The Trabant Story
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- Опубликовано: 15 дек 2022
- When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Trabants were used as escape vehicles for a population that had been locked behind the Soviet Iron Curtain for decades. Trabants were ridiculed - a symbol of a socialist planned economy gone wrong. It seemed like a piece of ancient history compared to cars from the West. Yet when the Trabant launched it used upcycled innovative new materials to bring freedom of movement to a country ravaged by war and lacking basic raw materials. It had a modern front wheel drive design with rack and pinion steering. What were the Trabant’s origins, what updates nearly came to market, and what happened after production ended?
Trabant Optional Extra video: • Trabant - Optional Extra
A special thanks to Tim Keil for helping me with information and photos for the video.
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Sources:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horch
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Union
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automob...
p70-coupe.hpage.com/der-p70/m...
www.thomasnet.com/articles/pl...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duroplast
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFA_F_8
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWZ_P_70
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
www.pommerngreif.de/1server/we...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verf%C3...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsen...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_96
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hycomat
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartbur...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0k...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGW-Auto
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...
www.trabantteam-freital.de/ex...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpa
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant_nT
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Erratum: The Prinz had a 4-stroke engine, as opposed to the Trabant's 2-stroke.
I had one, My first car, were very popular in Romania
Didn't the The Mighty Münch Mammoth use the prinz 4 stroke engine?
@@yekateradiffin5939 They did. "Verkaufe aus Angst: Münch-4 TTS-E"
DKW kept on producing 2 stroke engines in Western Germany.
Saved me from telling you lol.
First time I've heard you make an error and I've watched a lot of your stuff so you've done well 🙂
I really like how respectful you are of the subject matter, rather than making a joke out of it. Such a delight to watch
I would call you an idiot but at this point I'm just punching down.
Definitely. I've seen many car RUclipsrs who just mock cars made in the former Eastern bloc. It's not like the workers had any choice in what they were making.
@@BOABModels the makers didn't either. As far as I have hears, no country was not allowed to make better cars than the Soviet Union.
Yeah, but Socialism is such a failure, even germans couldn't make it work. Socialism not even once.
Absolutely. It was no laughing matter for working people who lived the "socialist dream" - they were aware of what was available behind the curtain, but could often only DREAM of spending all their savings on an inferior product, after many years of waiting... That mention that "second hand one would be 3 times more expensive" - I believe it could be even more than 3 times! It made many privileged people rich, e.g. some directors, party officials, police, etc. would get a COUPON for a Trabant/Wartburg every 2 years, skipping the list. They'd get it for official price and sell it immediately afterwards, with huge profit.
I remember my mum telling me about some practical jokes her coworkers played on Trabant owners in Czechoslovakia. The most common being four people carrying it around the corner to make the owner think it was stolen.
I personally remember riding in one with 7 other people stuffed inside.
It was also a thrill to see one on a freeway doing 100 km/h, as it looked like it would fly apart or fly away.
Good times.
I've seen it done more than once, it wasn't that difficult. Another popular prank here in Romania was to tie empty tin cans and other trash with wires from the rear bumper, the thing was so loud inside that most drivers didn't notice dragging metal scraps behind the car.
@@Dr_V lol!
We did the same thing to Yugo's in the US when they came here in the 80's.
I love how this channel always respects the workers and engineers that worked on these often ridiculed cars and explained why they did what they did. Still, it's also clear e.g. Skoda was much better run than Trabant.
It's probably because in my work history I was in a similar position.
Yeah, so true. Finally a video about the Trabant that strictly focuses on its history without any ancient Trabant jokes thrown in. Great work as always.
@@torstenscholz6243 Ah, the Trabant jokes :-)
The one with the pizza is the best...
@@ppd3bw well, tell it then. Would love to hear it.
When my wife was a student at the LSE in the 1990s she rented a room in a house out in Acton where another student, one from former East Germany, also rented a room. He told her that the reason Trabants had seatbelts was so that when they broke down you could carry them like a rucksack.
Where the hell does this "rucksack" word come from?
I was in West Berlin just 6 weeks after that wall came down. I remember there were Trabants littered all over the streets - in both West and East Berlin. I was fascinated by them and even bought a diecast model Trabant car as a souvenir - which I still have to this day.
If you to Berlin today you will find miniature Trabants in every souvenir, toy and model shop. You can even drive a real Trabant, though it's rather expensive.
yes, got a diecast Trabi, light green, and attached it to the dash top, like an internal hood ornament, on our 1st 4-wheel vehicle, a 1973 VW Type 2 pop-top camper
( previously had a 1973 Suzuki GT 380 2-stroke triple motorcycle, until graduated college )
I visited Hungary couple of years ago. I did buy a diecast trabant and trabant themed coffee mug 😁
and the eastern parts and eastern european countries were full of these that were left behind when they fled
As somebody who grew up in East Germany I’m often conflicted when deciding whether or not to watch a video like your Trabant story, and on this occasion I’m both relieved and proud to say that you’ve got it spot-on; entertaining, respectful, and very much on par with what I remember from my youth. Nicely done! (we had a Moskvitch by the way)
That must have been fascinating and tough to live through that. I'm glad we are allowed to be friends again.
Mixing oil to the petrol was no problem at all in East Germany as all petrol stations had mixer pumps. Just select the ratio (1:24 , 1:33 or 1:50) - open the bonnet of your Trabant and fill up 24 litres. You didn't mention: the Trabant has its fuel tank in the engine compartment. And there is no fuel gauge. One has to poke a rubber stick into the tank to find out if there is still enough petrol in it. Everyone new to the Trabant forgets it: to open the fuel valve underneath the dash at the passenger side. Otherwise the car doesn't start. The fuel valve has three positions: closed, open and "Reserve" which gives you an extended range for a couple of extra kilometers to the next "Minol" station to queue up in line to fill up...
