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Sehr gut...please make a photoshooting in the background the "Loch Ness", "Balmoral Castle" or a London-Trip with famous buildings - lol. I was two times in Scotland. The second trip was a roundtrip from Glasgow...Inverness, Ullapool and back! What is Your location in SCO?
Back in the late '70s there was a Porsche meeting in Budapest. We stumbled across their slalom race by accident when going for a Sunday lunch with my parents. It was on a long, wide square where the Mayday parades were normally held. After all the German, Austrian and Italian owners were done with their laps, out came a rally prepared Trabi and simply trashed all of the Porsche's times.
Trabant is great. It was a real success, produced with limited resources. There is a lot of misinformation about it. Even Time magazine denounced it by providing false information about this car. For example, they said that there are no turn signals and brake lights. However, these and the information that has never changed are not correct. It's never smelly, smoky, or noisy if it works correctly. The brakes are fine. A true legend that has suffered a lot of injustice. They're valuable now, even a Tramp model was recently sold for 40k euros. I've seen 601s sold for 20k euros or more before. They are now cult, iconic and classic. Definitely collectibles and investment vehicles. I see them very well restored and at high prices they sell out fast. Well restored ones are rare and valuable.
As a person born in the 1983 in the Poland I know this car well! It was the first car I remember my Family own :) the Trabi was the first car that I drove sitting on my Dad's lap lol! Now U need to try a Polish Fiat 126p it is an absolute gem a 2 door coupe with an engine at the back (like a curtain German Sport Car brand!) the Fiat 126p(own by my Sis) was the car I learned how to drift because of it rear wheel drive!!
I second that, I'd love to see a 126p reviewed. I'd like some sort of ex soviet classic as a daily in the future, and a lightly modified Maluch would be a bit different vs just getting a Riva, and theres a lot of Polish people in my area so I'd like to think it would be popular
Great video! What i find interesting: If this is a 1985 Trabant with it's original body it should still have a leaf spring as rear suspension, also it appears to have the wider top fender trims of the 1989-1990 models, just to mention two things. And, depending on the year, the trim levels could vary greatly, even in 1990 the basic "Standard" trim was extremly spartan and had neither 3 point seat belts nor head rests. But at least you didn't have to worry about your electric windshield washer pump breaking because even that was still manually operated. However You could upgrade to the "Sonderwunsch" or even "S- DeLuxe" trim level and live the luxury of a radio and a two tone paint job, for example! Or an electric windshield washer pump, perhaps. Greetings from a very happy Trabant owner from Germany!
@@nimedave The roof tents are awesome! There's a proper 140x200 mattress inside them, and they even have a light under the roof, basically a repurposed OEM reverse light which you plug into the trabants power socket under the drivers side dashboard via extension cable.
Check out "zero emissions" or whatever it's called video if you haven't already, I've been a subscriber for a long time, but became a fan after that ;)
I honestly like video's like these more than the ones about a Ferrari or something similar. The first gen. Smart had coils in the back and 1 leafspring in the front btw.
Jay’s Cars Survival List (cars not included are cars that pictures weren’t included with registration plates) Peugeot 407: Exported in 2015 BMW 330Ci ClubSport: Still going, 193,000k miles! Porsche 911: Plate not registered (private plate put on since then) BMW 645Ci: Plate not registered (private plate out on since then) BMW Z4 M Coupe: Tax expired 2 months ago, has MOT. Only 43k miles! Peugeot 207 “Van”: Not registered with that plate BMW 325i E36: SORN, no MOT for 4 years, 170k miles BMW E46 M3: Exported in 2017, 136k miles on last MOT Lotus Evora: Still around of course Lotus Excel: MOT expired in 2019 Lotus Elise: Exported in 2020 BMW E34 530i: Valid MOT, tax due 30/09/21 Toyota Previa: SORN, last MOT in 2018 Alfa Romeo Brera: Taxed and MOT’d, 72k miles Subaru Impreza WRX Bugeye: Taxed and MOT’d, 116k miles Honda Civic EP2: Scrapped in 2019 with 131k miles BMW E92 M3: Re-registered (private plate changed to original or other) Porsche 911 996 C4S: Data looks odd on this one. It says MOT expired in 2008 with only 29k miles… Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205: Taxed and MOT’d, 128k miles Saab 9-3 TTID: SORN, MOT expired 26/02/21, 143k miles
I have a Trabant "sechs hundert eins" ( six hundred and one). Mine is a 1988 Universal (estate) and paid less than £2,000 with 12 months MOT. Very simple to work on, apart from the brakes which are a nightmare! It's right what you say, loads of folks ask "What the heck IS that?". Mine was driven from Bulgaria to the UK in 2020, and as far as I know, mine is one of only 27 on the road in the UK. I love mine, and will never sell it.
Agh... Trabant brakes. What exactly were the designers thinking? "Ja, we will build a car that is as simple to maintain as possible, and then we'll make you need a specific hub puller to get at the brake shoes..." Utter pig of a job.
When I got sick after my first Vax shot this summer, the only thermometer left intact at home was a 35 year old one branded Chicco and made in DDR by a supplier. The other memory I got of the DDR was visiting the Stasi prison in Berlin, where everything was cosmetically left as in 1992, and it felt a bit like living in the 2 Minutes to Midnight video clip (which had a scene in the Greenwich tunnel). And it left a strong smell on my sweatshirt
The laughs we had with my cousin when his father would drive us around in the family trabbie. Every journey in this is an adventure and that makes them special in a way.
