I smiled when the 'precision' forklift driver hit that support girder with the car. I curled up in my chair when I saw the workers using that bandsaw. Choreography indeed! I wonder if any new owners found a severed limb in the boot?
These parts are not made of paper, but when shaping the Durolast (cotton + phenolic resin), the paper sheet prevents the panel sticking to the hard rubber stamp.
Trabant was my first car, I enherited it after my gradfather from Hajnówka, Poland, who had it since new in 1983 (as my year of birth!). I rode it for 1.5 years only and I regret to have crushed it. But in the meantime I gave it a new look and roared the roads of Warsaw and outskirts. It was my first true mechanical - automotive adventure! I love old cars ever since.
I've also inherited my Trabi, from my grandma, and it's a 1984 one (2 years older than me). Was also my 1st car, used solely for 7 years, but I still have it, cherish it, and go on cruising with fellow Trabants on sunny days :) People are smiling, waving, flashing beams, best thing ever! It was worth fighting for at home for not letting my parents sale it when it was basically worthless. Now worth around 2000 euros... but I'm not selling.
Great video, A mate of mine bought one and drive it back to the UK, he ran it for years in the Scottish Highlands. Love the guy checking for leaks with a torch that looks very much like a US made “Mag-lite”. Great to see how things were.
Hervorragender Beitrag, kommentiert von einem Sprecher mit einer guten Portion Fachwissen, was bei solchen Beiträgen extrem selten ist. Alle Achtung!!!👆👆👆😃😃😃😃😃😃
My gfs mom grew up in the GDR and she told me "the trabant was like the freedom of speech in the GDR... can't be that bad if nobody complains about it"
Thanks for posting this video with English subtitles, thus ensuring that more people see and understand how these vehicles were made! I lived in West Berlin in ‘89 and when these cars flooded into my part of the city, I got my first chance to really give them a proper inspection. My neighbor had friends who owned a 1985 Trabi 601 who came from the East to visit, and I got the chance to drive it and the most I could say for it was that it “ran”. Fit and finish were horrendous. The two-stroke engine reminded me of my chainsaw and snow-blower back in the States. The smell of its exhaust fumes reminded me of my trips to the East, where the odor was omnipresent. While people may have waited 15 years to buy one while the DDR enforced its travel restrictions, once those were lifted all of the car dealers in West Berlin sold out of their stocks of used VW Golfs and Ford Escorts almost overnight. Of course, no dealer took a Trabi as a trade-in, they were totally valueless in the West. I’ve read somewhere that the Duraplast panels are so unrecyclable that the best way to get rid of them was to let sheep eat them, although I don’t know this for a fact. But they were then, as they are now, a product of the DDRs self-imposed economic isolation from all things western, unless you happened to be a government apparatchik, because then you’d get a Volvo. Growing up in Detroit, I’ve been a part of the USA’s car culture almost since birth. There are many cars produced that weren’t successful, but they remain iconic and desirable to this day, so I can understand how some people still find the Trabi exciting, but I certainly can’t. Give me an AMC Gremlin over one of these rolling, smoke-belching eggbeaters-on-wheels any day of the week and I’d be happy.
I have seen several videos on Trabant production, and how they were recycled after German reunification. Metal parts were no problem, but what to do with the Duraplast bodies? Someone invented a process where the plastic was ground to a coarse material, mixed with sand and cement, and formed into concrete blocks "cinderblocks" to build most anything with. Sounds logical! As this article said, wait time was years, which made resale value of a used Trabant very high.
At least with an AMC Gremlin, you had decent build quality, more or less, plus they make for surprisingly good drifter, tuner, or drag strip cars too. Maybe they could even be decent rally and track race cars as well?
@@paxhumana2015 they started rusting on the showroom floor and didn't stop until they were a pile of brown flakes sitting in your driveway. The mechanicals were solid enough, but that didn't matter much if your unibody dissolved.
I own a Trabant P601s Universal from 1988. They are certainly a quirky little car! But, better to ride a Trabi 30Km than have to walk in the rain for 30Km!
Speaking of rain... I remember the morning I had to go to work with my Trabi in a brutal thunderstorm... couldn't see jackshit in front of me, dumpsters and banners were blown onto the street, the car leaked on the upper part of the windshield to my knee, and by the time I've got to work, I only had one working cylinder... but I arrived. After messing around later that day, I've found out that one of the sparkplug-wire pipes got leaky, and grounded down on the engine block. Luckily I had some spares in the back.
Thank you for the film and the subtitles, much appreciated! I was born in Czechoslovakia and I currently live in a former eastern bloc country. That *_arrogant sneer_* of the narrator, that is how western Europeans have viewed and *still* view Europeans from behind the iron curtain to this day. The westerners thought and *still think* we are tra5h, because their pr0pa9anda from c0rporaтions and wesтern governmenт agenc1es told them so. They were taught that their better, shinier, more stylish products make them better, more worthy people. This is confirmed by the many c0rporate office people I talk to (I work in training). They work for German and French coгp0гaтions and coгp0rатioпs of other western countries. There was state pгорagдапda in the communist bloc and there was and is corporaтe and g0vernmenт pr0paгanda in the capitalist "exтоrтioп" economies. It goes both ways. But somehow most westerners still think that evil bгainwasнing techniques were only used behind the iron curtain. Concerning work safety and protection of the environment - the *нурoсгisy* of the commentator *is* *staggering.* Many of the western corporations have factories and sweaтsноps in Asia, with conditions little different to those in the film. They make their products there and they happily ship them ACROSS THE PLANET, burning through _TONS_ of fuel. Somehow, that is perfectly fine. And they put lots of green graphics on their coгpоraтe websites, with photos of happy, smiling people. And they don't forget to tell you how _much_ *they* are doing то _save_ the planet. By producing disposaБle, planned 0бsolesceпce producтs. About communisт contr0l over production and over every отнег aspect of your life - the c0llecтive West is headed in a direction that is suggesting a future *_much_* darker than what has ever existed in the former communist bloc. There are some very nice examples of this т0тaliтariaп-like c0nтrоl from the European Union, I am sure some of the commenters will share their stories down below. And lastly, to finish my carefully crafted RUclips commenter's treatise. For people commenting that you couldn't say whatever you wanted in the coммuпisт counтries - you may have noticed some strange formaттing in this comment. Unfortunately experience has shown (my own experience, that is) that УоцтuБe either gнosтs my c0mmenтs or they don't show at all. Он - I almosт forgot - has anyone seen the dislike button lately? Yes, yes. _Much_ freedom, *so* happiness.
Download the Return youtube dislike, they all show to me. You have non as of now. True the western totalitarian propaganda machine is much worse than the in your face communist propaganda.
Simple, reliable, easy to fix, decent size of interior and trunk for the size of the car, cheap to buy and even cheaper to fix. What more does one need from a car? I don't want a bloody Tesla that drives itself, I don't need TV screen on the dashboard, I would not want a huge SUV like some suburban Karen, I love these old cars made for ordinary people - Trabant, Beetle, Isetta, Mini, 2cv and so on ...
And the best thing: you only had to wait years for the delivery of that shitbox. GDR nostalgia aside, consumer products there were always crappy and/or in short supply in East Germany. If people want to rave about this era, I won’t cheer them on. A scratch plow from the stone age is also easyer to fix and to repair than a John Deere but you probably would not want to use it today. If you don't want to starve that is.
@@HeikoQuant outside GDR it was different, in Yugoslavia we could walk into a dealership and drive out in a new Trabant, Yugoslavia was the envy of the socialist world. Reasons for the waiting list were not to be blamed on the car itself. GDR was invention of the hardcore Stalinist factions of the CP USSR as a punishment for Germany after WW2 and the country was intentionally made difficult to live in.
but i wouldnt want one as a daily atleast. in a crash you are certainly dead. it is loud, smelly and has no safetey features. i mean i do like old cars (drive a 20 year old renault kangoo daily) but no.
