Things that don't break

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 09/30/2017 at 17:43 • Filed to: Trabant

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You may at some point buy your first Trabant.

The Trabi has its advantages. For one thing, much of it won’t rust because Duroplast. But there are other things that won’t go wrong.

The water pump will never fail, because luftgekühlt

The fuel pump will never fail, because gravity feed

The oil pump will never fail, because two stroke

The power steering pump will never fail, because Armstrong steering

The air conditioning will never fail, because opening windows instead

And there’s more. Engine warning light? Never going to come on. Connectivity? You’ll never lose it. Airbags? Never to be recalled. Fuel injectors? ABS? Central locking? Emissions testing, if you’re in the EU? Nope.

See, even a Trabi has advantages.

For Sweden > Cé hé sin 09/30/2017 at 17:48

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Also, every Trabant comes with one “Get out of Hohenschönhausen Prison” card in the glovebox.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Cé hé sin 09/30/2017 at 17:53

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Ironic, because a Trabant is probably one of the few cars you would WANT to break if you owned one. There’s a reason the Berlin Wall fell.

Cé hé sin > not for canada - australian in disguise 09/30/2017 at 17:56

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Not any more! Prices are rising (slowly).

BritishLeyland™ > Cé hé sin 09/30/2017 at 18:17

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And your Trabi will never fail cause you haven’t recieved it yet cause you’re living in the GDR and there is a ten year waiting list.

Cé hé sin > BritishLeyland™ 09/30/2017 at 18:23

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Which reminds me of the terrible joke:

Factory rings lucky East German on Trabi waiting list:
-Comrade Schulz, you will get delivery of a Trabant in ten years time, on February 20, 1998.
-Morning or afternoon? I have the plumber coming in the morning.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Cé hé sin 09/30/2017 at 19:12

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They CAN rust though, there is a normal steel body underneath as the PANELS are Duraplast, so the rust can apparently be a pain to fix as the panels have to be removed, etc first.

As terrible as it is, I love the Trabi. For how basic it is, I love the clever simple engineering...reminds me of Jason Torchinsky’s article on it. Like he said, they were basically making something from nothing (no funding, massive materials shortages, etc) and they did a pretty decent job.

I also find his final sentence in that article pretty amusing, but probably true...“It’s going to start and run sorta-shittily every single time you twist that key (improbably mounted under the steering column) because fuck you. Trabi doesn’t quit.”

:P

TwoAngryCarbs > Cé hé sin 09/30/2017 at 19:23

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Just make sure you get the S (Sonderwünsche) trim level so your comrade coworkers explode with envy every time they see that fancy chrome grille.

Cé hé sin > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 10/01/2017 at 05:29

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Yes, as I said - much of it won’t rust. Not all unfortunately.

So your Trabi can get into this state

And need this done to it

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Cé hé sin 10/01/2017 at 07:37

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This makes me sad :(

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Cé hé sin 10/02/2017 at 16:20

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I’m reminded of the story about the space program where NASA spent zillions on zero-G ink pens and the Soviets used pencils.