Worth mentioning that the fuel tank sits on top of the engine. Definitely focuses the mind when filling up. Has some clever simple engineering though, the summer / winter mode being one of them. I love mine.
Saw my first actual one of these at work 2 days ago... One of the last off the line before the wall came down, on a UK G-plate. Walking across the car park at work and there she was! Met the owner yesterday as he parked it in the same place, and knew it was the real deal as it had that lovely 2-stroke smell that says "You are going to get mesothelioma". What a machine!
Classics are usually cars liked or even loved at launch that allow future owners nostalgia. These were hated even then and I thought that they'd be best to forget haha!
Actually when this car launched late 50s, early 60s, it was a then modern small car that wasn't really hated but liked by many. Only later on, especially in the 80s, it was hated more and more because it became a symbol for the economic failure in the GDR. This car didn't change at all, you were buying a 25 year old car, although brand new. Unfortunately my parents thought the same of this car and they haven't been car enthusiasts at all, unlike me. They got a new one in 08/89, only three months before the wall came down and sold it in the 90s for 500 bucks lol. It was in perfect condition but they only wanted to get rid of it. I still wish they would have kept it.
I’m afflicted with one….🙂 It’s a 1987 601LX…. with a difference, if you Google “Joseph the Trabant” there’s a Twitter link to some stuff on it….. It was a SONY/Universal Music/U2 prop, art car for advertising. Long story short, rebuilt a few years ago, lacquered to protect the mad paint, UK registered and MOT’d, privacy glass and many new parts…… including rear belts to enable school run humiliation…🥰 The 601 or predecessor WAS the first transverse front drive….. not the Mini. But, hidden behind the iron curtain, who knew….
I was on holiday in Berlin in 2023 and I got the opportunity to drive a Trabant around the city for about 75 minutes - in early July, I might add. It was great fun, and it felt very strange having the gear lever to the side of the steering wheel (as shown at 2:26 in the video). One thing you can definitely say about a Trabant is that it has character! I liked Berlin so much I visited it again in June 2024, but the company that offer Trabant driving experiences had increased their prices from €60 to €80, so I decided not to try driving one again. 🙁 I also laughed at your somewhat surreal suggestion at 13:43 of "borrowing the Mona Lisa and taking her out for lunch". I don't think the Louvre would let anyone do that, somehow... 🤔
Hey James, did you look at the Citroen Traction Avant? There were about 760k of them made so the prices shouldn't be too stupid despite being the best part of a hundred years old, and the inline 6 makes about 3x the power of the Trabant. Might be a bit "too" classic, but it could also be worth a look.
This was your first of many videos I have seen when I finally had to mute you, almost at the end of the 14 mins. I have spent 5 months of my life, in very pleasant work and leisure circumstances, in West Berlin mostly, in Summer 88 (when W Berlin was also the cultural capital of Europe, with tons of concerts etc), in 92 and 99. The contrast between the lousy Trabis in the East and the fantastic cars in the West (my colleague drove a 750iL with the 300 HP V12, which was the big cheese in 88, others drove more modest Merc 190s (and praised their fuel efficiency), Opels etc. I rented twice, both times a Golf for three day weekends when I put 3,000 km each time, and circled all of Germany, saw the big cities, and even drove/ferried to Denmark for a day. My parents visited the first rental, and we celebrated my 35th birthday in the Black Effing Forest in splendid, sunny and cool weather, drinking more than two liters of metallic spring water (from a place called "Jacob's spring" in the Black Forest). Back to our topic. UNless other classics from that era are too expensive, the Trabant is only for MASOCHISTS and people who already have 999 cars in their collection and want one more (regardless of what utter POS it is). I am very interested in classics, But I am afraid I'll have to pay a fortune because of my tastes. I would prefer something made the same year I was born, which is 1953, A Bentley Coupe or a classic Merc. SOme of the Mercs look splendid outside and in, and got tons of room for their lengths, but may cost a fortune to buy in good shape or to restore. My advice, for everybody, unless you grew up in E germany and have sentimental memories (I can;t imagine them being any good tho), avoid this POS like the P L A G U E.
Just a friendly tip: take the aluminium grill part off the front, and paint the area under it matte black, then put the grill back. Then the 2 holes won't be visible and it will look much better (it was like that OEM).
An important reason to obtain a Trabant is the missing planned obsolescence! If you have a hammer, pliers and wire, you can drive up to Leningrad (today it's calling St. Petersburg), but in German are this phrase had betther rhymes: "Haste Hammer, Zange, Draht, kommste bis nach Leningrad". That describes the reliability of the Trabant and even the ability for the driver, that these can repair it byself.
One of the dads at my kids school has one, 1st time I heard it I thought a rough moped was coming past, looked round a a sticker bombed Trabant came past.
I’ve always wanted to send one of these down a drag strip. Or take it on a track just to see what it can do. I’d also argue it’s one of the most important cars of all time. Just because of what built it and what it meant to the people who bought it as it was their only option. I’d never own one because they’re terrible cars but I’d put one in a museum because of what it is.
Well the Trabant beat the Mercedes A-Class at the elk test in 1997. The Merc fell over at 60 kph whereas the Trabi passed the test even at 75 kph. It wasn't a bad car when it launched late 50s, early 60s. ruclips.net/video/4xjhEvTYAqk/видео.html
in our former Czechoslovakia was this little box quite usual to see..if you`re interested check some yellow trabants crossing Australia, Africa etc..type Trabantem ...
Great video! I know that road very well, some great bends through Lumley den and coming into Glamis! Got a few cars here you can drive if you're ever back in the area. Cheers.