I love that technical application of the sealer on the halves of the engine block! Just rolling over some gooey stuff and hope you got all spots covered and slap it together! Lordy!😳
I drove with trabant in the beginning of 90 ties. We had a few of them. Big noise, big smoke. Little space. But we had no choice. Later we got Lada. That was another level... Gauranga1008
The Trabant was a big deal in East Germany where it offered the common citizen a chance to own an automobile, even if it took years of waiting. To the West Germans, driving their sleek, advanced Mercedes and BMWs, the "Trabi" was a joke. Its powerplant was a two-stroke, gasoline engine. When filling up petrol, the diver needed to add a quart of oil, much the same procedure for using a lawn mower back in the United States. Yet in the grand scheme of things, it got you where you were going, which was pretty much city driving and local trips to the near rural areas. You weren't going to drive across Europe with a Trabant. When the Berlin Wall fell, East Germans quickly poured into West Germany, fearful their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity might close if the East German government changed its mind. After entering West Germany, a lot of Trabants were simply abandoned on the side of roads by their East German owners. No one knows why they didn't continue using their Trabis. The reasons might be a few but probably the West German government would take a dim view to the awful ecological disaster that the Trabant was, spewing burnt oil smoke along with gasoline. The West Germans had become very environmentally conscious and the Trabant was never going to pass West German automotive safety and environmental regulations and restrictions.
Most West Germans drove *Volkswagens and Opels* certainly not BMW's and Mercedes's. And bear in mind that Volkswagen relied mostly on its Type 1 "Beetle" as a big seller way into the 1970's since all other modern replacements had failed miserably for VW (at one point they nearly went bankrupt). Opel too was pretty much a "scaled-down GM product" adapted for the German market (with various results). It's also true that pretty much *all* European small cars in the 1950's, 60's and 70's were horrible. Volkswagen pretty much saved the class with the introduction of the VW Golf in 1974. You know, it was actually the *Japanese* who actually began producing quality small cars in the late 70's and 80's which redefined the standard. If you compare the East-German Trabant with the often unreliable and sloppily assembled west-European small cars from West-Germany, France, Britain or Italy it was definitely not worse. As for American compact cars... best left unspoken. The Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle" was still the most sold car in West-Germany in 1973. A car designed in the 1930's. The Volkswagen Golf became the most popular car in West-Germany in the late 70's and kept this position virtually uninterrupted until the mid 1990's. Most Italians still drove FIAT 500's and 600's by the time the Trabant was popular in East-Germany. Most French drove the Renault 4 and the ancient Citroen 2CV (a clever design in itself). The British? Morrises and Minis. A simple design? Definitely. But like the greatest engineers said:"Real innovative genius is in the simple."
@@wezmarauder2754 well, of course we kept driving our 500s, they are the perfect combination of style and functionality (as anything coming out of our great country). Hell, a good chunk of people (including myself) still prefer it to modern cars for everyday driving. It's such a loved car that some fellas came up with an electric motor conversion to turn gas powered 500s into electric ones (for when you wanna roll in style but regulations day "NoOo yOu aRe kIlLiNg tHe pLaNeT). Other countries' 50s to 70s cars suck tho, but what do you expect? They're not us
Yes, in 80s Trabi was completely outdated, and gap between east and west vehicle industry was enormous, but at era of late 50s and 60s when it was new, Trabant was relevant, practical and very useful vehicle. At that time even in west countries normal people driving small and primitive cars as Mini, Fiat 500, or many of bizzare 2 stroke carts (Issetta, Goggomobil). Yes, Trabant havent a sexappeal of Mini or Fiat 500, but it was more practical, with space for 4 persons, 0,4m3 luggage space and minimal maintenance.
Brilliant, thoroughly enjoyable video 👍 Now if only we could be allowed to have such a cheap, simple car again (but with modern fuel-efficient, reliable engines).
You learn that in school. During hours in the workshop you can always see students squatting and welding with an electrode welder, no welding mask and a cigarette in mouth
Ford Pinto, the fuel tank was located between the solid live rear axle and the rear bumper. Also, in case of death from a rear-end collision, no cremation was needed, and Ford saved $10 per car (x a total production of 3 million in 9 years vs. the same number of Trabis built in 30+ years).
@@blpadge2 -- yeah, I'm familiar with the Pinto; my sister bought one new, and hers was returned to Ford when they did the recall for retrofitting with the improved fuel system. The difference between the Pinto and the Trabant is that the location of the Pinto's tank wasn't in and of itself fundamentally unsafe. Federal regs at the time only focused upon _front_ collisions; the regs began to include side and rear collision standards during the Pinto's production run. Almost every car built since WWII has had a fuel tank in the same location as the Pinto's (between the trunk and the rear passenger compartment), so the Pinto was just following convention. Yes, the way that the axle could impact the fuel tank in a >30mph rear collision was incrementally more dangerous than if the bottom of the tank had been located above the axle, (or if the car used half-shafts instead of a live axel), but in all circumstances *other than* a >30mph rear-end collision, it's not a problem. If the Pinto's fuel tank were to develop a leak, well -- it leaks harmlessly onto the ground. If the fuel tank of a Trabant leaks, it leaks onto a hot engine. I'm sure you recognize which of those two is fundamentally more dangerous.
Depending on the time and country. In East Germany it was between 2-3 years in the early to mid 60s all the way to over 10 year during the 80s. At the same time you could buy a Trabant in Czechoslovakia with only few moths waiting time during the 60s and almost no or no waiting time at all after about 1973. That just goes to show how badly adjusted was the import and export in the Eastern Bloc.
In Romania time to delivery is was 5 years for Dacia and Oltcit. You pay avance in 1980 si receive a car in 1985. The factory Dacia and Oltcit can not produce togheter most 300.000 - 350.000 unit models per on year.
The fact that the factory was so contaminated by cotton and noise ... and disregard for human life and limb ... basically, the car that I appreciated so much for being so practical and cheap, I am glad that it is over with for the sake of the laborers. Lack of love brought the URSS down!
the paint sprayer too... or the poor girl that mix plastic resin with dust everywhere. it let to think how much the workers protection rules progress to provide a safety enviroment
Vielen Dank für diesen sehr informativen Beitrag. Er räumte bei mir mit manchen Vorurteilen aus Hörensagen auf. Er ist doch mehr als "Leim und Lumpen". 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏼♂️
An old colleague told about colliding with a Trabant many years ago in Hungary. According to him, the Trabi exploded, with panels flying all around - there wasn't much left of it. His Mercedes had a few scratches.
Looks like hell on earth. "The phenol dust permeates everything". Including the workers lung no doubt. However all other things being equal there are countless millions who would love a cheap simple get you to where you want to go car without frills and fancies.
But who the hell would want to work in craphole conditions like that to build it? Simple is fine - crude, grossly inefficient, and brutally polluting is not.
@@jackx4311 At its heart, however, the ideas embodied in the Trabant's construction are ones we need to revisit - with modern environmental & working conditions.
I had no idea that the production included many manual (and potentially dangerous) steps. Applying lacquer without a mask probably for hours every day - that is insane!
Good to be reminded of the day when people worked hard in very bad factories. Life today is much better. All those peope worked so well. Respect to them now all probably retired.
Wow! What a coincidence! I was watching an OPL3 video of yours and then found you have a video about my favourite car! This one has English subtitles too which the video called "Trabi Produktion Zwickau" doesn't to my recollection.
tHE video is about the industrial chalenges, processes and solutions. I've been highly well impressed. If I understood well they rolled out the 'fiberglass' intensive use
1200 Mark, das war ein hoher Lohn. Ich habe in 3 Schichten am Fließband 600 verdient. 1200 Mark was a really high wage. I got working in 3 workshifts, early, normal, late, 600 Mark.
The process seemed to be cheaper when the Trabant was developed in the 1960s. East Germany had to mostly import steel because there was not much iron ore in the country and because of lack of investition in the irosteel industry. They even made some sewer pipes out of glass because it was cheaper than using iron. As for the Trabant, the production method stayed basically unchanged for more than two decades. In the later years imported steel would likely have been cheaper but management was not allowed to change anything because that would have meant investing money. In the beginning of this video you can see some prototypes, that's likely what a modernized Trabant would have looked like.
Schon fasszinierend und seiner Zeit in bestimmten Aspekten voraus (Einsatz von Verbundstoffen z.B.). Was mich etwas schockiert ist die Arbeitssicherheit insbesondere in der Lackierstraße. Die krebserregende Wirkung von Lösungsmitteln müsste schon bekannt gewesen sein.
In USSR one hungry missed sleep teenager after 5 days training make 3 bodies of T34 per day. In Germany 3 high level welders make one Tiger body per 2 days. What is the better economy was resolved at 9 May 1945.
