Trabi fest! (updated with extra Currywurst)

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 06/20/2018 at 17:50 • Filed to: Trabant, VEB Sachsenring, Currywurst

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I visited the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Zwickau (in the old Trabant factory) last month and all manner of small and mainly two stroke wonders were to be seen.

Like this evidence that despite all evidence to the contrary design of potential new models was carried on, prototypes were produced and rejected because no money and they could sell every car they made.

Military Trabis.

Trabis on holiday.

Don’t have a lift? Want to work under your Trabi? No problem.

Need some tools? This lot would cover most jobs. Large hammer not shown.

A bit dodgy in the left leg? No problem. The Hycomat Kupplungsautomat had you covered.

As is commonly known, Trabis were made of a kind of ersatz fibreglass called Duroplast. Except they weren’t, or not entirely. Just the red bits.

Here it is at the beginning of the process with cotton waste ready for impregnating with a concoction made from chemical waste. Waste not, want not. VEB Sachsenring didn’t make many visible changes to the last generation of Trabi but they were quite inventive in automating production and had of necessity to design their own tooling.

And then it all ended.

Oh, and there’s a restaurant. Yes, of course they do Currywurst.

smobgirl > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 17:54

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Fascinating! Now I want to go.

For Sweden > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 18:08

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Some say socialism cannot create utopia.

They have not been to Trabi-Fest

Cé hé sin > smobgirl 06/20/2018 at 18:08

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I nearly forgot the Currywurst!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 18:10

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Wow, that is DEFINITELY my kind of place! I love Trabis, as terrible as they are! Now I want to go too! :(

Those little Wartburg hatchbacks (Wartburg I think?) are actually very cool prototypes...would be neat if they’d made it into production! I also don’t want to know how slow that armored 6-wheel Trabi was....

Cé hé sin > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 06/20/2018 at 18:13

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They’re all Trabis. The DDR government never sanctioned anything that would cost money so all abandoned. Instead they wasted vast amounts on modifying the Trabi and Wartburg to take an old VW four stroke.

Wartburgs were made in Eisenach and have their own museum.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 18:14

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Ah, surprising as those hatchback prototypes have a VERY Wartburg-esque front fascia design!

facw > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 18:19

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Cool. I saw this guy on the street in Prague (where it appears to be acting mainly as a gym billboard):

Cé hé sin > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 06/20/2018 at 18:19

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They’re very much of their time of course. For comparison, here’s a 1970s Wartburg 610 prototype.

Same kind of rectangular headlight with indicators outside and plain black grille that was all the rage at the time.

Cé hé sin > facw 06/20/2018 at 18:22

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Yes, a lot of them do jobs like that. You still occasionally see plain Trabis on the road in eastern Germany as DDs but they’re becoming collectors’ items now.

Wartburgs you don’t see at all.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Cé hé sin 06/20/2018 at 18:32

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Stop showing me things I wish I owned! :P

Stef Schrader > Cé hé sin 06/21/2018 at 02:20

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Stef Schrader is jarglus.