Guten Morgen! Your german is not that bad at all!! 👍🏻😅 The Trabbi was the first car, I was allowed to drive (when I was about 12 years old..) happy to see a nice review! Now owner of a red Scuderia.. what a Journey … thanks for sharing!!
You want to see if you can get one of the other east Germany cars the wartburg my dad had one back in the 80s he bought it new it was one of the best cars we have owed
Probably the first real People’s Car. I remember some ludicrous suggestion that they were made from papier mache! When ‘I were a lad’ back in the 80s I always hankered after a Fiat X1/9. Try and find one of those today!
This feels about like the chris harris video on his 2CV from a few yrs ago. Being excited about getting into 4th gear is a joy not many youngens will experience.
Some of the best fun I have had were in slow, supposedly crap cars. My mates Skoda 120 with its rear engine. Big smile on my face just thinking about it
I owned one here in Scotland a few years back - picked it up in Fort William and drove it all the way back to the North-East where I live. It was an... experience.
I daily drive a trabant for a year now. Absolutely love it, it ain't fast but it is so much fun to drive. If anyone has questions about it I'll try my best to answer
I have some questions concerning the trabi. I find it a very funny and curious car. 1) I know that the engine is very simple, but is reliable if used every day? 2)Do you have any problem with rust? 3)Are spare parts easy to find? 4)How do you do the mixture? Thank you for the answers
@@danielegernone1717 Hi, thanks for your reply. 1) I have used it for about 1 year (10000km). Beside some small problems nothing big. Engine for me is pretty solid. The engine is about 115k km old. Most people who own Trabants have said that they last around 100k km. 2) The Trabant has duroplast bodypanels, that means that they don't rust. The undersite and botom of the car does have some slight rust. I have had to repair 1 5cm rust hole this year to get it past inspection. But if its stored outside all its life without much protection, Big chance there is quite some rust there. 3) For me they are easy to get, I live in the Netherlands. We have a couple of Trabant collectors here who also sell parts. Online there are also some german sites. I have 2 Trabants, 1 for parts and 1 for driving around. 4) Mixture isn't a big deal, just fill it up halfway, then you estimate how much goes more into it. I mix 1:40, so calculate it and add it. The last few liters will mix the oil with the fuel. If you have more question let me know
@James I love 2-stroke bikes and cars. Check out this classic 1963 SAAB 96 ‘TWO-STROKE 3-cylinder 850 cc two-stroke engine which is mated to a 4-speed manually operated gearbox
For a few seconds there I though I was in the middle of a Len Deighton novel! Jayem seems to drive this car amazingly well; had he been a few decades older I would have wondered if he had worked for MI6 on the orher side of The Wall!🤣
I’ve wanted one of these just for fun ever since driving one in Berlin in the winter. It was terrible, but that’s part of the charm! It also tickles me that you were parading a communist icon around the outside of a home for the British aristocracy. Well done on getting it up the hill at Charleston! 😂
@@JayEmmOnCars I drove a kleenex beige one here in the US at a cars and coffee a few years ago. When behind a massive tanker I remember wondering how on Earth the driver of the thing managed to go so fast. Then I looked at the speedo to realize my concept of NVH had been very much of the capitalist pig variety.
That trabys engine is not okay, it should be going 60 in 3 gear easy, and if you want to really push it and don't care about blowing up the engine i had a few that I actually raced. I dinod one 127 HP but the in it lived all of 15 minutes. But in that 15 minutes i did win enough (doing stupid shit) to buy 20 new one's.
You will often hear that these can be fixed with basic hand tools. Speaking from experience, you can *only* fix them with basic hand tools, no other tools fit in the tight spaces!
Great video. Thanks James. Impressive German too! One thing you didn’t mention but I thought was a big weakness of Trabis was their last of reliability. Is that a bad myth? Or actually true? I’d love to know the truth as I’ve been interested in getting one for years, but put off as I’m no mechanic! Thanks for any feedback. Tschuss
They were driven in a failing economy where no spare parts were available. I think this explains many of the reliability issues - it’s because they were never serviced orderly.
The average lifespan of a trabant was 28 years in the DDR. It's one of the simplest cars you can find, just make sure you put oil in the fuel and you will be fine, apart from this are a couple of grease fittings you need to fill every 10 000km. I have one with about 100 000km on the counter. It was driven from hungary to belgium, I have done some road trips with it as well, unfortunately nothing too far because of covid. Still, I drive it almost daily, the only thing I needed to do was adjust the carburettor. The trabant is a bad car because it's so basic, fairly load, and really just outdated by the 70's, not because it's unreliable, people who think this do not know the car, or are comparing a 40 year old, badly maintained car to a brand new car. One thing I will say is that you really need to protect the frame with something like fluidfilm, there are holes from the factory for this, a trabant is a real rustbucket when driven in snow or ice through salted roads. Also, it's not obvious unless you look under the car, since the duroplast stay pristine even if the frame is rusting.
Eh, don’t buy a car so much for other people’s enjoyment, but for yours. I think anybody would be happy to see something this different. That said, my dream car is an Austin A30, because omg they are so adorable.
£3000?! Twenty years ago my mate hitch hiked across Europe just to see the place. He bought a Trabant out east somewhere, drove it home and was absolutely amazed to get £350 for it.