These are beautiful cars, the prototypes are too. Why do I love the look of these cars so much? There must be a market today for an up to date safe, clean emissions, simple and reliable version (although it was simple and reliable at the time). I hope the cotton and phenyl didn’t damage the workforces health in any way..
The main factory was located in Zwickau. Only a small part of it was kept after the production of the Trabant ended in 1991. They made some parts for VW. I'm not sure what happened to it, they went bankrupt multiple times.
as an amendment to the reply from Schule04: The two factories shown in the video are located in Saxony in the towns of Zwickau and Chemnitz. The engine factory in Chemnitz was taken over by VW after reunification and is still in operation. The chassis and assembly factory "Sachsenring" in Zwickau downtown had been closed shortly after reunification due to the unacceptble working conditions and production efficiency there. At this area is nowadays the very informative "Horch Museum" located. In Mosel (outskirts of Zwickau) was in the early 80th as a big greenfield project a new modern drive-shaft assembly factory erected and nearby in the late 80th a new assembly line for the Trabant 1.1. VW introduced there already in 1990 the assembly of the VW Polo and took over the assembly line shortly after reunification and enlarged and adapted it to their needs. If I remember right VW assembles currently the ID3 in Mosel.
@@lbond4754 Thank you, with the terrible working conditions of the factory that was shut down, it is ironic that the former east Germany, It claims to be a work of paradise!
@@hypercomms2001 just keep in mind none of those workers shown in the videos were forced to work there. As I got told the salary at those factories was not that bad and the there were typical significant bonuses paid for "special demanding working places"...and those places were particual desirbale jobs by students during their semester breaks. By-the-way: In the 70th or 80th I'm not sure if a common worker in Western Europe was much better off considering the severe deindustrialisation there and resulting in existential trouble for millions who lost or feared to loose their jobs while in the GDR a suitable job was a constitutional right to every citizen.
We hired one from Hertz while on holiday with my girlfriend in Yougoskavia. An absolutely beautiful place and people. My girlfriend was pretty beautiful too. The car was a convertible and once overtook a Mercedes SLK. ha ha downhill..
OSHA would have a total meltdown!! Tell you what...I just saw an all Trabant road rally video, and it was totally fun to watch, and the little car looks like a total blast to hook around a track like that... I'd do it. I almost want one for fun, better than a Yugo.
Since I owned both (Yugo and Trabant 601) I can tell you first hand that Yugo was far better car compared to a lot of western built cars, such as Renault 4, Citroen 2CV, VW Beetle, Fiat 600, not to mention being better compared to eastern cars such as Skoda's 1100 - 1200 models (better even compared to late Favorite model), not to mention Lada's (although Lada cars are tough as nails in my opinion), better than Moskowitzs, FSO Polonez, Dacias, etc... Yugo's only problem was that it was a state owned car company and the lobby from the EU and USA wanted to see the factory dead. That's why they had a stigma attached to the brand and it's cars. Yugo Florida was a best car in it's class. As soon as NATO aggression took place against Yugoslavia, first thing NATO planes devastated was a Zastava car factory that wasn't even a military target. But even so, production continued and every time Angela Merkel would visit she demanded that the car factory has to be closed, until Italians bought it... Then she shut her fat mouth and never spoke against it ever. Democracy eh? Where few billionaires own everything and you work your ass to make them even richer. Some "democracy" ain't it? And btw, Yugo could achieve 140-160 km/h based on engine model, (models with EFI engine could go well past 180 km/h). Trabant was out of power after 100 km/h. I love both Trabant and Yugo but they can't go in the same sentence...
It's fun as long as you don't underestimate a corner in the rain, and fall down the road like me as a fresh driver... I got away with it with no injuries, and the car still works fine to this day, but I was never that anxious in my life like on that wretched afternoon about 18 years ago. I've tried to break, but it was like going over a bubblegum, worth nothing on the wet road with 25 year old diagonal tires, and I was afraid if I turn too hard we tip over, and that would've been worse, so we flew straight off the road to a ditch. This way only the front bumper had some minor damage, and our nerves...
Imagine the health problems that these poor workers faced over the years, being exposed to cotton dust, resin dust, and spraypaint all day, every day. For a "Worker's Paradise", the Communist state seemed to care little for the safety of its workers.
@@TheEricleegreen Watch a movie. There is information about employees from Asia and Africa. You can see them in the movie. The GDR brought them to work because the Germans did not want to die.
@@nnnnnn3647 There were guest workers from Vietnam and Cuba, and it was a stroke of luck for Cubans and Vietnamese to have such an opportunity. Many could do an apprenticeship in the GDR, and many also study. They earned more than they did back home and could send their families things like color TVs, stereos, and motorbikes. Almost all former guest workers from Cuba took an MZ motorcycle with them after their contract period. Most of the Vietnamese who came to the GDR at that time stayed here, and together with the boat people in West Germany, the Vietnamese are the largest Asian immigrant group in Germany, and an enrichment for our country!
Though the trabant was very simple and had no special features, we came always from a to b. I am sure, there will be a time again when we will remember the good old days when we had individual transport. We now may laugh about, but the times will change.
Da gibt es nichts zu lachen. Als Kind drufte ich mal eine Strecke mit dem Trabant des Kantors mitfahren. Ich war absolut fasziniert. Viel später habe ich mit meinem Bruder einen 10 Jahre alten Trabant ergattert und Ende der 80ger sogar einen neuen bekommen, da der Vater meiner Exfrau eine Bestellung laufen hatte, aber selbst einem Unfall zum Opfer gefallen war. Es war wie Weihnachten und Ostern, als wir den Trabant in Papyrus Weiß in Schwerin abholen durften. Nun fahre ich schon knapp 30 Jahre Skoda und bin auch zufrieden. Aber der erste neue Fahrzeug ist eben das erste neue Fahrzeug.
Yes this is giant go-kart engine anytime the gas tank sits above the engine so you don't have to use the fuel pump. You don't know how many times we have just stuck the gas tank on top of the engine when we do our go-kart builds here in the state I guess some things never change I would say to trabant is a luxury go-kart
I've heard the origins of the "Audi" name many times but never the reason why it was chosen over Horch and Wanderer for revival when the Ingolstadt DKW company chose to rebrand while going over to four-stroke engines in the '60s.
@@Rod54Am To be precise "audi" is the imperative singular of "audio". The same with "horch". It's the imperative singular (albeit a bit old fashioned) of "hören". In english the difference isn't really there because the word is the same ("listen" and "to listen")
@@Rod54Am Bullshitbingo! My Dad once owned a DKW F 91/4 also known as DKW Munga 4 (MehrzweckUNiversalGeländewagenmitAllradantrieb 4 sitzer) - these Cars were build between 1956 and 1968. DDR was between 1949 and 1989. You see there was a Car called DKW after the DDR was there. The Reason was another - you cant sell cars like Horch after WW2 to the "rich ones" like the US People. Hey Johnny whats this Car - Is it a ortsch a DeKayway or a Wonderer? That DKW was a Miltary Vehicle only build for the German Military & Market. And the famous Silverarrows where Audis not Horchs Wanderer or DKW. BTW: 2021 The Brand Horch was (like Maybach some Years earlier) reborn.
@@thesteelrodent1796 Certainly in a rhotic accent like General American, Wanderer's double "er" ending sounds like onomatopoeia for a bad wheel bearing!
Well, the Pontiac TransSport Van 1989-1996 was composite panels on spaceframe, too. (That led to advertisements like "and it will never rust" - spoiler, it did, too. Cause the frame and the floor were made from steel, little rust protection there as well). So the 601 was not the only one. The first Renault Espace had several composite body panels too. Then there were several cars with parts made from plastic/composite as well. Like the Fiat Tipo, the 1989 too, had a boot lid made from plastic. The Renault Megane Senic had fenders from composite. And that's only the ones I know by heart. There might be more.
@@mmdirtyworkz as you saw in the video: the frame of the trabant is steel. The plastic parts are glued and/or screwed to the frame. So pretty similar to the Pontiac Transport, spaceframe with the body glued as plastic panels to it.
@@jeffrobison8809 Not good... I thought so, despite claims of being a "workers paradise", the Health and Safety culture of the Soviet Union was terrible....