A la motorcycle fuel tap.
Later models (about mid-80s and later) did have a fuel gauge though.
@@klopferator Only the 1.1 model. And that's 1990 or so. There were aftermarket fuel gages though. But really, just refuel every 250km and you don't need a fuel gage. And you always have the reserve. The fuel gage is still handy for knowing how much oil to add if you mix in the fuel tank itself (the way to go if you want do drive a trabant as a daily car today).
Weird enough many trabants do have a fuel consumption indicator instead of the fuel gage.
And with the 80's cars you can do a 1/50 oil ratio without problems, once the engine is warm there's no visible smoke then.
@@slome815 No the "deluxe" and the export versions had the same 4-LED fuel gauge as the Wartburg 353. The Trabant existed in two engine variants: The domestic 26 hp version that was sold to the plebs and a 30 hp version for export. Egypt bought quite a lot of those. Ordinary East Germans could not get hold of the export version, but if you had a Genex account, for instance those who like my dad worked on the oil pipelines in Russia and Ukraine could buy that one.
@@slome815 Not true. My father bought one in 1987 before the 1.1 came out, and I remember the fuel gauge.
Also: ruclips.net/video/5ynxQF3pd-I/видео.html
They advertised the fuel gauge in 1982.
Hello. Thank you for this review, in my opinion an honest one. As a Trabant 601 driverfrom germany I must say that the detailed handbook from every single part including drawings attached helped alot to do 90% of repair on my own w/o any need of a workshop. As trainee with not much money it was a great car for beginners to learn defensive driving as well. One more thanks for this review- job well done:)
Great video.
A point about the Duraplast is that since it was made with cotton as a part, it could contain cotton seeds.
As Norway had a trade agreement with the Soviets there was a lot of Russian cars in Norway in the 50s, some made using Duraplast, and the importer used to have the newly imported cars in storage for a fortnight while watering them to get the seeds to grow so they could be nipped in the bud before selling them to customers.
Another interesting fact is that the wooden frames could expand if they got wet during rain, making opening or closing the doors impossible.
Imagine watering your car😂
@@JoshuaC923 imagine plants growing out of it.
This is bull shit. If you think something will grow in Duraplast you know nothing about the material.
I've got a hard time believing that story knowing at what temperatures and pressures phenolic materials are processed. Hard to imagine cotton seeds could survive that and still be able to germinate!
@@Ragnar8504 Yeah, I don't know, but the story was told in the "Norsk Motorveteran" magazine some years ago.
I am not sure if the material they referred to is the same as used in the Trabant and others, only that it partly was made of cotton waste materials.
There was an article in a german vintage car magazine this year where someone had been so unhappy with his Trabant he (secretly, of course) engineered a whole "water-cooling conversion kit" for it. He didn't get to make/test it before the GDR was a thing of the past, but has since and it actually works. So there is 1 water-cooled non-vw-engined Trabant out there^^
Also they recently had a MASSIVE surge in prices, with "Ostalgie" ("East-nostalgia") becoming a bit of a trend. They're also considered a great beginner-vintage-car. One downside is that many people simply don't know they got a steel skeleton, so they ROT LIKE HELL.
May I point out that you got something wrong when you compare the Trabant with the NSU Prinz. At least to my knowledge the Prinzen always had four stroke engines, they never used two strokes. That was DKW with their 3=6 engines. NSU was producing motorbikes as well all four strokes at least after the war,. The The first Prinz had a parallel twin but it was a four stroke engine. And the Prinz you show is a Prinz 4, 2 cylinder four stroke engine in the back
Thanks for spotting that error. I'll post a correction!
Amen. 🙏.
I remember driving the V8 version of this car. Handled well
@@zimzam9166 a v8 in what car? The Trabant... Never ever... Same with the Prinz what are you talking about?
@@theowaigel8588 no u
For those of us who grew up behind the iron curtain the Trabant holds a very special place in our memories (including the sound! :), right there with the Lada, Zastava, Dacia, Skoda, Volga, Polski Fiat, ect. Thanks for the video.
And the smell. You also got to wait for a long time to get one. My mum has one.
@@MarvinHartmann452 Agreed, ...the whole experience was special. :)
An outstanding video. Possibly the best Big Car video ever! Thank you so much for the time, effort and research done to produce this. Much appreciated. 🙂
You’re welcome Wilf
Very nice video, about a peculiar, yet impressive little car. My father drove one for 12 years, during which rust was not much of an issue; but, as you said, the crankshaft had to be replaced twice. A trained technician and his helper completed this job (which would normally be considered a major engine overhaul) in about 3 hours. The Trabby did require quite often maintenance work, but most of it was pretty easy to do, due to the simplicity of the design.
With Saab's 2-strokes, sometimes people carried a spare engine in the trunk.
Actually rust was an issue because all structural parts are steel. I used to read the German Trabant forums a lot and if I remember correctly, the sills were a major rot spot (like with most other cars), as was the front subframe.
@@Ragnar8504 True, rust in the sills was an issue; but (in our case) it took a pretty long time to develop (by the standards of that time, of course). Most car owners (Volvo owners excepted) were struggling with rust in sills and frames, as well as fenders and door panels about 4 - 5 years after buying a new car. Compared to that, having to do some work on the sills on our Trabbi after driving it for 9 or 10 years (don't remember exactly), looked like a bonus. Which came at a price, of course. For instance, having to clean (or replace) the spark plugs every 120 - 150 km was not fun, especially at night or in bad weather.
@@msquaretheoriginal Yes, the Trabbi was also subject to a lot of jokes. For instance:
What is the longest limo in the world? The Trabant, of course. It measures 57 meters in total (including the smoke trail).
