The Trabant Was an Awful Car Made By Communists

09 Nov 2016

I recently had the chance to drive a Trabant, which is a truly awful car born in East Germany during the darkest days of Communism — and manufactured until the late 1980s. For more, watch the video above, and check out my column.

Comments

it looks fun i want one

I like the trabi

The Trabant is such an awful car, but it is charming, it allowed transport for the masses in Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany, it opened the gateway for millions of immigrants from the former DDR and Eastern European Communist countries to enter Germany and the west united as one,

This car truly is bad, but not without it’s charms.

3000 bucks for a Trabi??? Here in Hungary you can get one in decent shape for 35000Ft which is 120 $ …Guy got riped of AF xD

Not only there but also here in Bulgaria you can easily get one for around $100 :D

There are very few Trabis imported to the US so 3000$ is actually bot that bad. Here in Europe, especially in the eadt you there are more than enough so the prices are low.

Zsombor Mata I would like to talk with you privately about this subject :D how can I contact you?

My gandma has one of these and I had the “honor” of driving it for an entire summer. They are not that bad and impress with many engineering choices that you won’t notice unless you can let go of the idea that this is more than just a carton fiber body with a 2 stroke motor.

If you haven’t lived with one you can’t judge it trust me. It is an engineering masterpiece if you keep in mind when it was designed and the limitations the engineers have to overcome.
And it has something that we all love in cars - it has a soul, it is like a family member. Come on the thing has a jacket that you have to put on his engine during winter times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pMyVGkkaBg

Here in Hungary, we had a rally drive who was Barna Kovary, he raced Trabants for a long time. The spectator loved him so much, becouse he rolled over once every race, or more. If they wanted to go sideways, the original handbrake was so week, they needed to install a water injection kit to the back wheels to get it slide.. :D