The Parade of Trabants - this Sunday
Car Lust readers in the Washington, D.C. area with an interest in one of history's more unusual and interesting bad cars might want to visit the International Spy Museum this coming Sunday, November 9, for the "Parade of Trabants."
The Trabant is a pathetic little vehicle produced in the late, unlamented East Germany as "Scientific Socialism's" answer to the Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle. The "Trabi" was powered by a smoky, gutless two-stroke engine, and featured body panels made of a plastic-like material ("Duroplast") fashioned from industrial waste.
It was the sort of consumer product only a police state could produce and sell. The Trabant was a relatively primitive vehicle in 1959 when it was introduced, and there were no meaningful changes in the design over the next thirty years. It cost the equivalent of a year's salary, but since it was the only car available in East Germany, a customer who didn't have the proper "connections" with the Communist Party (or enough bribe money!) could be on the waiting list for up to twelve years before getting the opportunity to purchase one. Used Trabis actually sold at a premium over new, because you could take immediate delivery!
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many East Germans simply abandoned their Trabis in the West. Since then, they have become something of a collector's item--a cheap collector's item, mind you--for much the same reason that homely little dogs occasionally get adopted from the pound.
The Parade of Trabants will take place on F Street, NW just outside the Museum from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and is free to the public. While you are there, you may want to check out the Museum itself, which is one of the most fascinating I have ever seen. (There is an admission charge for the Museum.) The permanent exhibit includes a few items of particular interest to car buffs: a couple of Trabants, and the Aston Martin DB5 that James Bond drove in Goldfinger and Thunderball.
Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?
--Comrade Cookie the Dog's Owner
Steaming Pile on November 04, 2008 at 08:04 AM
The Trabant engine was a two-stroke affair (hence the smoke) that might have powered a riding lawn mower in the West. One of them produced more pollution than a hundred 500-series Mercedes-Benz sedans. Top speed - 35 MPH. Michael Baryshnikov broke into one in a movie by kicking the door in. I was in Stuttgart for a couple of weeks in 1991, and I saw a Trabi parked on the roof of someone's garage, apparently as a joke.
That Car Guy on November 04, 2008 at 08:35 AM
Car and Driver did an excellent tounge-in-cheek report on the Trabant in their April, 1989 issue. Written as "Moto Rooter", the Trabant is compared to a Corvette in several ways, such as body construction. "Crash repair? You will look forward to accidents!" Also, "Trabant is the first product of East German precision craftmanship to be declared so reliable that dealer servicing is unnecessary."
Your local library may have a copy of the issue. It's worth the trip.
That Car Guy on November 04, 2008 at 09:29 AM
...er, tongue. I can't spell lately. Heck, should have seen me the other day talking on the pnoghe!
Mochi Mochi on November 04, 2008 at 01:59 PM
imagine waiting 12 years to get a car, and in the end you get a Trabant! this must count as one of life's cruelest ironies.
Steaming Pile on November 17, 2008 at 06:46 AM
Or "phogne" as in "Cologne". I lol'ed.