Why a Trabant doesn't come with seat belts installed from the factory? Because if it did come with seat belts, people might confuse it with a backpack.
Why Trabant cars are never painted black? Because the manufacturer wanted to ensure their creation is not confused with a Mercedes. (at the time, 99.99% of the officials in Europe used a black Mertz)
My stepdaughter lives near Budapest. Her neighbor still drives a Trabant on an almost daily basis. I've seen others in various places in Hungary and Romania, all in use.
You see them in Hungary, but not anymore in Romania. They were not so numerous here to begin with (and a lot were imported from Hungary anyways) but since in Romania a programme to destroy old cars is in power for almost 20 years, yo see no more Trabants, Wartburgs, Ladas, old Dacias, etc. Not even western cars. You see the last 2 generations of of a model on the streets, that is it.
@@AdamGeorge-pb3fm They disappeared in Bulgaria too. Only enthusiasts own Trabants nowadays. Except my neighbor, he turned his into an electric one about 10 years ago.
@@AdamGeorge-pb3fm and you can see them in Berlin
One of my favourite memories is of being in Manchester UK in 1990 and walking in the city centre. I spotted a highly illegal Trabant parked there; clearly having been driven across Europe. Approaching it, with a 'look' in his eye was a uniformed traffic warden ... 😊
What exactly was illegal about it? Wrongly parked or just by itself?
@@GhostRider659 Unsafe and polluting.
I had the pleasure of driving a Trabant 601 across the Carpathian Mountains and down the spectacular Transfagarasan Highway! For all their sins, these cars have a huge personality and an ‘interesting’ column gear change!
Yes, quite peculiar! I found it easier to wrap my head around than the 2CV one though. It's not all that far from a standard H pattern, only the lever is positioned quite oddly, requiring you to push or pull to select a gate instead of moving sideways and rotating to select a gear.
Oh Aging Wheels is going to love this
Hemmings Classic Car magazine years ago had a story about a teenager in Connecticut that bought one. A few Years later I went to an auto show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline Mass. The kid was now in his 20s and still had the car and was showing it. He said the car ran pretty good. He had no intention of ever getting rid of it.
That’s a really cool story… said no one, EVER!
@@ProTroll_UK Sucks to be you. The car was in really good shape and he was showing off something that is extremely rare in the USA. It was interesting to see something that for the most part is only seen in print or in a video. You do you, slick.
@@dlewis9760 😂🤣🤦♂️
@@dlewis9760 You know the "aging wheels" channel? This guy has one too.
@@ProTroll_UK I do.
I was stationed in West Berlin in the 1980’s. My job meant I spent a lot of time in East Berlin.
I think you oversell ‘Duraplast’. Whenever we saw a damaged Trabbie (and we saw a lot) instead of being painted with red primer it was invariably covered in black plastic dustbin liners taped over the damage.
When we finally saw a naked, damaged one we followed it around East Berlin until it stopped so we could take photos.
When the duraplast broke it fractured like a piece of painted hardboard. It wasn’t waterproof in such a state: if water got into a damaged panel it just became soggy - hence the plastic bags taped over the damage.
Fair enough, but it was an innovative idea (for the time) that may have worked with more development.
Once (after 1989) I saw a Trabant involved in an accident (looked like one of them didn't yield at a crossing within city limits). Obviously no major injuries, but the roof of the Trabant just popped of! 🤣
My dad’s first car was an electric green Trabant (am Bulgarian). I recall being in a very minor accident when a street cleaning cistern truck (probably a VAZ or GAZ based mod) reversed slowly into our hind quarter. The trabbie popped open like a an egg and the body work was resin and a hammer with a paint job on top. My dad sold it later so I can’t comment on the durability of the repair.
It wasn't the primer - it is how the material looks like. Everything was of short supply - so was paint. Damage to the car was a nightmare - due to the trouble repairing it. (rental car from the insurance for the holidays - forget it) As Duroplast does not corrode this was no problem and many drove around for months until they managed to find someone to do the paint job.
Q
May I suggest you do "The Audi TT story"? I bought one recently and would love a visual explanation from you about it and it's three generations. Considering 2023 will be it's final year I think it would be a fitting video.
Thank you for your content!
Also the NSU Prinz had TT and TTS versions
I owned one for 9 years, and it's on my to do list. 2023 would be a good year to do it!
@@BigCar2 First video in 2023 maybe please (???)
@@servissop151 It's not an easy one. Very little info online. I have 2-3 books on the subject, which means I need to read 2-3 books. That takes time!
You’ll end up with the Trabant predecessor P70 as coupe, generally regarded as inspiration source for the body-lines
You said Trabant couldn't hope to sell in the west, but they certainly sold them in Iceland. They were on sale from the '60s onwards and could still be seen on the roads in the early '90s, albeit rarely.
They weren't nearly as popular as Skoda and Lada were here, but they were definitely around. A lot of people couldn't afford western produced cars.