@@Danse_Macabre_125 depends on what you think a good condition is. I presume by your standards mine isn't in one as well and I just got back in sofia from rome with it
@@ivaniliev7809 My standards might be off because where I grew up the trabants were either abandoned, beaten or I didn't see them well enough to be able to express my opinion. (The country is Serbia, if you're wondering)
Thanks for this great review. Another (American) reviewer condemned the Trabi as "An awful car made by..." Wait for it: "...Communists" (LOL). He of course completely missed the point. The Trabi is simply a car of its time and place, like any classic. No more and no less.
First you go to a Hubnut event and now you’re playing with a trabant . What next? Will you get Hubnut into your Ferrari ? A car swap test video? He has some “ special “ vehicles…😀
Sorry mate, a 4 stroke isn't a real Trabant. The 1.1 was rather a very awful Polo than a real Trabi! A real Trabi drive feeling you only get with a 2 stroke engine and a column gear stick!
@@wanderschlosser1857 For me it wasn't 'real'or 'not real' experience, but a work horse I used when I worked as a postie. Today, after 2 decades, I've got different perspective. True, 1.1 is the ugliest of Trabants, but also the rarest. I wouldn't modify it today.
@@martalukaszjastrzab760 Don't get me wrong, a 1.1 or even more a tuned 1.6 was certainly fun to drive and certainly safer to drive, e. g. having some proper disk brakes. My point was simply the real Trabi drive feeling you only get in an original 2 stroke version. Was my 1st car I owned in 93, the only one I could afford then for 500 DM but great memories though.
@@wanderschlosser1857 now I'm restoring p50 with only minor modifications( some 601 parts and Warti drums front) but I'm bit tempted to fit 353 to it. The only problem is the optics. I don't want to cut anything and with 353 in p60/60 hole in a bonet is a must.
@@martalukaszjastrzab760 I love P50 and 60's. These have a more unique and sophisticated design than the 601 in my eyes. Especially the Kombis I find cool!
Thanks to CarVertical for sponsoring today's video. Get 10% off their comprehensive car checks with this link:
www.carvertical.com/gb/landing/britain?a=JayEmm&b=38b26e3a&voucher=jayemm
Sehr gut...please make a photoshooting in the background the "Loch Ness", "Balmoral Castle" or a London-Trip with famous buildings - lol. I was two times in Scotland. The second trip was a roundtrip from Glasgow...Inverness, Ullapool and back! What is Your location in SCO?
Back in the late '70s there was a Porsche meeting in Budapest. We stumbled across their slalom race by accident when going for a Sunday lunch with my parents. It was on a long, wide square where the Mayday parades were normally held. After all the German, Austrian and Italian owners were done with their laps, out came a rally prepared Trabi and simply trashed all of the Porsche's times.
Trabant is great. It was a real success, produced with limited resources. There is a lot of misinformation about it. Even Time magazine denounced it by providing false information about this car. For example, they said that there are no turn signals and brake lights. However, these and the information that has never changed are not correct. It's never smelly, smoky, or noisy if it works correctly. The brakes are fine. A true legend that has suffered a lot of injustice. They're valuable now, even a Tramp model was recently sold for 40k euros. I've seen 601s sold for 20k euros or more before. They are now cult, iconic and classic. Definitely collectibles and investment vehicles. I see them very well restored and at high prices they sell out fast. Well restored ones are rare and valuable.
As a person born in the 1983 in the Poland I know this car well! It was the first car I remember my Family own :) the Trabi was the first car that I drove sitting on my Dad's lap lol! Now U need to try a Polish Fiat 126p it is an absolute gem a 2 door coupe with an engine at the back (like a curtain German Sport Car brand!) the Fiat 126p(own by my Sis) was the car I learned how to drift because of it rear wheel drive!!
I second that, I'd love to see a 126p reviewed. I'd like some sort of ex soviet classic as a daily in the future, and a lightly modified Maluch would be a bit different vs just getting a Riva, and theres a lot of Polish people in my area so I'd like to think it would be popular
Cześć :)
Enjoying a bit of 'Power - Less is More' eh? ;-) Good to see.
Great video!
What i find interesting: If this is a 1985 Trabant with it's original body it should still have a leaf spring as rear suspension, also it appears to have the wider top fender trims of the 1989-1990 models, just to mention two things.
And, depending on the year, the trim levels could vary greatly, even in 1990 the basic "Standard" trim was extremly spartan and had neither 3 point seat belts nor head rests. But at least you didn't have to worry about your electric windshield washer pump breaking because even that was still manually operated.
However You could upgrade to the "Sonderwunsch" or even "S- DeLuxe" trim level and live the luxury of a radio and a two tone paint job, for example! Or an electric windshield washer pump, perhaps.
Greetings from a very happy Trabant owner from Germany!
Mine has a louvred rear window blind. I’d love a roof tent for it.
@@nimedave The roof tents are awesome! There's a proper 140x200 mattress inside them, and they even have a light under the roof, basically a repurposed OEM reverse light which you plug into the trabants power socket under the drivers side dashboard via extension cable.
True about Trabant: ruclips.net/video/tSYwIL4fhlA/видео.html
I'm a recent subscriber (around 2 weeks or so) and I'm stunned I haven't discovered you earlier. You're now one of my favourite YT car guys.
Check out "zero emissions" or whatever it's called video if you haven't already, I've been a subscriber for a long time, but became a fan after that ;)
@@mattwillow7 Thanks! I will.
Wie lustig. James kann ja deutsch sprechen. :) Much love from Germany.
I honestly like video's like these more than the ones about a Ferrari or something similar.
The first gen. Smart had coils in the back and 1 leafspring in the front btw.
