After four years of inactivity, I've decided to revive this blog!
Trabant in 1985. Photo from Charles01 - Wikipedia.
The Trabant was introduced in East Germany in 1957, and sold for 34 years with few changes. It sold about 3.1 million units, and was the car that put postwar East Germany on wheels.
To get a Trabant, customers were placed on a waiting list; the closer to Berlin, the sooner you would get your car. Long waits were common, sometimes over a decade, for a customer to receive their Trabant.
The Trabant was offered with three engines during its production run. At introduction, it was equipped with a 500 cc two-stroke engine that made 18 horsepower. In 1962, the displacement was bumped up to 600 cc, now producing 23 horsepower, which was used until the end of production in 1991. From 1990-1991, the Trabant offered an optional 1100 cc, 45 horsepower engine from a Volkswagen Polo. On all models except the 1100, oil had to be mixed with the gasoline when refueling.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Trabant is its body. The Trabant was built on a traditional steel frame, but the body was made of Duroplast - a material made largely from recycled Soviet cotton waste.
The Trabants were durable - their average life expectancy was 28 years - but it became clear that after German re-unification in 1989, no one wanted the Trabant. They were discarded in massive numbers, and production ended in 1991.
