Adorably Horrible: The Zwickau P70.

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 12/13/2019 at 12:33 • Filed to: None

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Here’s a car where pretty much all of the information I can find about it says that it’s utterly horrible in every way. The Zwickau P70, produced from 1955 to 1959, was the successor of the IFA F8, and the precursor to the Trabant. It shares it’s two-stroke engine with the F8, and similarly to the Trabant, it features a body made of Duroplast. It also featured almost no dampening in the suspension; most of them (even the wagons) had no trunk lid, making the luggage area difficult and inconvenient to access; and most people complained that the engine was noisy and under-powered. It was generally agreed to be a rolling dumpster fire of a car. As bad a reputation as the Trabant has, it seems that it was actually an improvement over the Zwickau. However... Look at the thing!!!

These things are freakin’ adorable! How can you not love that face? T hey look like they just drove out of a cartoon. I can’t help but like these because they’re just too darn cute. I want to dunk it in my coffee. Though maybe not for too long, because that might not be good for the car. What would the long term effect of submerging a car in coffee be, anyway? Whatever the case, I like the Zwickau P70.

SiennaMan > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 12:45

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 If duroplast is what I think it is,  dunking it in coffee might start it dissolving..

Only Vespas... > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 12:48

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I agree!  The bottle cap wheels, the toupee vinyl top, the eyelash headlights...the perfect electro conversion for city life.

Jim Spanfeller > SiennaMan 12/13/2019 at 12:48

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Well, I know it’s similar to fiberglass, and it consists of some sort of resin reinforced with shredded cotton shells, and pigs and snails sometimes try to eat it,  s o maybe it would actually dis solve in coffee.

punkgoose17 > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 12:50

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I think the duroplast will be fine in your coffee. I think the problem would be the engine mounts rusting and the oil in your coffee.

duurtlang > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 13:07

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Get a dented NA Miata, remove the body, place the Zwickau P70 on top. Find a way to reuse the old Zwickau wheels.

Profit!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 13:40

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It's a communist Figaro

ranwhenparked > SiennaMan 12/13/2019 at 14:05

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Its plastic reinforced with cotton fibre that can be hydraulically pressed rather than moul ded.

Cé hé sin > SiennaMan 12/13/2019 at 14:44

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It’s a version of fibreglass using cotton rather than glass fibres and a phenol resin so maybe not put it in your coffee!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 15:52

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Fun fact, they also had a WOODEN frame! :D

Borsuq sent me a scale model of P70 Estate the other year because he and I share a similar taste in terrible cars ! :D

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > duurtlang 12/13/2019 at 15:53

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That would be amazing...

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 15:56

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Zwikachu?

ranwhenparked > Jim Spanfeller 12/13/2019 at 17:53

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East Germany went through a weird trajectory with their auto industry. When they started out in the ‘50s, they were attractively styled, but crudely engineered and badly built (see also Wartburg) . Then, in the ‘60s, they lost the pretty styling and just became all-round terrible.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Jim Spanfeller 12/14/2019 at 07:13

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GIB!