Jay’s Cars Survival List (cars not included are cars that pictures weren’t included with registration plates)
Peugeot 407: Exported in 2015
BMW 330Ci ClubSport: Still going, 193,000k miles!
Porsche 911: Plate not registered (private plate put on since then)
BMW 645Ci: Plate not registered (private plate out on since then)
BMW Z4 M Coupe: Tax expired 2 months ago, has MOT. Only 43k miles!
Peugeot 207 “Van”: Not registered with that plate
BMW 325i E36: SORN, no MOT for 4 years, 170k miles
BMW E46 M3: Exported in 2017, 136k miles on last MOT
Lotus Evora: Still around of course
Lotus Excel: MOT expired in 2019
Lotus Elise: Exported in 2020
BMW E34 530i: Valid MOT, tax due 30/09/21
Toyota Previa: SORN, last MOT in 2018
Alfa Romeo Brera: Taxed and MOT’d, 72k miles
Subaru Impreza WRX Bugeye: Taxed and MOT’d, 116k miles
Honda Civic EP2: Scrapped in 2019 with 131k miles
BMW E92 M3: Re-registered (private plate changed to original or other)
Porsche 911 996 C4S: Data looks odd on this one. It says MOT expired in 2008 with only 29k miles…
Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205: Taxed and MOT’d, 128k miles
Saab 9-3 TTID: SORN, MOT expired 26/02/21, 143k miles
One? One single leaf spring?
how tho
@@Danse_Macabre_125 The single front leaf spring was transverse.
@@revolution1one oh.. that makes sense. It still is a very weird suspension setup
@@Danse_Macabre_125 more like a really oldschool setup. like early 1900s oldschool. :D
I have a Trabant "sechs hundert eins" ( six hundred and one). Mine is a 1988 Universal (estate) and paid less than £2,000 with 12 months MOT. Very simple to work on, apart from the brakes which are a nightmare! It's right what you say, loads of folks ask "What the heck IS that?". Mine was driven from Bulgaria to the UK in 2020, and as far as I know, mine is one of only 27 on the road in the UK. I love mine, and will never sell it.
one can retrofit disk brakes :-)
Agh... Trabant brakes. What exactly were the designers thinking? "Ja, we will build a car that is as simple to maintain as possible, and then we'll make you need a specific hub puller to get at the brake shoes..." Utter pig of a job.
@@iana6713 And to get to the brake shoes, you HAVE to pull the drum/hub off, and those hub nuts are TIGHT, like 180 Ft/lbs tight!
@@neilfoster814 Don't I know it - I had to replace a brake cylinder on the one I owned years ago...
many people here in Poland called those "Honecker's revenge" after Erich Honecker
When I got sick after my first Vax shot this summer, the only thermometer left intact at home was a 35 year old one branded Chicco and made in DDR by a supplier. The other memory I got of the DDR was visiting the Stasi prison in Berlin, where everything was cosmetically left as in 1992, and it felt a bit like living in the 2 Minutes to Midnight video clip (which had a scene in the Greenwich tunnel). And it left a strong smell on my sweatshirt
The laughs we had with my cousin when his father would drive us around in the family trabbie. Every journey in this is an adventure and that makes them special in a way.
Worth mentioning that the fuel tank sits on top of the engine. Definitely focuses the mind when filling up. Has some clever simple engineering though, the summer / winter mode being one of them. I love mine.
Now the Yugo is next!
Try a Wartburg 311 or 353. It is a bit more substantial.
Great video J. Wonderful to see you driving something attainable, off the ordinary and fun. Best episode yet.
Saw my first actual one of these at work 2 days ago... One of the last off the line before the wall came down, on a UK G-plate.
Walking across the car park at work and there she was!
Met the owner yesterday as he parked it in the same place, and knew it was the real deal as it had that lovely 2-stroke smell that says "You are going to get mesothelioma".
What a machine!
That thing is brilliant, the fly by shots are haliorous 😂
Classics are usually cars liked or even loved at launch that allow future owners nostalgia. These were hated even then and I thought that they'd be best to forget haha!
Actually when this car launched late 50s, early 60s, it was a then modern small car that wasn't really hated but liked by many. Only later on, especially in the 80s, it was hated more and more because it became a symbol for the economic failure in the GDR. This car didn't change at all, you were buying a 25 year old car, although brand new.
Unfortunately my parents thought the same of this car and they haven't been car enthusiasts at all, unlike me. They got a new one in 08/89, only three months before the wall came down and sold it in the 90s for 500 bucks lol. It was in perfect condition but they only wanted to get rid of it. I still wish they would have kept it.
Power steering and rhd are essentials for me.
I remember the old Trabant video in Germany, smoking along! Where has all the time gone?!
I’m afflicted with one….🙂
It’s a 1987 601LX…. with a difference, if you Google “Joseph the Trabant” there’s a Twitter link to some stuff on it…..
It was a SONY/Universal Music/U2 prop, art car for advertising. Long story short, rebuilt a few years ago, lacquered to protect the mad paint, UK registered and MOT’d, privacy glass and many new parts…… including rear belts to enable school run humiliation…🥰
The 601 or predecessor WAS the first transverse front drive….. not the Mini. But, hidden behind the iron curtain, who knew….
Wow Jay, that was some impressive german 😉
I live in Germany and hear worse almost daily!
The irony of churchill tyres is not lost on me 1:59
I was on holiday in Berlin in 2023 and I got the opportunity to drive a Trabant around the city for about 75 minutes - in early July, I might add. It was great fun, and it felt very strange having the gear lever to the side of the steering wheel (as shown at 2:26 in the video). One thing you can definitely say about a Trabant is that it has character!
