Building the Trabi

Here is a soothing video, fittingly set to some muzak, from an East German car production plant where the Trabant was built. This car (also dubbed "Trabi") really was the only car available in the GDR and had fabulously long waiting times to actually receive one after ordering, usually around 15 years! This fact, the flimsy 28 horsepower 2-stroke engine and the shell made from recycled plastic (rumored to be cardboard sometimes) made this car a running joke for many years--especially after the reunification of Germany in 1990, when thousands of these poured into Western Germany.



But honestly, check these two pics, the upper one depicting the first model 601 from 1963, the lower one the final version 1.1 from 1991 - there weren't any substantial changes in those nearly 30 years, it's incredible! Today not so many Trabis remain in Germany, most of them have already moved towards the Eastern countries where they are a bit more common.

The Presurfer: Building East German Cars