I saw two Trabants still driving in Iceland
well not only the price. Though the Trabant is not exactly reliable, it will almost never break down to an extend that you cannot fix yourself - a value of its own in a sparsely populated country. "Hast Du Hammer, Zange, Klingeldraht fährst Du bis nach Stalingrad" - if you have a hammer, a set of pliers and some wire, you drive up to Stalingrad (as fas as Grannie got with the Wehrmacht in WWII)
According to the Bulgarian Wartburg and Trabant forum, the available information of the Trabants sold in these countries is:
The Netherlands - (1961-1973) - 16,000 units
Finland - (1958-1968) - 5300 units
Denmark - (1960-1981 with pauses) - 3200 units
Belgium - (1959-1970) - 2800 units
Iceland - (1963-1988) - 1800 units
Norway - (1958-1967) - 1500 units
Switzerland, Austria, FRG - (1961-1969) - 1300 units (C-Deluxe only)
Greece - (1977-1983) - 850 units (Mainly "Tramp" trim was sold (soft top without doors))
Ecuador - (1985-1986) - 260 units
Spain (Canary islands) - (1964-1967 "601" and 1985 "Tramps") - ~100 units
I really enjoyed this episode. I’ve always been fascinated by the Trabant. 😃
23:20 It might be a small detail, but the fact they didn't get a cutting die press to trim these panels, but required 3 people and a bandsaw, shows the stagnation of progress. All they would need was another press and a massive cookie cutter, and production would be so much faster. The panels would also be cut much more accurately compared to a bandsaw.
I wonder if that was part of the plan, keeping production low to make it seem sales were always on the up, or whether they genuinely didn't have the means to improve the production line.
Oh, they genuinely didn't have the means, the whole time they had to work with pre-war run-down factories pushed to their very limit. Unbelievably they managed to produce almost 3x times more Trabants each year by the early 80s than was believed to be possible with the old factories.
I was also amazed at the bandsaw trim process. Wonder how many were miss-cut as it is pretty hard to co-ordinate between 3 workers to make the trims accurate, also wonder how many hands, fingers and arms were cut off as safety was not an option
There is a great video here on RUclips that shows Trabant production and is really fascinating - if you ever thought East German / Eastern European industrial production was ancient and inefficient and trailed behind the west by decades... well, this video proves you right. Also, no one gave a toss about work safety and workers' health back then - you see workers cut sharp panels with dangerous saws with their bare hands, workers that do the paint job without wearing a mask, etc., simply mindblowing.
What a bizarre idea. They had a years long waiting list that caused a lot of dissatisfaction in society. For such a conspiracy to exist there would have to be someone who'd actually benefit from enacting it.
There's nothing in Trabant factory videos that I haven't seen from British Leyland factory videos. I remember vividly minis being assembled from panels so badly stamped with worn out tools that they didn't touch properly. The solution = hit it with a hammer.
It’s definitely worth noting that the East Germans, and the USSR as a whole was basically rebuilding from scratch. A monumental challenge even without the added pressure and complication of the west doing all in its power to keep them from succeeding. It’s pretty impressive what they achieved considering all they were up against, both internally and externally. They didn’t have a booming economy and massive resources to help them rebuild, as the west did.
This channel is an amazing source for car knowledge and history. The videos are always super high quality and you keep me and my friends engaged throughout. Love your videos!
Thanks for this video. My family had a P601 estate back then. Lots of memories.
The mentioned prototypes that didn't make it to production can still be seen in the "Verkehrsmuseum" in Dresden today. You mentioned the Trabant was used in Rallyes but it was also taken to road course racing and nicknamed "Rennpappe" .
There is a strange vibe of brilliance and authenticity in your videos that makes them so enjoyable for me to watch.
P.S.: I ask you please do an episode or two on Peugeot 405 and/or Peugeot 206, both iconic cars here in Iran and over the world. Thank you and good luck! 🍀
Thanks. Peugeot videos don't seem to do well for some reason. I'm not sure why.
@16:30 you mentioned that Trabant was hard to export because of its 2 stroke engine in the west, however the Wartburg also had a 2 stroker and the majority of them were exported. Also it looks like the 1979 Trabant prototype used VW Golf steel wheels from that era. Your video's are really well done, thoroughly researched and entertaining. i appreciate the hard work going into them. It would be interesting to learn more about the 'iron-block' cars like Wartburg, Skoda, Dacia, Volga etc. I remember as a kid in the 70's visiting my relatives in Budapest and being a car enthusiast even at a young age and seeing how outdated the types of cars there compared to what he had in Canada (although the malaise period cars were not that great either)
Good point about the 2-stroke Wartburgs, but I think the Trabant's looks were holding it back (the Wartburg had been restyled). Mind you, the 2-stroke engine of both cars were making them difficult to sell in the 70s.
@@BigCar2 It 353 wasn't a restyle but an all new car, the only thing kept was the engine from 311. The 311 was a real oldschool monster where you had to go around the whole car every couple thousand km injecting grease into the chassis. 353 is so much more modern in it's outlook.
I don't think it's fair to blame "soviet pressure" for DDR rejecting marshall plan money. To receive the money you had to meet certain conditions, namely a market capitalist economy. So it was literally "do what we say or suffer in poverty".
I think that determined the entire course of the cold war period. I wonder if the capitalist european nations could survive that 40 years if they hadn't got the money. Or what would've happened if the money was given to all countries without conditions.
They made a couple of right hand drive Wartburgs for the UK market. The problem were the tighter emission standards in the mid 70ies which kicked them out of business.
Love the information on the duraplast body panel technology. Phenolic resin the base component, along with paper in modern kitchen bench top laminates. You say here they used a cotton blend with the phenolic, really interesting.
Absolutely love your videos. Always amazing points of interest in every one. Also love the clarity of your presentation style.
A car that has always intrigued me is the Saab 95/96. My day had one when I was really young and from what I know, it had many elements that were way ahead of its time.
@@BigCar2 There's a famous video from a western journalist testing a trabant in 1990, and throughout his whole spiel about the car he keeps the throttle-pedal PINNED DOWN but still says at the end that they have yet to reach 100kph, so they'll stop trying. That was the trabant's main problem, it had ABYSMAL performance compared to the west, the worse the longer it was made.
I know this is impossible for Westerners to believe but people did not have to make their own fuel mix for their 2stroke smokefactories. Every gas station had fuel mix pumps for the trabant and other 2stroke smokers. It was pre-mixed for you in the bowser.