Very good - straight from the horse's mouth and not via hearsay. Much here I didn't know about the Trabbie, for instance, the wait time that I thought was three years. Fifteen years? Many would have croaked before receiving their car which, according to hearsay, had to be paid for well in advance if not at time of placing the order..
The wait times were extremely long, but it should be noted that the video was made by VW and contains some bias. There also are two slightly different versions of this video, this is the more extreme one. The other one has slightly milder language and less criticism.
We had paid for a Trabby 8 years old 8000 Ost Mark. Later I get the Trabby new from my mother in-law I paid 10000 Ostmark. My mother-in-law had waited 11 years.
Their QA process was probably still much better than other Eastern Bloc car manufacturers. e.g. Romanian cars had to be taken to the mechanic brand new and "reassembled". Germans are still Germans, even Communists.
@@enematwatson1357 West german DKW made 2-stroke DKW 1000 model until the mid-sixties which was very much the same technology as the east german Trabant was but no toxic duroplast
fun fact: workers of the factory were all color blind and could only see the colors: bright green, bright orange, and white. So all cars had to be painted these colors to make the job of the workers easier. source: I made it the fuck up
A new respect on my part for the humble little car of the DDR. What a great sociological experiment: a factory in East Germany staffed with Germans, Vietnamese, Africans, and Cubans. Half the factory filled with workers who wished they could get the hell out of the DDR and the other half thinking they must be in heaven having left their failed communist economies to work in the modern miracle of industrialization that was this car production plant. If no one has done it yet, this would make a great doctoral dissertation: examining the effect of these Gastarbeiters when they returned to their home countries or if they decided to stay in East Germany.
Very wrong, in DDR most of the young people were becoming, engineers, doctors, designers, professionals, very little of them want it to work in those factories, so the governments of DDR and countries as Cuba, Vietnam, sign treaties to bring workers and make them qualified workers so they could work in the future industries back in their own countries, not only DDR did that, also Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, I´m Cuban, two of my cousins work there one in DDR and the other in Czechoslovakia in Skoda factory, doing the windshield, he became a high qualified glass cutter and came back to Cuba after four years of training to work in a glass bottle factory!
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I smiled when the 'precision' forklift driver hit that support girder with the car.
I curled up in my chair when I saw the workers using that bandsaw. Choreography indeed!
I wonder if any new owners found a severed limb in the boot?
loool =))))))
Glorious revolutionary production, a atheist socialist worker's paradise.
Can you imagine HSE ! They'd have a field day .
Reminded me of reading “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, about 19th-century meat packing plants.
昔、長野県の会社にお邪魔した際に、トラバントを見せてもらった事があります。
社長がドイツに出張された際に数台購入され、会社の近隣の工業高校にも寄付されたそうです。確かにエンジンルームも余裕があり、高校生がメンテナンスするには丁度良かったのでしょう。デザインも味のある素敵な印象でした。
ボンネットやトランク、屋根が紙で出来ていると聞いて驚きました。
These parts are not made of paper, but when shaping the Durolast (cotton + phenolic resin), the paper sheet prevents the panel sticking to the hard rubber stamp.
Thanks for providing English subtitles, I enjoyed watching this
As a Trabant fanatic and enthusiast from the USA, this never stops fascinating me.
Thank you for posting this retro video. It is a very insightful look into the production of such an iconic car. Two thumbs up!
Six thumbs up! Two on each hand. /Trabi für alle
Trabant was my first car, I enherited it after my gradfather from Hajnówka, Poland, who had it since new in 1983 (as my year of birth!). I rode it for 1.5 years only and I regret to have crushed it. But in the meantime I gave it a new look and roared the roads of Warsaw and outskirts. It was my first true mechanical - automotive adventure! I love old cars ever since.
I've also inherited my Trabi, from my grandma, and it's a 1984 one (2 years older than me). Was also my 1st car, used solely for 7 years, but I still have it, cherish it, and go on cruising with fellow Trabants on sunny days :)
People are smiling, waving, flashing beams, best thing ever! It was worth fighting for at home for not letting my parents sale it when it was basically worthless. Now worth around 2000 euros... but I'm not selling.
Thank you for the English subtitles. The deaf community appreciates it!
I love that the drivers loading them onto the trains got them up on 3 wheels going around the corner.
Great video, A mate of mine bought one and drive it back to the UK, he ran it for years in the Scottish Highlands. Love the guy checking for leaks with a torch that looks very much like a US made “Mag-lite”. Great to see how things were.
No adverts… and yet, the entire video was an advert for the Trabant. Fascinating. Thank you - especially for the subtitles.
Hervorragender Beitrag, kommentiert von einem Sprecher mit einer guten Portion Fachwissen, was bei solchen Beiträgen extrem selten ist. Alle Achtung!!!👆👆👆😃😃😃😃😃😃
Ich glaube der Sprecher hat zum Großteil nur wiedergegeben was ihm gesagt wurde. Und seine herabfälligen Bemerkungen wirken unprofessionell.
I remember my uncle’s Trabi! We loved it. It took us everywhere and never broke down, never complained.
That means:He caught fire soon after purchase !!and was then pulled by our dogs.
@@michaelpielorz9283 😂
@@michaelpielorz9283 your comment means you're a moron. Well pointed out, good job!
You are very lucky to be alive. The fuel tank was half a meter in front of the passenger seat.
Never broke down? 😂 A 2 stroke that never broke down 😂😂 lmao.
My gfs mom grew up in the GDR and she told me "the trabant was like the freedom of speech in the GDR... can't be that bad if nobody complains about it"
Visited a family near Leipzig in 1987, the dad complained about it . He had a Wartburg, a much better GDR auto. He was a nice and funny guy.....
Thanks for posting this video with English subtitles, thus ensuring that more people see and understand how these vehicles were made! I lived in West Berlin in ‘89 and when these cars flooded into my part of the city, I got my first chance to really give them a proper inspection. My neighbor had friends who owned a 1985 Trabi 601 who came from the East to visit, and I got the chance to drive it and the most I could say for it was that it “ran”. Fit and finish were horrendous. The two-stroke engine reminded me of my chainsaw and snow-blower back in the States. The smell of its exhaust fumes reminded me of my trips to the East, where the odor was omnipresent. While people may have waited 15 years to buy one while the DDR enforced its travel restrictions, once those were lifted all of the car dealers in West Berlin sold out of their stocks of used VW Golfs and Ford Escorts almost overnight. Of course, no dealer took a Trabi as a trade-in, they were totally valueless in the West. I’ve read somewhere that the Duraplast panels are so unrecyclable that the best way to get rid of them was to let sheep eat them, although I don’t know this for a fact. But they were then, as they are now, a product of the DDRs self-imposed economic isolation from all things western, unless you happened to be a government apparatchik, because then you’d get a Volvo. Growing up in Detroit, I’ve been a part of the USA’s car culture almost since birth. There are many cars produced that weren’t successful, but they remain iconic and desirable to this day, so I can understand how some people still find the Trabi exciting, but I certainly can’t. Give me an AMC Gremlin over one of these rolling, smoke-belching eggbeaters-on-wheels any day of the week and I’d be happy.
I have seen several videos on Trabant production, and how they were recycled after German reunification. Metal parts were no problem, but what to do with the Duraplast bodies? Someone invented a process where the plastic was ground to a coarse material, mixed with sand and cement, and formed into concrete blocks "cinderblocks" to build most anything with. Sounds logical! As this article said, wait time was years, which made resale value of a used Trabant very high.
Volvos were rare too. Most mid-level apparatchiks got the Wartburg.
The gremlin! I'd love to have one!
At least with an AMC Gremlin, you had decent build quality, more or less, plus they make for surprisingly good drifter, tuner, or drag strip cars too. Maybe they could even be decent rally and track race cars as well?
@@paxhumana2015 they started rusting on the showroom floor and didn't stop until they were a pile of brown flakes sitting in your driveway. The mechanicals were solid enough, but that didn't matter much if your unibody dissolved.
I own a Trabant P601s Universal from 1988. They are certainly a quirky little car! But, better to ride a Trabi 30Km than have to walk in the rain for 30Km!
Speaking of rain... I remember the morning I had to go to work with my Trabi in a brutal thunderstorm... couldn't see jackshit in front of me, dumpsters and banners were blown onto the street, the car leaked on the upper part of the windshield to my knee, and by the time I've got to work, I only had one working cylinder... but I arrived.
