am envious of the fact that you live in a world where politicians make good decisions.

I can't seriously engage with someone who believes politics never results in anything positive.

Some examples of positive behavior of politicians will be apreciated.

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#54

Post by BrandoElFollito »

I had the opportunity to tour in a Trabant once in Krakow (though https://www.crazyguides.com/cars/ - no affiliation, just happened to be their customer).

It is ultimately an interesting car where you can mend quite a lot by yourself, which I think could be useful when touring some remote places (of which Krakow is of not one - a fantastic city BTW)

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#55

Post by jowdones »

maxerickson wrote: post #47
antattack wrote: post #41

One unbeatable feature of Trabant was that it cost only around $5000 in today's money. It also seems quite capable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WRQcJ0QnTU

Wikipedia says there was a 10 year wait list? Seems worth mentioning when discussing the purchase price.

Romanian here, there were Trabants around here too but I always viewed as somewhat exotic. Typical car was built locally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacia_1300

Also had to wait for years to buy one. In fact you had to pay it upfront and then maybe in 5 years you'd get it.

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#56

Post by hulitu »

augstein wrote: post #13

I'm from West-Germany and have driven a Trabant myself (only twice though). This video, titled "The Trabant Was an Awful Car Made By Communists" from Doug De Muro sums it up quite nicely imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No1-4GsQa-g ;-) The fact that they still sold this dangerous and noisy contraption in the late eighties (you even had to wait years to get one), when Audi released the V8 (4C) and Mercedes was abo…

Well Audi V8 and Mercedes S klasse are not exactly people's cars.

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#58

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

flohofwoe wrote: post #37
Retric wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 313 is sitting in some kind of uncanny valley for me. It’s close enough to good looking that the oddities really stand out.

True, I guess that's mainly because it had to share parts with the 311 model. Still it's by far the most elegant car made in East Germany. For a really odd looking car, check out the Melkus ;) It actually looks great here in the photos, but in reality some things look very odd (also because it was a bit like a Frankenstein car, using parts from regular East German cars): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkus_RS_1000

> For a really odd looking car, check out the Melkus

My response: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23071521

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#59

Post by marcodiego »

Trabant motor is a 2-stroke engine. Oil is mixed with the fuel on the tank and the fuel tank is positioned above the engine so they flow through gravity. This means only a single filter for fuel and oil is used and no need for fuel or oil pump. A very durable configuration. They are also very easy to repair. These features made Trabant such a durable car that owners eventually abandoned them in working condition instead of selling or scraping.

It could be even more durable if the engine was a 2-stroke valve-less design. But I don't know of any car that used such engine.

Re: Trabant: The East German car remains iconic

#60

Post by tyingq »

I lived in Germany when the wall came down. For a while after this, it was common to see Trabant debris on the side of the autobahn. The Trabant had a very low top speed, and the East German drivers weren't aware of the fast-lane etiquette on the autobahn, so they would get rear-ended quite often.

"According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, around 34,500 Trabants were registered in Germany at the beginning of 2019."

That's surprising to me, as I recall the TÜV vehicle inspection requirements were pretty strict. I guess they have some kind of exemption for hobbyist/antique vehicles?

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