Thanks for sharing that great story! I still have in my head its terrible, coughing sound of the two-stroke engine. I had a neighbour who was proud of his dog who was "attacking" those little cars as it could distinguish the 2-strokes from the 4-strokes. ;)
As a trabant owner I can say that I am very proud of it. The fact that you can remove the engine ALONE with no crane or lift is quite impressive. To me, an easy to fix car is a reliable one especially compared to modern cars that I am not fond of. Reminds me of the simplicity of the Ford model T
I own one too. It's amazing how good spare parts (old and new stock) still are available. Which model you own?
@@dussie920 1976 601 S. I have two others for spare parts. One 1974 L and the other a 601 universal that I bought for spares and it turned out that it works quite well. I am using it as an utility vehicle on the property. The 76' one is a beauty and I am still working on it. Full restoration
@@ruialbano5340 Have you ever driven one? Owned one? Maybe even seen one? I can say one thing. I prefer a trabant over any modern cars including ev's. Especially ev's....
@@ruialbano5340 Rolls-Royce of the communist world would be a ZiL limousine, whereas its Bentley would be Tatra. Trabant, meanwhile, was always intended to motorize everyone.
I grew up in the West and never spent more than a vacation or work visit in the East, and even there I missed the GDR by three days, going there the first time for giving a school orchestra concert in our twin town on October 6th, 1990. Nevertheless I managed to once drive a Trabant. Back in 1997 young men still had to do mandatory military service, or if you rejected your "license to kill", had to do a replacement service instead working in healthcare, welfare or charity. So did I and one week during this time was reserved for a seminar on political education which for the German states of Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony and northern parts of Bavaria took place in the Thuringian town of Sondershausen, in a former residential tower block at the outskirts. Snacks and drinks were well demanded, alternative sources far away and therefore prices in the shop inside the school were high. We decided that two guys should drive to a supermarket and get some reasonably priced crisps, chocolate, coke and beer.
After two rounds spin-the-bottle these two were found and I was one of them. The choices were my Ford Escort Mk4 parked at the other end of the lot. Or the other guy's Trabant 601 in the second row from the door, so we went with his car. For the way back he asked me if I wanted to drive, and for sure I did. Probably I'd never again get that chance - an assumption that has proven true up to today. Except that he had to get that tricky steering column mounted shifter into reverse from the passenger seat it was surprisingly easy to drive. Glacial acceleration was something I had to get used to when yielding - better launch while the last car is just passing, otherwise the next one is there before you even are rolling. A new definition of "Braving the gap". But I managed shifting surprisingly well and once in motion it was fast enough to swim well in urban traffic.
Yes, getting that into neutral requires considerable force, there's a strong detent to prevent you from accidentally selecting reverse.
Thank you for your realistic approach, you did not criticize a car in a racist way like some others. This car was definitely an adequate car produced with real engineering solutions due to limited raw materials, and now it is an iconic classic.
fun fact: there are popular czech traveling movies called: Trabant on the Silk Road, Trabant across Africa, Trabant to the end of the world, Trabant to the last breath and Trabant there and back again, where the focus is to go through tough terrains and survive the long trips using the iconic trabants, the fiat maluch and the jawa bike. i highly recommend watching these movies
I loved the movie "Go Trabi Go" and its sequel. By the end of the sequel "Georgy" the Trabant has transformed into a super cool convertible. Even though I don't speak German those movies are among my favorites. Udo Stutz and his wife and teenage daughter manage a road trip from Saxony to Italy. Must-see comedy movies!
I don't think I've ever heard of a Wartburg being described as "luxurious" before, and I'm old enough to remember them being sold new in the UK !
Compared to western cars they were of course about as luxurious as a Romanian prison, but by eastern bloc standards the Wartburg was actually kitted out quite well. It's party piece was the gearbox though. On down shifts you didn't really need the clutch, you just punted it into a lower gear. If you had one with a gear stick on the steering column, it was actually wuite a capable cruiser and definitely more comfortable on long rides than a Trabbi.
In 1987 I was 5 years old boy when my dad bought our first car, Trabant 601 S brand new in Bulgaria. At the time there was waiting list of few months for Trabant and Warburg estate,but the sedan (or limousine as they call it:)) was available for purchase straight away. There was long waiting list only for Lada (more than 10 years sometimes) , around 5 years for Moskvich,but Skoda, Warburg, Trabant,ZAZ,Zastava,Polski Fiat and all motorbikes including the one with side cards were available.
My dad had the Trabant from 1987 to 2003 when I scrap it. First 6-7 years were very trouble free,with general maintenance for two stroke engine. The overall quality was very decent,compared to the alternatives,and the car felt very well built for what it is. It is very simple car who can be repaired by almost everyone with very basic tools and knowledge about cars. Inside was surprisingly spacious for four adults and the estate or 'combi' was a very practical too.
There is something very catchy about the Trabant. Everyone who had one of these had a very good memories with the car. It is one of those things who put smile on your face every time. I remember East German tourist came to the Bulgarian seaside with their Trabants towing a caravan.
Thanks for the nice video,it was a very nice surprise to see such a good video for a car that never made it to the British shores.
As Trabant owner myself I can highly recommend this one, very good work! In most of those videos people are constantly talking about how bad everything about the car is, but this one is very informative and factual, I really appreciate that.
Trabant was a marvelous piece of German engineering, with clever solutions and ingenuity far exceeding that of the well-supplied, abundancy-spoiled western engineers and mechanics.
At the end it will be remembered as a well-thought car, brilliantly built and perfectly performing, given all the limitations of its era and surroundings.