After messing around later that day, I've found out that one of the sparkplug-wire pipes got leaky, and grounded down on the engine block. Luckily I had some spares in the back.
Thank you for the film and the subtitles, much appreciated!
I was born in Czechoslovakia and I currently live in a former eastern bloc country. That *_arrogant sneer_* of the narrator, that is how western Europeans have viewed and *still* view Europeans from behind the iron curtain to this day.
The westerners thought and *still think* we are tra5h, because their pr0pa9anda from c0rporaтions and wesтern governmenт agenc1es told them so. They were taught that their better, shinier, more stylish products make them better, more worthy people. This is confirmed by the many c0rporate office people I talk to (I work in training). They work for German and French coгp0гaтions and coгp0rатioпs of other western countries.
There was state pгорagдапda in the communist bloc and there was and is corporaтe and g0vernmenт pr0paгanda in the capitalist "exтоrтioп" economies. It goes both ways. But somehow most westerners still think that evil bгainwasнing techniques were only used behind the iron curtain.
Concerning work safety and protection of the environment - the *нурoсгisy* of the commentator *is* *staggering.* Many of the western corporations have factories and sweaтsноps in Asia, with conditions little different to those in the film. They make their products there and they happily ship them ACROSS THE PLANET, burning through _TONS_ of fuel. Somehow, that is perfectly fine. And they put lots of green graphics on their coгpоraтe websites, with photos of happy, smiling people. And they don't forget to tell you how _much_ *they* are doing то _save_ the planet. By producing disposaБle, planned 0бsolesceпce producтs.
About communisт contr0l over production and over every отнег aspect of your life - the c0llecтive West is headed in a direction that is suggesting a future *_much_* darker than what has ever existed in the former communist bloc. There are some very nice examples of this т0тaliтariaп-like c0nтrоl from the European Union, I am sure some of the commenters will share their stories down below.
And lastly, to finish my carefully crafted RUclips commenter's treatise. For people commenting that you couldn't say whatever you wanted in the coммuпisт counтries - you may have noticed some strange formaттing in this comment. Unfortunately experience has shown (my own experience, that is) that УоцтuБe either gнosтs my c0mmenтs or they don't show at all. Он - I almosт forgot - has anyone seen the dislike button lately? Yes, yes. _Much_ freedom, *so* happiness.
Correct, i recommend reading Günter Wallraff's book "Lowest of the low" to see what working in West Germany was like in the 1980s.
Download the Return youtube dislike, they all show to me. You have non as of now.
True the western totalitarian propaganda machine is much worse than the in your face communist propaganda.
Agreed 100%.
Near future will prove that.
The fake news EU citizens are fed with has reached ridiculous dimensions.
I am French but I agree 100% with what you said here.
Nice video! Im italian i love the trabi!the ddr 500 Thanks for the subtitles!
Simple, reliable, easy to fix, decent size of interior and trunk for the size of the car, cheap to buy and even cheaper to fix. What more does one need from a car? I don't want a bloody Tesla that drives itself, I don't need TV screen on the dashboard, I would not want a huge SUV like some suburban Karen, I love these old cars made for ordinary people - Trabant, Beetle, Isetta, Mini, 2cv and so on ...
And the best thing: you only had to wait years for the delivery of that shitbox. GDR nostalgia aside, consumer products there were always crappy and/or in short supply in East Germany. If people want to rave about this era, I won’t cheer them on. A scratch plow from the stone age is also easyer to fix and to repair than a John Deere but you probably would not want to use it today. If you don't want to starve that is.
@@HeikoQuant outside GDR it was different, in Yugoslavia we could walk into a dealership and drive out in a new Trabant, Yugoslavia was the envy of the socialist world. Reasons for the waiting list were not to be blamed on the car itself. GDR was invention of the hardcore Stalinist factions of the CP USSR as a punishment for Germany after WW2 and the country was intentionally made difficult to live in.
@@HeikoQuant 10 years? Lol it was 3
but i wouldnt want one as a daily atleast. in a crash you are certainly dead. it is loud, smelly and has no safetey features. i mean i do like old cars (drive a 20 year old renault kangoo daily) but no.
These days cars like the Toyota Aygo is the equivalent of the old little cars. That's all you need, you are so right
Thank you Zwickau For The amazing trabant
I love that technical application of the sealer on the halves of the engine block! Just rolling over some gooey stuff and hope you got all spots covered and slap it together! Lordy!😳
The narrator is so funny! Good video . Greetings from Romania!
Yeah I love those moments of subtle sarcasm he does
This helps me appreciate why they were so reluctant to introduce new models. They really had the process figured out.
Great video! It's good that you're restoring your Trabant.
I drove with trabant in the beginning of 90 ties. We had a few of them. Big noise, big smoke. Little space. But we had no choice. Later we got Lada. That was another level...
Gauranga1008
Yeah, four stroke baby!
I'm 12 and I absolutely love this car. I loved this since I was 6
Fascinating! I use to see those cars some 15 years ago on the roads in my country.
The Trabant was a big deal in East Germany where it offered the common citizen a chance to own an automobile, even if it took years of waiting. To the West Germans, driving their sleek, advanced Mercedes and BMWs, the "Trabi" was a joke. Its powerplant was a two-stroke, gasoline engine. When filling up petrol, the diver needed to add a quart of oil, much the same procedure for using a lawn mower back in the United States. Yet in the grand scheme of things, it got you where you were going, which was pretty much city driving and local trips to the near rural areas. You weren't going to drive across Europe with a Trabant. When the Berlin Wall fell, East Germans quickly poured into West Germany, fearful their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity might close if the East German government changed its mind. After entering West Germany, a lot of Trabants were simply abandoned on the side of roads by their East German owners. No one knows why they didn't continue using their Trabis. The reasons might be a few but probably the West German government would take a dim view to the awful ecological disaster that the Trabant was, spewing burnt oil smoke along with gasoline. The West Germans had become very environmentally conscious and the Trabant was never going to pass West German automotive safety and environmental regulations and restrictions.
Most West Germans drove *Volkswagens and Opels* certainly not BMW's and Mercedes's. And bear in mind that Volkswagen relied mostly on its Type 1 "Beetle" as a big seller way into the 1970's since all other modern replacements had failed miserably for VW (at one point they nearly went bankrupt). Opel too was pretty much a "scaled-down GM product" adapted for the German market (with various results).
It's also true that pretty much *all* European small cars in the 1950's, 60's and 70's were horrible. Volkswagen pretty much saved the class with the introduction of the VW Golf in 1974. You know, it was actually the *Japanese* who actually began producing quality small cars in the late 70's and 80's which redefined the standard.
If you compare the East-German Trabant with the often unreliable and sloppily assembled west-European small cars from West-Germany, France, Britain or Italy it was definitely not worse. As for American compact cars... best left unspoken.
The Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle" was still the most sold car in West-Germany in 1973. A car designed in the 1930's. The Volkswagen Golf became the most popular car in West-Germany in the late 70's and kept this position virtually uninterrupted until the mid 1990's.
Most Italians still drove FIAT 500's and 600's by the time the Trabant was popular in East-Germany. Most French drove the Renault 4 and the ancient Citroen 2CV (a clever design in itself). The British? Morrises and Minis.
A simple design? Definitely. But like the greatest engineers said:"Real innovative genius is in the simple."
@@wezmarauder2754 well, of course we kept driving our 500s, they are the perfect combination of style and functionality (as anything coming out of our great country). Hell, a good chunk of people (including myself) still prefer it to modern cars for everyday driving. It's such a loved car that some fellas came up with an electric motor conversion to turn gas powered 500s into electric ones (for when you wanna roll in style but regulations day "NoOo yOu aRe kIlLiNg tHe pLaNeT). Other countries' 50s to 70s cars suck tho, but what do you expect? They're not us
Because they were told all things from the GDR are BS.
And today, you get a "H" license plate and can drive everywhere.
Yes, in 80s Trabi was completely outdated, and gap between east and west vehicle industry was enormous, but at era of late 50s and 60s when it was new, Trabant was relevant, practical and very useful vehicle. At that time even in west countries normal people driving small and primitive cars as Mini, Fiat 500, or many of bizzare 2 stroke carts (Issetta, Goggomobil). Yes, Trabant havent a sexappeal of Mini or Fiat 500, but it was more practical, with space for 4 persons, 0,4m3 luggage space and minimal maintenance.
