71–80 of 107 posts
If you want to see a POV test drive in a Trabant, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzEPWttWVlk
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.
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 inst…
Disregarding the practical aspects and all nostalgia: All that unburnt fuel and oil vapor from the 2 stroke was a major ecological and health hazard and I‘m glad they‘re long gone. Every time a Trabbi Safari passes by me around Checkpoint Charlie, the smell makes me almost want to puke instantly. I can‘t even imagine by now how East Berlin must have smelled 40 years ago and what toll it must have taken on the health…
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 inst…
Disregarding the practical aspects and all nostalgia: All that unburnt fuel and oil vapor from the 2 stroke was a major ecological and health hazard and I‘m glad they‘re long gone. Every time a Trabbi Safari passes by me around Checkpoint Charlie, the smell makes me almost want to puke instantly. I can‘t even imagine by now how East Berlin must have smelled 40 years ago and what toll it must have taken on the health…
Nothing that needs to meet emission standards, though.
The photo gallery shows the boring Wartburg 353 with typical East German "non-design", but East German engineers could also build beautiful cars, at least in the early days: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_313
Karmann Ghia: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e8/6d/68/e86d681f64a00ae25e4b...
Wartburg: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Wartburg...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I grew up in East Germany, but i don't have any kind words to say about the Trabant; a small two-stroke engine (all East German engines were two stroke engines) that was quite bad to the environment (and to the poor guys who were frequently sick with some kind of asthma), what's so cool about that? (and the Chassis was made of pressed papier-mache, not even plastic; i have never seen one burning, but it would have be…
I have seen one burning. On a hillside in (then) Czechoslovakia. The trabi overheated, then caught flame. Drivers got out, but the car was standing there, burning. We could not back up, because of a line of cars, trucks buses behind us who all were stuck on the very windy road. Indeed it burned "like a match", with thick black smoke. When the breaks burned through it rolled downhill, towards us, scary AF. Luckily it…
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.
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 o…
And being easy to work on, Trabis are thankful hobbyist cars.