Thank You for this brilliant video, Mr.Big Car! ❤
Brillaint video as always well done! Love the Burt Kwouk advert! He was amazing, also the "extras" gave me a lot of new knowledge. Thanks again. Malcolm
I'd like to add that the second car made with fiberglass after the Corvette was the Argentine Justicialista Sport. Great video
I grew up surrounded by these puppies in my neighborhood. In the winter time the only way to start them was by burning a small fire underneath the engine to unclog the oil. That smell was my companion on my way to school. The memories...
Would love to see an episode on the old rear engine skodas... We still have one in the family.
That would be perfect, especially to bust that always repeated nonsense that it's just a slightly modified Renault design.
In truth Renault was involved but for a completely different reason. It provided Škoda with Western machinery in exchange for the ability to use Czechoslovak patents for die casting aluminium. Result of thay being the engine of the Renault 16 no less!
I learnt to drive in S110R and my first cars was an Estelle. Like cara of that time easy to maintain at home.....
@@eozcompany9856 The thing about the Renault designs is a historic mix-up of people with only rudimentary knowledge of east European cars, because they did exist, but not in Czechoslovakia, but Romania. Dacia was the company that license-built Renaults. They built the Renault 9 as the Dacia 1300 for ages. Skoda always had their own designs and the Czechoslovakians were in fact the most innovative in the eastern bloc. A Skoda Octavia or even a Tatra was as the best you could have in the eastern bloc.
I drove an electric modded version Trabant 601 during a Trabi tour in Berlin in 2016. Just didn't want the headache of figuring out the backwards manual gear changing.
I've always had a soft spot for cheap proletarian cars. Thankyou for that. Informative and entertaining. 👍
As always, your videos about cars like this stand out to other videos on YT. Well ressearched, pretty much unbiased and with alot of respect to each model you present. Yes, the Trabant wasn`t a good car, but it earns some respect, never the less. I`m originally from West Germany and had good friends in East Germany in the late 90s. They introduced me to that car with a certain level of appreciation. Actually was the first car I ever drove, when a friend allowed me to drive her`s on a remote pathway. I was 16 so two years too young for driving liscence. And had no clue, what I had to do in the first place except from steering, gas and break. So I...ignored the clutch and floored the gas pedal instead. Car didn`t stall cuz two stroke engine. Heart of my friend though probably nearly did xD. She didn`t allow me to drive again after that:( Can`t blame her, haha! Fond memorys with that plastic car;)
Thanks. From my experience it's impossible to remove bias, but that's the goal.
@@BigCar2 You doing good so far. Trabant might be a bit special in that regard, but your videos about all those cars from all over the world that either got lost to history or aren`t well respected today are pretty good in that regard. I especially like your videos about old french cars, non supercar Italians or Opel/Vauxhal and European Fords. As some other viewers already suggested, I think some more eastern blockcars might be cool. Especially the lesser known ones.
The video says it clear: in 1957 the Trabant was a very good car with a revolutionary design. In 1988 it was an utterly outdated sign of failure of "Planned Economy". Keep in mind all proponents of government interventions - "planned economy" fails. It failed then and it will fail again.
@@becconvideo That wasn`t my point, lol. Yes, in the 80s and 90s it was a bad car in many regards and utterly outdated. But it kind of did it`s job for the East Germans. They adored that car for quiet a while even after the collaps of East Germany. Not because it was good, but because it had special value for them. Not a surprise if you think how long some of them waited for their car to be delivered. Ah well, also it was quiet easy to repair and rugget. Easy do it yourself maintenance was something that started to get lost on western cars at that time and the East Germans were mostly quiet poor in the 90s.
@@becconvideo knowing the history of the CIA, "it will fail again" is a threat, not an inevitability. Keep your hands to yourself.
As always great video but I’d like to point out that the second car to have a fiber glass body was the Kaiser Darrin, on sale a few months after the corvette
this is the best trabant documentary on youtube
I've just been rewatching old videos of yours and just finished the Avenger one and this popped up!
Happy Friday ❤️
The Trabant was the ideal gettaway car. Why? It created its own smokescreen.
Love your videos. This is high quality production and excellent narration. Please keep them going. Have you done one on the Lancia Beta yet? That would be a good one!
Might be a good one to put to a viewer poll.
Great video!!!! I was waiting for this a longtime!!!! I love the Trabby ♥️
No time to watch this now - I'll be back tonight - but I just had to come here, like, comment, any everything because this is the crown jewel of your channel! The Trabant is the people's car of the eastern block - with a definite place in your lineup! Thanks for including this!
Ironically, VW (the inheritor of Auto Union through its acquisition of Audi) reacquired the Zawicku factory in order to make VW Polos I believe. Thus, in a sense Auto Union got it's factory back after 70+ years.
They did. When Mk2B Polo production began in 1990 in Spain the redundant tooling for the Mk2A Polo went to Zwickau and they began building them for the local market in 1991. I believe they were all finished in Alpine White, or at least the early ones were, to keep the cost down. Trabants were still being built in another part of the factory but in tiny numbers when Polo production started. Understandably very few people wanted them when they could have a Polo for not much more money.
@@paulc9588 Yep, there's a black and white photo somewhere of both trabants and polos being moved together down the same final line.
They had to buy it back!
We had similar car in Poland, it was called Syrena. Little 2 door sedan with two stroke engine. In fact with its DKW based three cylinder engine and body on flrame it was more like a little version of a Wartburg 311/312. If somebody's parents had a Wartburg the way to make fun of him was to say you have a four-door Syrena hahaha 🙂
I didn't know the engine was "DKW based". It was developed from a water pump engine by Fryderyk Blumke, as far as i know. Not that it matters a lot.