Wow... !!! My best friend, It's always great. Your video is excellent quality. We liked and enjoyed to the end. Thanks
Bonjour , merci pour cette excellente vidéo .
Au revoir .
Fascinating, I had no idea the bodies were made of comressed cotton, I had always assumed it was glass fibre.
Me too
It's not a Corvette ;)
More simple than Vespa engine! Love tre trabi
Brilliant, thoroughly enjoyable video 👍
Now if only we could be allowed to have such a cheap, simple car again (but with modern fuel-efficient, reliable engines).
A car like that is the Fiat Panda 169
Toyota Aygo?
Smart are basically a Trabant. Made entirely of plastic and just as dangerous in a collision
Around the 7 minute mark, how to smoke and weld at the same time.
😄 I take it that you have a trade or work manual labour? This is normal to smoke a cigarette whilst on the job.
It's not a cigarette, it's a joint. 😅
Lies we have been told about smoking!
You learn that in school. During hours in the workshop you can always see students squatting and welding with an electrode welder, no welding mask and a cigarette in mouth
@@leokatigbak6102 ççççcfçççççççcççççççfçcçççcçرئئئلئئىرلئلىىىئىىئىىىىئلىئئئىىئئىلئ لى الى ىىىئئىئىئىىىىئئىىىىىىىىىىىلىىئىىىئئ لى ئcçcccccccc ccgccccccgcccccccgccçcccccccccccgcccccgcccccccg GCC çcccgcgccccccccc FFF gccgcccccçc FFF cccccccccgçccfgccgcccccccccccccccccçcccgçccgcccgcgccccgccccgccgçcc FFF cgلىىىىىىىى لل رلىىلىلىىلىىىىىىىىلىىىلىىىىىىىىىىىلىلىى لل ىىىلىىىئىلىىىىلىىىىىىىىى للدار ىلىى لل ئ لل ىىىىئىىىئ لله ىلى للدار ىلىىىىىىلئىىلى للدار ىىىىلىىرلئىىىىىىلىىىىىىىىىللئلىىئىىىلىىىىىلىلىىىىىىىىلىىىىىىىىى للدار ىلىلىcccccccccccccgcgçccccgccccccccccccccccccgccccccçcccgcccccccccccccccccccccccccccgccccccccccccgccfcccgccccgcccccccccccgcccgcccgccccccccggcçلىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىلىىىلىىىىىىىىىىلىىىىىرىىلىىىىلىىلىىىللىىىىىىىىىىىىىىلىلىىىىىىىىىىى ليtcccgcccgccgcccccccgcgccccccggccccgccgcccgccccccgcccgcccccccccgcccccccىىىلىىىلىىىىىىىىىللىىلcccىىىلىلىلىىىىىىىلىلىىىىىىcccccccccccgcccccلىىىلىىىىىىىلىلىىىللىىىىلىىىىىىىىلىىىىلىىلىىىىىىىىىىىىىىىلىلىلىلىلcىىىلىلىىلىىىىلىىىىلى ىلىى لىلىىىىىىى
25:43 -- "The (fuel) tank was located above the motor; no pump was needed."
Also, in case of death from front-end collision, no cremation was needed.
Ford Pinto, the fuel tank was located between the solid live rear axle and the rear bumper. Also, in case of death from a rear-end collision, no cremation was needed, and Ford saved $10 per car (x a total production of 3 million in 9 years vs. the same number of Trabis built in 30+ years).
@@blpadge2 -- yeah, I'm familiar with the Pinto; my sister bought one new, and hers was returned to Ford when they did the recall for retrofitting with the improved fuel system.
The difference between the Pinto and the Trabant is that the location of the Pinto's tank wasn't in and of itself fundamentally unsafe. Federal regs at the time only focused upon _front_ collisions; the regs began to include side and rear collision standards during the Pinto's production run. Almost every car built since WWII has had a fuel tank in the same location as the Pinto's (between the trunk and the rear passenger compartment), so the Pinto was just following convention. Yes, the way that the axle could impact the fuel tank in a >30mph rear collision was incrementally more dangerous than if the bottom of the tank had been located above the axle, (or if the car used half-shafts instead of a live axel), but in all circumstances *other than* a >30mph rear-end collision, it's not a problem. If the Pinto's fuel tank were to develop a leak, well -- it leaks harmlessly onto the ground. If the fuel tank of a Trabant leaks, it leaks onto a hot engine. I'm sure you recognize which of those two is fundamentally more dangerous.
The way that bandsaw was used made me uneasy.
The delivery delay for a new Trabant was something like seven years, that's why the used Trabant were more expensive than new ones.
Depending on the time and country.
In East Germany it was between 2-3 years in the early to mid 60s all the way to over 10 year during the 80s.
At the same time you could buy a Trabant in Czechoslovakia with only few moths waiting time during the 60s and almost no or no waiting time at all after about 1973.
That just goes to show how badly adjusted was the import and export in the Eastern Bloc.
In Romania time to delivery is was 5 years for Dacia and Oltcit. You pay avance in 1980 si receive a car in 1985. The factory Dacia and Oltcit can not produce togheter most 300.000 - 350.000 unit models per on year.
The fact that the factory was so contaminated by cotton and noise ... and disregard for human life and limb ... basically, the car that I appreciated so much for being so practical and cheap, I am glad that it is over with for the sake of the laborers. Lack of love brought the URSS down!
@20:21, those workers were exposed to terrible danger with those band saw! 😢
the paint sprayer too... or the poor girl that mix plastic resin with dust everywhere. it let to think how much the workers protection rules progress to provide a safety enviroment
Fantastic, detailed, excellent. Thank you.
Vielen Dank für diesen sehr informativen Beitrag. Er räumte bei mir mit manchen Vorurteilen aus Hörensagen auf. Er ist doch mehr als "Leim und Lumpen". 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏼♂️
An old colleague told about colliding with a Trabant many years ago in Hungary. According to him, the Trabi exploded, with panels flying all around - there wasn't much left of it. His Mercedes had a few scratches.
that's the same result you get if you crash into a modern Smart, which in many ways is the modern version of a Trabant
It wasn’t such a bad car. It was better than walking.
Looks like hell on earth. "The phenol dust permeates everything". Including the workers lung no doubt. However all other things being equal there are countless millions who would love a cheap simple get you to where you want to go car without frills and fancies.
But who the hell would want to work in craphole conditions like that to build it?
Simple is fine - crude, grossly inefficient, and brutally polluting is not.
@@jackx4311 At its heart, however, the ideas embodied in the Trabant's construction are ones we need to revisit - with modern environmental & working conditions.
These were funny little cars. Brings back memories of East Berlin. Too bad I never got to drive one.
The way they "set" the panel gaps was frankly genius. lol
I had no idea that the production included many manual (and potentially dangerous) steps. Applying lacquer without a mask probably for hours every day - that is insane!
20:07 how they saw free handed, coordinated by two individuals. Whelp. Any accidents there?
trabant ist kein lateinisches, sondern ein slawisches wort (leibwächter).
begleiter heisst auf lateinisch comes, spätere bedeutung "graf".
Good to be reminded of the day when people worked hard in very bad factories. Life today is much better. All those peope worked so well. Respect to them now all probably retired.
Wow! What a coincidence! I was watching an OPL3 video of yours and then found you have a video about my favourite car! This one has English subtitles too which the video called "Trabi Produktion Zwickau" doesn't to my recollection.
Yeah, I made the subtitles for this video.
@@Schule04 Sorry I only just saw this, was watching the video again from a playlist I put this in. Thanks for the subtitles, they are a great help!
Sadly this version has some parts missing. Original runs for about 37 or 38 minutes
tHE video is about the industrial chalenges, processes and solutions. I've been highly well impressed. If I understood well they rolled out the 'fiberglass' intensive use
1200 Mark, das war ein hoher Lohn. Ich habe in 3 Schichten am Fließband 600 verdient.
1200 Mark was a really high wage.
I got working in 3 workshifts, early, normal, late, 600 Mark.
so working 8 weeks you could buy a brand new trabant. pretty good deal
Why was there shortage of steel in the east as they chose the complex and labor intensive cotton/phenol process?