I liked Berlin so much I visited it again in June 2024, but the company that offer Trabant driving experiences had increased their prices from €60 to €80, so I decided not to try driving one again. 🙁
I also laughed at your somewhat surreal suggestion at 13:43 of "borrowing the Mona Lisa and taking her out for lunch". I don't think the Louvre would let anyone do that, somehow... 🤔
Good to see the DDR dream is alive and well jay!
Hey James, did you look at the Citroen Traction Avant? There were about 760k of them made so the prices shouldn't be too stupid despite being the best part of a hundred years old, and the inline 6 makes about 3x the power of the Trabant. Might be a bit "too" classic, but it could also be worth a look.
This was your first of many videos I have seen when I finally had to mute you, almost at the end of the 14 mins. I have spent 5 months of my life, in very pleasant work and leisure circumstances, in West Berlin mostly, in Summer 88 (when W Berlin was also the cultural capital of Europe, with tons of concerts etc), in 92 and 99. The contrast between the lousy Trabis in the East and the fantastic cars in the West (my colleague drove a 750iL with the 300 HP V12, which was the big cheese in 88, others drove more modest Merc 190s (and praised their fuel efficiency), Opels etc. I rented twice, both times a Golf for three day weekends when I put 3,000 km each time, and circled all of Germany, saw the big cities, and even drove/ferried to Denmark for a day. My parents visited the first rental, and we celebrated my 35th birthday in the Black Effing Forest in splendid, sunny and cool weather, drinking more than two liters of metallic spring water (from a place called "Jacob's spring" in the Black Forest). Back to our topic. UNless other classics from that era are too expensive, the Trabant is only for MASOCHISTS and people who already have 999 cars in their collection and want one more (regardless of what utter POS it is). I am very interested in classics, But I am afraid I'll have to pay a fortune because of my tastes. I would prefer something made the same year I was born, which is 1953, A Bentley Coupe or a classic Merc. SOme of the Mercs look splendid outside and in, and got tons of room for their lengths, but may cost a fortune to buy in good shape or to restore. My advice, for everybody, unless you grew up in E germany and have sentimental memories (I can;t imagine them being any good tho), avoid this POS like the P L A G U E.
I reckon a Zil limo would be a superb investment. Some diplomatic flags fluttering on the wings😂 whilst enjoying vodka and caviar.
I ended up getting one of these, albeit a later 1.1 4 stroke as a direct result of watching this video and I absolutely love it!
Just a friendly tip:
take the aluminium grill part off the front, and paint the area under it matte black, then put the grill back. Then the 2 holes won't be visible and it will look much better (it was like that OEM).
This appeard in "the man from U.N.C.L.E" the one driving it was Illya Kuryakin (KGB Agent) in east Berlin. Guy Ritchie it's just the best
They must've put an actual engine in that one or moved the scenery quickly 🤣 great film though
If you can live wih the engine get yourself a Karmann Ghia, Jay. Its a safer investment than Gold and the design a masterpiece.
Unfortunately, a lot more $$$!
An important reason to obtain a Trabant is the missing planned obsolescence! If you have a hammer, pliers and wire, you can drive up to Leningrad (today it's calling St. Petersburg), but in German are this phrase had betther rhymes: "Haste Hammer, Zange, Draht, kommste bis nach Leningrad". That describes the reliability of the Trabant and even the ability for the driver, that these can repair it byself.
One of the dads at my kids school has one, 1st time I heard it I thought a rough moped was coming past, looked round a a sticker bombed Trabant came past.
I’ve always wanted to send one of these down a drag strip. Or take it on a track just to see what it can do.
I’d also argue it’s one of the most important cars of all time. Just because of what built it and what it meant to the people who bought it as it was their only option. I’d never own one because they’re terrible cars but I’d put one in a museum because of what it is.
I think Doug DeMuro may have taken one to the strip
@@jamesengland7461 it was Aging Wheels, I think it did the quarter mile in like, 28 seconds
ruclips.net/video/vtBX4NGLrXI/видео.html The dude also rallied it.
26 seconds @ 49mph
Well the Trabant beat the Mercedes A-Class at the elk test in 1997. The Merc fell over at 60 kph whereas the Trabi passed the test even at 75 kph. It wasn't a bad car when it launched late 50s, early 60s.
ruclips.net/video/4xjhEvTYAqk/видео.html
in our former Czechoslovakia was this little box quite usual to see..if you`re interested check some yellow trabants crossing Australia, Africa etc..type Trabantem ...
Enjoyed this video so I'm looking at it again! Thanks!
That is a hard contrast Video to the Ferrari Videos before! Really funny! Great Video!
Top speed is 62mph (100kmh)???
Anybody who owned a Trabant could tell you it was rather 110-120kmh (~70-75mph).
In the 90s I saw a Trabant in Edinburgh the guy drove from Berlin.
I’m sure I saw that car driving down the Edinburgh bypass last week !
Great video! I know that road very well, some great bends through Lumley den and coming into Glamis! Got a few cars here you can drive if you're ever back in the area. Cheers.
I own one same color 1988 in pristine condition and I love it.
The mighty SOAPBOX! Yeah, that's what we used to call them here in Poland. 😂😂
They were still quite a few of them on the streets some 20 years ago.
Guten Morgen! Your german is not that bad at all!! 👍🏻😅 The Trabbi was the first car, I was allowed to drive (when I was about 12 years old..) happy to see a nice review! Now owner of a red Scuderia.. what a Journey … thanks for sharing!!