@@Jack_Schularick You're both wrong. The first Syrena engine was 2 stroke 2 cylinder and a water pump was developed FROM it, not the other way around. The 102S and 103S model had 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine from Germany. It was nicknames 'Volksdeutschka'. Later model had again Polish 4 cylinder 2 stroke engine.
This car 3 different engines in offer.
@@piotrmalewski8178 Splendid! i like being wrong sometimes and getting smarter this way.
@@Jack_Schularick Still, DKW was number 1 in two strokes before the war, even WSK engine was like DKW. Syrena's S-15 and S-31 are similar to DKW/Wartburg engine. Back in the 40's and 50's people didn't have the internet but they weren't stupid. They knew what was good. Look a the Syrena's frame and DKW/IFA's or Lanz Bulldog and Ursus C-45 "sagan" tractor. Poland won the war and we were using some old German constructions as a war trophy. Nothing wrong with that.
@@obywatelcane6775 No. I just wish the Germans had a wish or need to plagiarize from us, rather than the other way round :(
I remember seeing Wartburgs way back, and they were strange cars.
With the smoking exhaust, burbling engine and the odd side mounted bonnet (frunk?) and painted in the same colour of the three wheeled blue wheelchair users car.
Finally some good Trabant Documentarys, keep up the good work and pls look at other Easter Block Cars in the Future
When I first visited former East Germany and CZ in the mid 90s trabants were still quite common and such a strange sight juxtaposed with much more modern and sleek western cars. A lot of those cars were likely owned by people who spent 10 years on that list and got the car and couldn't or didn't want to replace it after reunification. A trabbie might have only been a 5 year old car in 1994 but it looked like nothing else on the road at the time.
I have had not known that East Germany collaborated with the Czechoslovakia on a car concept. Great content, Mr. Big Car.
His name is Andy
Didn't realise there was such a big fascinating story behind these cars!
Again...again....another GREAT documentary! I love your videos. Thank you so much 🙏🏼
Excellent video as always! I was lucky enough to visit Hungary back in 1983 and Czechoslovakia in 1984, as a musician in an exchange program. The streets of Budapest and Prague respectively were populated by Trabants, Wartburgs and the occasional Lada. I'll never forget the sound and smell. Apparently you used some footage from a documentary depicting the production of the Trabant 601. Conditions were horrible, with worn machinery, toxic and unsafe. There is no reason to laugh at the Trabant 601. As you pointed out: people made the very best they could. If it wasn't for the great effort of engineers and factory workers, nothing would have been produced.
I really like that 50th anniversary ev version!
I’ve been waiting for this one! I own a Trabant in London and it gets so much interest!
I have a 1977 Universal (station wagon) model and it is surprisingly comfortable to drive for being such a small car. Lots of headroom and decent legroom for me, and I'm almost 190cm tall.
The first thing I had to do when I bought it 12 years ago was to overhaul the engine as the main bearings were basically rusted together. Me and a buddy removed the fuel line, some cables, loosened the engine mounts and took the driveshafts out then we lifted out the entire engine and gearbox together as one unit from the engine bay just using our arms, then we sat the entire thing on a workbench and did the work there in a very nice and ergonomic setting. We basically did all the work in one afternoon and evening while drinking beer. Such a nice and easy car to work on.
Since you have problems to pronounce Sachsenring you can use the English word for Sachsen which is Saxon and they are pronounced almost the same. Meaning the pronunciation of Sachsenring sounds like Saxonring in English.
Also I love your videos of these people’s cars that got a country rolling. One suggestion I have for a future video although not technically a car but more of mini truck. The Vespa Ape which was one of the most important vehicles in Italy and which built Italy after WW II.
Is that the kind where the front is like a motorbike? You still see a few around in Sicily.
Really interesting to hear a more in-depth analysis of the Trabi than often appear online. I believe that it continued to be exported to Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey into the 1980s, though I may be wrong about that.
Well, you're close. The Trabant continued to be exoprted to Belgium and The Netherlands until the early 70s. As of those being in Turkey in the 80s, I guess those appeared when the Bulgarian Turks were exiled to Turkey in 1989.
@@crown674 it’s now Türkyie
@@louisbeerreviews8964 It was so, at least in our languages. The English spelling distorted the pronunciation
Just recently came across your channel. It’s excellent!!! Really enjoying your content. Thank you 🚘
Well done, as always. Thank you
I don’t drive, almost no one I know drives, but I really enjoy your uploads. It’s social history and engineering in manageable chunks. Thank you
22:47 - I think the reason why investors didn't agree on the Trabant nT concept was likely because it wouldn't have been able to be sold at a high enough profit to justify putting it into production, which led to its cancellation. (though I could be wrong)
Another excellent production, including the optional extra. Amazing how you find all this stuff. Maybe sometime you'll do something on the South American car industry. And Tatra who definitely ploughed their own furrow...
@bigcar2
Many thanks for this new video. Had my first experiences in how to drive a car in a Trabant 601. My family always avoided owning one and went for a Lada. When that one got destroyed in a collision with a Red Army tanker they bought a Dacia which was a real pain.
The longest distance I travelled in a Trabant was around 600 km in total. A hard ride with 5 guys (all of them 1.80+ tall) in that tiny car.
I would love if you could look into our FSO, and more specifically, our national da--er, I mean car, the Polonez. Would love to see you dig into its history
I'd like to look at FSO one day.
I remember the Polonez for sale in the UK in the 1970s
Even in Polish there is no sources and books are inacurrate and contradict each other.
@@BigCar2 Please don't.
@@eddimoreau - Yes, for many years it was the cheapest car for sale in the U.K.
I had a 1989 Trabant 601 for two years from 2005-2006. It was a good car. I used it as a daily driver. Fuel economy wasn´t great but abiut 6,5liter/100km wasn´t that bad either.