The process seemed to be cheaper when the Trabant was developed in the 1960s. East Germany had to mostly import steel because there was not much iron ore in the country and because of lack of investition in the irosteel industry. They even made some sewer pipes out of glass because it was cheaper than using iron.
As for the Trabant, the production method stayed basically unchanged for more than two decades. In the later years imported steel would likely have been cheaper but management was not allowed to change anything because that would have meant investing money. In the beginning of this video you can see some prototypes, that's likely what a modernized Trabant would have looked like.
weil schon damals der dreckswesten handelskrieg führte.
This is the point. But People in The GDR did not give up.
10:35 -- "The fine plastic dust permeates everything"
Notes total lack of dust masks on workers
This was my first car!
War 'Duroplast' zugleich wie 'Royalite'?
They make No-Smoke 2-Stroke oils today...
MoS2 additive in oil helps lubricating any type of engine.
Gesund +
The guy spraying paint without a mask @ 23:53 looks pretty intense.
I wonder why...
I was drive 1987-2013 (26 years) Trabant and i am was satisfacted ! To mee, nice and amusing automobile !
Schon fasszinierend und seiner Zeit in bestimmten Aspekten voraus (Einsatz von Verbundstoffen z.B.). Was mich etwas schockiert ist die Arbeitssicherheit insbesondere in der Lackierstraße. Die krebserregende Wirkung von Lösungsmitteln müsste schon bekannt gewesen sein.
A car ahead of it's time - phenolic resin and cotton strands - essentially an early form of carbon fibre.
13 January 1942: Henry Ford patents his plastic car, thats some 16 years prior!
Duroplast, bitte! Duroplast!
12,000 people to make a maximum of 580 vehicles per day. That's the most accurate explanation of Soviet style production economics I've ever seen.
Check how many kids you need in a sweatshop to produce one Nike sneakers, that is the most accurate explanation of western capitalism...
In USSR one hungry missed sleep teenager after 5 days training make 3 bodies of T34 per day. In Germany 3 high level welders make one Tiger body per 2 days. What is the better economy was resolved at 9 May 1945.
@@doubledragun8650 Stalin supposedly said, “Quantity has a quality all its own.”
These are beautiful cars, the prototypes are too. Why do I love the look of these cars so much? There must be a market today for an up to date safe, clean emissions, simple and reliable version (although it was simple and reliable at the time). I hope the cotton and phenyl didn’t damage the workforces health in any way..
Someone wanted to make an electric modern version about a decade ago, but it went nowhere.
But you had a 13 year waiting list and no choice if buying any other car in ddr ☹️
Where in Germany was the factory sited? Is the factory still being used to make cars, if so what make?
The main factory was located in Zwickau. Only a small part of it was kept after the production of the Trabant ended in 1991. They made some parts for VW. I'm not sure what happened to it, they went bankrupt multiple times.
@@Schule04 Thank you.
as an amendment to the reply from Schule04:
The two factories shown in the video are located in Saxony in the towns of Zwickau and Chemnitz.
The engine factory in Chemnitz was taken over by VW after reunification and is still in operation.
The chassis and assembly factory "Sachsenring" in Zwickau downtown had been closed shortly after reunification due to the unacceptble working conditions and production efficiency there. At this area is nowadays the very informative "Horch Museum" located.
In Mosel (outskirts of Zwickau) was in the early 80th as a big greenfield project a new modern drive-shaft assembly factory erected and nearby in the late 80th a new assembly line for the Trabant 1.1. VW introduced there already in 1990 the assembly of the VW Polo and took over the assembly line shortly after reunification and enlarged and adapted it to their needs.
If I remember right VW assembles currently the ID3 in Mosel.
@@lbond4754 Thank you, with the terrible working conditions of the factory that was shut down, it is ironic that the former east Germany, It claims to be a work of paradise!
@@hypercomms2001 just keep in mind none of those workers shown in the videos were forced to work there. As I got told the salary at those factories was not that bad and the there were typical significant bonuses paid for "special demanding working places"...and those places were particual desirbale jobs by students during their semester breaks.
By-the-way: In the 70th or 80th I'm not sure if a common worker in Western Europe was much better off considering the severe deindustrialisation there and resulting in existential trouble for millions who lost or feared to loose their jobs while in the GDR a suitable job was a constitutional right to every citizen.
Great video, i love to see the low tech fabrication of these cars. Regards from Chile.
Trabant will sell today in USA for people over 60 years old on fix income like SOC. SEC, CHECKS
Wrääääm. 😁 Ich liebe den Trabant. Unserer hieß "Paula" 🤣
English is a fine language, you know? Ich mag die Deutschen einfach nicht :D
What happened to the subtitles????.
I wonder if the machine that makes the cotton/resin body still exists.
VW tore out the whole factory when they took over. Nothing remains of the old interior and it's unlikely anyone felt a need to preserve that machinery
We hired one from Hertz while on holiday with my girlfriend in Yougoskavia. An absolutely beautiful place and people. My girlfriend was pretty beautiful too. The car was a convertible and once overtook a Mercedes SLK. ha ha downhill..
Very interesting history video. How things were back in East block prior to 1990
13:45 the worker showing how much he appreciates the DDR.
OSHA would have a total meltdown!! Tell you what...I just saw an all Trabant road rally video, and it was totally fun to watch, and the little car looks like a total blast to hook around a track like that... I'd do it. I almost want one for fun, better than a Yugo.
Did Trabants even include a sway bar?
Those times we had also very quiet jobs like Streckengänger. Means walking alog a railway track looking for loose screws. Good old Times!
Good luck, the remaining ones are collectors items.
Since I owned both (Yugo and Trabant 601) I can tell you first hand that Yugo was far better car compared to a lot of western built cars, such as Renault 4, Citroen 2CV, VW Beetle, Fiat 600, not to mention being better compared to eastern cars such as Skoda's 1100 - 1200 models (better even compared to late Favorite model), not to mention Lada's (although Lada cars are tough as nails in my opinion), better than Moskowitzs, FSO Polonez, Dacias, etc... Yugo's only problem was that it was a state owned car company and the lobby from the EU and USA wanted to see the factory dead. That's why they had a stigma attached to the brand and it's cars. Yugo Florida was a best car in it's class. As soon as NATO aggression took place against Yugoslavia, first thing NATO planes devastated was a Zastava car factory that wasn't even a military target. But even so, production continued and every time Angela Merkel would visit she demanded that the car factory has to be closed, until Italians bought it... Then she shut her fat mouth and never spoke against it ever. Democracy eh? Where few billionaires own everything and you work your ass to make them even richer. Some "democracy" ain't it? And btw, Yugo could achieve 140-160 km/h based on engine model, (models with EFI engine could go well past 180 km/h). Trabant was out of power after 100 km/h. I love both Trabant and Yugo but they can't go in the same sentence...
It's fun as long as you don't underestimate a corner in the rain, and fall down the road like me as a fresh driver... I got away with it with no injuries, and the car still works fine to this day, but I was never that anxious in my life like on that wretched afternoon about 18 years ago.
I've tried to break, but it was like going over a bubblegum, worth nothing on the wet road with 25 year old diagonal tires, and I was afraid if I turn too hard we tip over, and that would've been worse, so we flew straight off the road to a ditch. This way only the front bumper had some minor damage, and our nerves...
Imagine the health problems that these poor workers faced over the years, being exposed to cotton dust, resin dust, and spraypaint all day, every day. For a "Worker's Paradise", the Communist state seemed to care little for the safety of its workers.
That is why they employed slaves from Asia and Africa.
@@nnnnnn3647 The workers in this film look like members of the band Rammstein, i.e., definitely not slaves from Asia and Africa.
@@TheEricleegreen Watch a movie. There is information about employees from Asia and Africa. You can see them in the movie. The GDR brought them to work because the Germans did not want to die.
@@TheEricleegreen 🤣
@@nnnnnn3647 There were guest workers from Vietnam and Cuba, and it was a stroke of luck for Cubans and Vietnamese to have such an opportunity. Many could do an apprenticeship in the GDR, and many also study. They earned more than they did back home and could send their families things like color TVs, stereos, and motorbikes. Almost all former guest workers from Cuba took an MZ motorcycle with them after their contract period. Most of the Vietnamese who came to the GDR at that time stayed here, and together with the boat people in West Germany, the Vietnamese are the largest Asian immigrant group in Germany, and an enrichment for our country!
