Things in common

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
10/03/2017 at 15:50 • Filed to: Citroen CX, Trabant, VEB Sachsenring

The Trabant 601 (and every Trabi before it). Note two sophisticated couples heading in a sophisticated manner to their tiny Duroplast two stroke so they can head out for an evening accompanied by a smell of burning oil. As you do.

The original Citroen CX (and every Citroen before it). Only one sophisticated couple this time.

They shared something unexpected but for different reasons.

Non self cancelling indicators.

Citroën had the corporate opinion that self cancelling encouraged laziness and sloppy driving and if you were intelligent enough to want a Citroën then you could certainly turn off your own indicators..

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! just thought the proletariat of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! would have to put up with it because cheap transport. The idea was that everybody was living within a few hundred metres of public transport and so they weren’t likely to drive far. Plus there was a 13 year waiting list for a Trabi and they didn’t care.

DISCUSSION (16)

For Sweden > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 15:55

In the Trabant ad I assume the “valet” is actually a Stasi agent taking the bourgeoisie couple on the stairs in for questioning.

Chariotoflove > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 15:56

I promise you that if I owned a running Trabant, I would wash and wax that baby, dress in my tux, and take my wife to the best restaurant in town.

I would pull up to the valet stand and tip the person to put it in a nice spot.I would warn him severely against shenanigans, as I would have written down the odometer reading.

Cé hé sin > For Sweden
10/03/2017 at 15:58

Statistically, this was probably quite likely!

Jonee > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 16:11

If you went through the trouble of waiting for the De Luxe Trabant with the red roof, you’re going to show that beautiful fucker off at the finest lobbies in town.

I’m going to agree with Citroën here. I like turning off my indicators on my own.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 16:12

*Stasistically

AuthiCooper1300 > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 16:13

I understand Rolls-Royces and Bentleys (pre-German acquisition) did not have self-cancelling indicators either? For reasons similar to the ones mentioned by Citroën: drivers must be aware of their actions at all times.

AuthiCooper1300 > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 16:18

Allegedly the Gestapo used to have a huge problem processing the multitude of info on citizens enthusiastically offered by neighbours, relatives, colleagues and so on.

The Stasi just perfected the system.

For Sweden > AuthiCooper1300
10/03/2017 at 16:35

Proof of the superiority of proletarian rule.

Klaus Schmoll > AuthiCooper1300
10/03/2017 at 16:41

“The Stasi just perfected the system.” Not really! By the late 80s they were over their heads in index cards and files. Without IT, which the east was already a decade behind, they struggled hard to process all the info they were getting. Pretty much the same problem their predecessor faced.

AuthiCooper1300 > For Sweden
10/03/2017 at 16:43

I’d say instead “old habits die hard”.

Of course the DDR also lasted a lot longer than the Third Reich: they had plenty of time to iron out the bugs in their surveillance strategies.

For Sweden > Klaus Schmoll
10/03/2017 at 16:46

Obviously, the Stasi should have gone the Soviet method and just murdered more people. Fewer people = fewer people to track.

AuthiCooper1300 > Klaus Schmoll
10/03/2017 at 16:49

Hmmm. That is indeed very true. But my rather facetious statement alluded actually to the fact that “willing co-operation” seemed to be even more enthusiastic than before.

Which I find terrible and feel quite unable to understand.

Cé hé sin > AuthiCooper1300
10/03/2017 at 17:35

News to me, but then I don’t normally move in RR circles...

Cé hé sin > AuthiCooper1300
10/03/2017 at 17:39

People everywhere are only too happy to whine about their neighbours. They’re too noisy, they seem to have more money than they should have, they don’t maintain their property properly and on and on.

As I understand it almost the whole population of the DDR reported on each other. The thinking may have been that it was better to report somebody rather than wait for them to report you!

AuthiCooper1300 > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 17:55

Me neither. I think I read it in an article by Len Setright.

AuthiCooper1300 > Cé hé sin
10/03/2017 at 18:07

Most denunciations of that kind are indeed out of sheer pettiness. That was one of the problems the Gestapo had: informing on your neighbour or colleague was just another way of settling scores – generally unrelated to any political (or police) matters.

As for your second paragraph: a chilling thought, but quite likely.

Strangely every time I read about informants in the DDR I remember Montag’s wife (Christie) in Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451.