In lovely Invacar blue too.
That was great James!
My bucket list includes a Peugeot 403 estate but probably won't find a good one this side of the pond
According to wikipedia, some of the last ones had the 1043cc "1.05 litre" VW engine like the Mk2 Polo. Wonder if a 1272cc G40 could be transplanted?
Yes, shouldn't be a problem
Most people swapt it with a 1.6 100hp though. More reliable and definitely powerful enough.
@@Jack233 The easiest conversion is 1.6 AEE engine, 75 HP but loads of torque. Very tunable engine.
You want to see if you can get one of the other east Germany cars the wartburg my dad had one back in the 80s he bought it new it was one of the best cars we have owed
Probably the first real People’s Car. I remember some ludicrous suggestion that they were made from papier mache! When ‘I were a lad’ back in the 80s I always hankered after a Fiat X1/9. Try and find one of those today!
I'd love to drag race that against my series 3 landie.... think I'd lose though.
This feels about like the chris harris video on his 2CV from a few yrs ago. Being excited about getting into 4th gear is a joy not many youngens will experience.
Some of the best fun I have had were in slow, supposedly crap cars. My mates Skoda 120 with its rear engine. Big smile on my face just thinking about it
Great review. I enjoyed it
This car might be from East Germany but it would seems to fit right at home in Scotland and here in Northern Ireland.
I owned one here in Scotland a few years back - picked it up in Fort William and drove it all the way back to the North-East where I live. It was an... experience.
I daily drive a trabant for a year now. Absolutely love it, it ain't fast but it is so much fun to drive. If anyone has questions about it I'll try my best to answer
I have some questions concerning the trabi. I find it a very funny and curious car. 1) I know that the engine is very simple, but is reliable if used every day? 2)Do you have any problem with rust? 3)Are spare parts easy to find? 4)How do you do the mixture? Thank you for the answers
@@danielegernone1717 Hi, thanks for your reply.
1) I have used it for about 1 year (10000km). Beside some small problems nothing big. Engine for me is pretty solid. The engine is about 115k km old. Most people who own Trabants have said that they last around 100k km.
2) The Trabant has duroplast bodypanels, that means that they don't rust. The undersite and botom of the car does have some slight rust. I have had to repair 1 5cm rust hole this year to get it past inspection. But if its stored outside all its life without much protection, Big chance there is quite some rust there.
3) For me they are easy to get, I live in the Netherlands. We have a couple of Trabant collectors here who also sell parts. Online there are also some german sites. I have 2 Trabants, 1 for parts and 1 for driving around.
4) Mixture isn't a big deal, just fill it up halfway, then you estimate how much goes more into it. I mix 1:40, so calculate it and add it. The last few liters will mix the oil with the fuel. If you have more question let me know
@@peace9online829 thank you very much for your answers
what trim level is your trabant 601 anyways?
I once saw a donkey eating the rear wing of a long abandoned one in Bulgaria years ago
@James I love 2-stroke bikes and cars. Check out this classic 1963 SAAB 96 ‘TWO-STROKE 3-cylinder 850 cc two-stroke engine which is mated to a 4-speed manually operated gearbox
For a few seconds there I though I was in the middle of a Len Deighton novel! Jayem seems to drive this car amazingly well; had he been a few decades older I would have wondered if he had worked for MI6 on the orher side of The Wall!🤣
Cut the roof of take out the interior and the rubber band under the bonnet fill it full of soil and plant some flowers in the summertime
I’ve wanted one of these just for fun ever since driving one in Berlin in the winter. It was terrible, but that’s part of the charm! It also tickles me that you were parading a communist icon around the outside of a home for the British aristocracy. Well done on getting it up the hill at Charleston! 😂
don't know why i thought of this :) but imagine touring car in the old ddr
trabant,lada,skoda mmm the 1300cc championship !
British Touring Communist Championship?
British Trotskyite Car Championship?
Bakunin Touring Car Championship? We can go on and on here...
A trabant should have an inline fuel filter, there shouldn't be a problem with reserve.
Crazy how the Trabant got into every country
I thought this was a Hubnut vid for a second!
I love how he stayed behind a tractor for much of the shoot and seemed perfectly at home doing so. 26 honest horsepower.
Yep, not much choice really!
@@JayEmmOnCars I drove a kleenex beige one here in the US at a cars and coffee a few years ago. When behind a massive tanker I remember wondering how on Earth the driver of the thing managed to go so fast. Then I looked at the speedo to realize my concept of NVH had been very much of the capitalist pig variety.
That trabys engine is not okay, it should be going 60 in 3 gear easy, and if you want to really push it and don't care about blowing up the engine i had a few that I actually raced. I dinod one 127 HP but the in it lived all of 15 minutes. But in that 15 minutes i did win enough (doing stupid shit) to buy 20 new one's.
Awesome car. Keep up the good work.
You will often hear that these can be fixed with basic hand tools. Speaking from experience, you can *only* fix them with basic hand tools, no other tools fit in the tight spaces!
Excellent review - the Trabant appeared almost desirable, almost
Great video. Thanks James. Impressive German too! One thing you didn’t mention but I thought was a big weakness of Trabis was their last of reliability. Is that a bad myth? Or actually true? I’d love to know the truth as I’ve been interested in getting one for years, but put off as I’m no mechanic! Thanks for any feedback. Tschuss
They were driven in a failing economy where no spare parts were available. I think this explains many of the reliability issues - it’s because they were never serviced orderly.
Ah ok thx. So if I bought a trabbi in Germany I’d be “safe” to drive it to the UK? I’m concerned it’ll not make the journey.