Each product has its own challenges
Very fine film indeed.
I would actually get my license if cars this simple existed today.
I would love to get one little box 2-stroke engines definitely would go into one of my go-karts
Though the trabant was very simple and had no special features, we came always from a to b. I am sure, there will be a time again when we will remember the good old days when we had individual transport. We now may laugh about, but the times will change.
Sado-Masochism EXPLAINED
@@DanielLopez-tb2fl actually i dont know, what you mean, however I think even the Harley Davidsons of today are a kind of Masochism.
Da gibt es nichts zu lachen. Als Kind drufte ich mal eine Strecke mit dem Trabant des Kantors mitfahren. Ich war absolut fasziniert. Viel später habe ich mit meinem Bruder einen 10 Jahre alten Trabant ergattert und Ende der 80ger sogar einen neuen bekommen, da der Vater meiner Exfrau eine Bestellung laufen hatte, aber selbst einem Unfall zum Opfer gefallen war.
Es war wie Weihnachten und Ostern, als wir den Trabant in Papyrus Weiß in Schwerin abholen durften.
Nun fahre ich schon knapp 30 Jahre Skoda und bin auch zufrieden. Aber der erste neue Fahrzeug ist eben das erste neue Fahrzeug.
Yes this is giant go-kart engine anytime the gas tank sits above the engine so you don't have to use the fuel pump. You don't know how many times we have just stuck the gas tank on top of the engine when we do our go-kart builds here in the state I guess some things never change I would say to trabant is a luxury go-kart
I've heard the origins of the "Audi" name many times but never the reason why it was chosen over Horch and Wanderer for revival when the Ingolstadt DKW company chose to rebrand while going over to four-stroke engines in the '60s.
Horch means listen in German.
Audi(o) is latin for Horch
The new company was not allowed to use the old name. So the use the Latin name.
@@Rod54Am To be precise "audi" is the imperative singular of "audio". The same with "horch". It's the imperative singular (albeit a bit old fashioned) of "hören". In english the difference isn't really there because the word is the same ("listen" and "to listen")
@@Rod54Am Bullshitbingo!
My Dad once owned a DKW F 91/4 also known as DKW Munga 4 (MehrzweckUNiversalGeländewagenmitAllradantrieb 4 sitzer) - these Cars were build between 1956 and 1968. DDR was between 1949 and 1989.
You see there was a Car called DKW after the DDR was there.
The Reason was another - you cant sell cars like Horch after WW2 to the "rich ones" like the US People.
Hey Johnny whats this Car - Is it a ortsch a DeKayway or a Wonderer?
That DKW was a Miltary Vehicle only build for the German Military & Market.
And the famous Silverarrows where Audis not Horchs Wanderer or DKW.
BTW: 2021 The Brand Horch was (like Maybach some Years earlier) reborn.
Audi is arguably easier to market internationally than a name most non-German speakers can't pronounce correctly
@@thesteelrodent1796 Certainly in a rhotic accent like General American, Wanderer's double "er" ending sounds like onomatopoeia for a bad wheel bearing!
Who is the chick making the Duroplast? She's hot!
Yes, she definitely is. She has a great figure too.
Well, the Pontiac TransSport Van 1989-1996 was composite panels on spaceframe, too. (That led to advertisements like "and it will never rust" - spoiler, it did, too. Cause the frame and the floor were made from steel, little rust protection there as well). So the 601 was not the only one. The first Renault Espace had several composite body panels too. Then there were several cars with parts made from plastic/composite as well. Like the Fiat Tipo, the 1989 too, had a boot lid made from plastic. The Renault Megane Senic had fenders from composite. And that's only the ones I know by heart. There might be more.
1st gen Citroen BX, composite front lid and rear side panels.
But I doubt Pontiac was using the poorest quality Soviet cotton in their panel production...
@@paulrowan1501 no, is not cotton at all. But a composite nonetheless.
Trabant had a complete plastic body, not just some panels. And when Pontiac did it Trabant was exiting production.
@@mmdirtyworkz as you saw in the video: the frame of the trabant is steel. The plastic parts are glued and/or screwed to the frame. So pretty similar to the Pontiac Transport, spaceframe with the body glued as plastic panels to it.
it says Trabant was the only car with a plastic body. Not true, Israel produced "Susita" with an English engine and gear from Rover.
So, the Trabi was an AUDI :), it's cool!
I wonder what happened to the workers now, where are they now?
"If you or a loved one suffer from mesothelioma..."
@@jeffrobison8809 Not good... I thought so, despite claims of being a "workers paradise", the Health and Safety culture of the Soviet Union was terrible....
So was a VW Beetle, and unlike the trabant, the Beetle's engineering and technology was continually improved.
Very good - straight from the horse's mouth and not via hearsay. Much here I didn't know about the Trabbie, for instance, the wait time that I thought was three years. Fifteen years? Many would have croaked before receiving their car which, according to hearsay, had to be paid for well in advance if not at time of placing the order..
The wait times were extremely long, but it should be noted that the video was made by VW and contains some bias.
There also are two slightly different versions of this video, this is the more extreme one. The other one has slightly milder language and less criticism.
We had paid for a Trabby 8 years old 8000 Ost Mark. Later I get the Trabby new from my mother in-law I paid 10000 Ostmark. My mother-in-law had waited 11 years.
In the beggining wait was 3 years. And yes, do not trust VW biased video all the way...
Seeing production process I have no clue, how they produced so much trabant with acceptable quality.
Their QA process was probably still much better than other Eastern Bloc car manufacturers. e.g. Romanian cars had to be taken to the mechanic brand new and "reassembled". Germans are still Germans, even Communists.
16:01 My favorite part of the video 😂
You watch this and say it is poorly to not at all automated. I watch this and think: handmade in Germany, it must cost a fortune!
Where's these auld subtitles, then...?
Press the CC button
So, did I hear that Trabant's were made by Audi?
Not exactly. They were derived from an old DKW design which alongside Audi, Horch and Wanderer was part of the pre-war Auto Union group.
@@enematwatson1357 West german DKW made 2-stroke DKW 1000 model until the mid-sixties which was very much the same technology as the east german Trabant was but no toxic duroplast
VEB Saschenring. It was a state owned automobile factory during the DDR period. Nowadays the plant in Zwickau is owned by VW.
20:25 Arbeitssicherheit ? :D
fun fact: workers of the factory were all color blind and could only see the colors: bright green, bright orange, and white. So all cars had to be painted these colors to make the job of the workers easier.
source: I made it the fuck up
These people from the painting room for sure received some long term damage after their work at the factory.
‘The fine plastic dust permeates everything’ including the workers lungs. The working conditions look atrocious.
Nice little car. Dream of many in those years...
I cannot believe they're actually priming those little cars without wearing respirators in an enclosed space that doesn't look too safe or healthy
A new respect on my part for the humble little car of the DDR. What a great sociological experiment: a factory in East Germany staffed with Germans, Vietnamese, Africans, and Cubans. Half the factory filled with workers who wished they could get the hell out of the DDR and the other half thinking they must be in heaven having left their failed communist economies to work in the modern miracle of industrialization that was this car production plant. If no one has done it yet, this would make a great doctoral dissertation: examining the effect of these Gastarbeiters when they returned to their home countries or if they decided to stay in East Germany.
Very wrong, in DDR most of the young people were becoming, engineers, doctors, designers, professionals, very little of them want it to work in those factories, so the governments of DDR and countries as Cuba, Vietnam, sign treaties to bring workers and make them qualified workers so they could work in the future industries back in their own countries, not only DDR did that, also Czechoslovakia, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, I´m Cuban, two of my cousins work there one in DDR and the other in Czechoslovakia in Skoda factory, doing the windshield, he became a high qualified glass cutter and came back to Cuba after four years of training to work in a glass bottle factory!
@@youtubeoppressivecensorshi8047 But the public transportation was the cheapest in the world!
@@youtubeoppressivecensorshi8047 I mean extremily cheap
@@youtubeoppressivecensorshi8047
What was horrible about it?
@@PRISMAS76 I don't know about cheapest, but I am absolutely sure that the railways in DDR worked 100 times better then in today's Germany.