Thanks for this video, I own a 601 1988 and it is probably my favourite car to drjve. I also have a late built Goggombil coupe with its 250cc 2 stroke engine which was the west german poverty car.
I first came across the Trabant when I saw the film 'Goodbye, Lenin' - a great watch and very interesting to someone like me, who lived through the fall of communism but was too young to remember it.
It's interesting how two-stroke motors followed entirely different paths on the different sides of the Iron Curtain. In the communist world, they were simple, utilitarian and slightly cantankerous devices that generated more noise and smoke than power. In the capitalist world, they were developed into light and potent performance engines, in particular in the motorcycle world where bikes like the Yamaha RD350 could outperform four strokes twice its size. The irony being that much of this development was based on the work done in East Germany by Pr.Walter Kaaden at the MZ motorcycle factory.
motorcycle production was certainly a bigger focus in east germany and it shows, a functioning east german moped, even in shit condition, is and will continue to be, more valuable than any brand new scooter that west germany shits out.
My mother used to own a Trabant and told me following story:
As my grandpa and uncle were cleaning out the basement they found a lot of old liquids like paint thinner or turpentine. They had to get rid of it so they filled it all into the fuel tank of her Trabant. She was concerned about the engine but my grandpa and uncle said something like: Oh, it will burn fine.
And it did. You could use almost anything as fuel (as long as it would burn and had some oil added). Though it probably was not necessary legal or advisable.
I joined in a sports club in the 90`s and one of the members was driving Trabant races in the late 80`s.
That two stroke engine is why the Trabant is popular today. It’s the life and soul of this car.
They are so full of character and fun to rev out.
I love 2 strokes! Wish they were not so hated and rare these days.. stroke diesels are lovely too😁
I am glad we didn't have the Trabant here in India 😅. We had the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier padmini which were rebadged British and Italian cars but still better . We also had the Standard Herald which was a rebadged British triumph sedan (forgot the name)
it was beautiful but not as popular as these two. We also had a socialist economy but not as bad as East Germany for sure.
Anyway please do a story on Dacia logan. It is a very good cheap reliable entry level sedan which is still sold in its 3rd generation now as Taliant I believe in some countries . Romania needed a entry level sedan and they made logan back in 2004 and it was a success in developing countries worldwide except for India where it flopped badly because of better competitors simply in the entry level sedan segment.
He already did.
@@AdamGeorge-pb3fm Yes he did a Dacia story but not much is talked about logan in it . Its more about the rise, fall and rise of Dacia as a company under Renault again later on . That's a story which I would love to hear from him.
Great writing and smooth narration!
Side-note: I thought I misheard "2-stroke" the first time;
Alas, no. That's wild. Reminds me of my dirt-bike / motocross riding days.
My respect to you Sir. You do astonishing work. My compliments and all the best in a New Year.
22:05 That is a fine picture of that era showing two other DDR products: BARKAS van and an IFA truck behind it.
A very interesting video. I wasn't aware that the Trabant had been exported to the west, although I have a dark memory of having seen the odd Wartburg when I was a kid. Some more videos of eastern block cars, such as the GAZ Volga or the old Skodas, or the cars produced in communist Poland would be really interesting.
It was only very briefly imported to the west as it was quickly outrun by it far better Western European competition. After the 1960s it was almost solely exported to fellow eastern bloc countries, mainly Poland and Hungary, but you also occasionally saw them in Yugoslavia or Bulgaria. Amazingly, for a long time there was a Dutch dealership still selling them, and when I was on vacation in the Netherlands some years ago, I even saw one.
falling from a car transporter on a bump isn`t really "exported"!
It was sold here in Iceland for quite some years
3:45 Someone designed that, stood back and thought "I've done a good job"
Hello: I used to have a friend who lived in Dresden. He had owned a Trabant and he said it was good car. Thank you for this. This was interesting and enjoyably.
Thank you for this carefully presented chunk of history. Best wishes
To be honest, I want one instead of anything we have now.
In Bulgaria it was named "Пръдливия Ханс" - meaning Farting Hans
That early P70 Coupe looks stunning.
I agree.
Thank you for this nice video. One clarifcation is maybe needed. Trabant‘s Duroplast body panels didn‘t take rust, but the frame made of steel with an almost non existing protection against corrosion did. The long life time of eastern german cars was the result of the limited availibility,.
Please continue with your videos, looking forward to the next one
"mpg"? Are we living in 1922?
Still used in the UK and USA
@@Mitch-Hendren ...and not the same gallon in each case (~4.5L UK gallon and ~3.8L US gallon respecitvely), which makes it extra confusing! 🙂
Love the set of "capitalist" Good Year tires on the P70 at 4:01 lol
Where might that photo been taken?
@@becconvideo I wondered that myself, honestly. Could've been a Western promotional photo, still ironic
Great Video. Finally the Trabant Story Video. Greatings from Berlin
Love it ❤ Well done Andy 😃👍
Less a terrible car, more a car kept in production way after it should have been replaced. Mind you, the could be said about the original Mini, the 2CV and Beatle.
It's funny people wax nostalgic about mini but insult trabant. they are pretty much exactly the same
The Porsche 911 is the most extreme form of the same design philosophy of just refining the same car again and again. At its heart it's a direct descendant of the VW Beatle, just iterated on again and again with the help of massive amounts of money.
@@kyle8952
Because the mini wasn't pretty much the only option for most people and you didn't have to wait ridiculously long to get one.
I think people actually don't dislike the Trabant for its engineering which was actually decent for what it was, but the failed economy it came from.
If the Trabant would have been updated in the 70s as a plain boxy hatchback, would people like it more? No. The more friendly and intricate shape make it look more high quality than it actually is, same thing with the Mini and Beetle.