The average lifespan of a trabant was 28 years in the DDR. It's one of the simplest cars you can find, just make sure you put oil in the fuel and you will be fine, apart from this are a couple of grease fittings you need to fill every 10 000km. I have one with about 100 000km on the counter. It was driven from hungary to belgium, I have done some road trips with it as well, unfortunately nothing too far because of covid. Still, I drive it almost daily, the only thing I needed to do was adjust the carburettor.
The trabant is a bad car because it's so basic, fairly load, and really just outdated by the 70's, not because it's unreliable, people who think this do not know the car, or are comparing a 40 year old, badly maintained car to a brand new car.
One thing I will say is that you really need to protect the frame with something like fluidfilm, there are holes from the factory for this, a trabant is a real rustbucket when driven in snow or ice through salted roads. Also, it's not obvious unless you look under the car, since the duroplast stay pristine even if the frame is rusting.
Eh, don’t buy a car so much for other people’s enjoyment, but for yours. I think anybody would be happy to see something this different. That said, my dream car is an Austin A30, because omg they are so adorable.
At 2:55 I thought it had been the last picture, cause the truck appeared and you were on the wrong side of the road... Ups
Didnt realise up until now, how well jalopy made the Trabant in the indie game.
I'm gonna get one end of this year as a daily xD
James, do you think you’d consider a mk1 or mk2 Escort as your classic?😁
The edible part is true. My aunt had a horse who turned her Trabant into a convertible because he ate part of the roof.
Time to try a Borgward Isabella
£3000 for trabant, bloody hell
A classic for you........Morris Minor, Frog Eye or even a Marina.........Cortina estate.?
£3000?!
Twenty years ago my mate hitch hiked across Europe just to see the place. He bought a Trabant out east somewhere, drove it home and was absolutely amazed to get £350 for it.
They're mostly destroyed and expensive due to rarity and nostalgia
Here's one for you to consider, James, how about a Reliant Scimitar? It's cool, reasonably quick and somewhat practical.
What a great suggestion. I have always liked those. Ford V6, plenty of room, reliable, clean stylish looks. An example of a very much underrated car.
Princess Anne had one!
Another car with coils in the back and a leaf at the front?
Current Ford Mustang?
Your german is not bad. Greetings from Bavaria. 🖐️
For the crap condition this perticular one is, the review is spot on. If the car has been maintained properly, you would probably want one.
I dont think an ok condition Trabant exists
@@Danse_Macabre_125 depends on what you think a good condition is. I presume by your standards mine isn't in one as well and I just got back in sofia from rome with it
@@ivaniliev7809 My standards might be off because where I grew up the trabants were either abandoned, beaten or I didn't see them well enough to be able to express my opinion.
(The country is Serbia, if you're wondering)
never knew that the trabant had different trim levels
I'm sure with the right mechanic a Trabant could be made really fast.
The Trabant can indeed be made to go fast. Try searching on RUclips for "DDR Tourenwagen Meisterschaft 600cc".
It’s Hub JayEm Nut today.
I walk past one if these most mornings. It might actually be this one ill check the regi
I thought aircon would be winding the window down.
Thanks for this great review. Another (American) reviewer condemned the Trabi as "An awful car made by..." Wait for it: "...Communists" (LOL). He of course completely missed the point. The Trabi is simply a car of its time and place, like any classic. No more and no less.
THIS is a true momentum car. Miata fans ;)
First you go to a Hubnut event and now you’re playing with a trabant . What next? Will you get Hubnut into your Ferrari ? A car swap test video? He has some “ special “ vehicles…😀
In Eastern Europe we just called it Paper Jaguar. Worst car ever yet so much fun to drive.
Depends on the classic car. A Jaguar E-type, Cobra or your classic Ferraris definitely trouble the speed limit.
Jay, try 4 stroke version, maybe with upgraded engine. You may re-consider. I had one with 1.6 and 100 HP.
Sorry mate, a 4 stroke isn't a real Trabant. The 1.1 was rather a very awful Polo than a real Trabi! A real Trabi drive feeling you only get with a 2 stroke engine and a column gear stick!
@@wanderschlosser1857 For me it wasn't 'real'or 'not real' experience, but a work horse I used when I worked as a postie. Today, after 2 decades, I've got different perspective. True, 1.1 is the ugliest of Trabants, but also the rarest. I wouldn't modify it today.
@@martalukaszjastrzab760 Don't get me wrong, a 1.1 or even more a tuned 1.6 was certainly fun to drive and certainly safer to drive, e. g. having some proper disk brakes. My point was simply the real Trabi drive feeling you only get in an original 2 stroke version. Was my 1st car I owned in 93, the only one I could afford then for 500 DM but great memories though.
@@wanderschlosser1857 now I'm restoring p50 with only minor modifications( some 601 parts and Warti drums front) but I'm bit tempted to fit 353 to it. The only problem is the optics. I don't want to cut anything and with 353 in p60/60 hole in a bonet is a must.
@@martalukaszjastrzab760 I love P50 and 60's. These have a more unique and sophisticated design than the 601 in my eyes. Especially the Kombis I find cool!
Hope you enjoy the scenery! This was filmed about 3 miles away from me 😄
You probably heard it too!
@@trabantadmirer9881 No... but I do remember the distinct smell of communism 😂
Whereabouts was that?
@@laskos02 The little village he is driving through is called Glamis and the road being driven on is between Glamis and The A90
@@curtisstroud3 thanks!
Wartburg next!
The Panthers?😀