It wasn’t that the Trabant had a weak two-stroke engine, though it did. It wasn’t just that the Trabant was made with recycled waste (usually from wool or cotton), though it was. It wasn’t that Trabants topped out at 60 mph and “smoked like an Iraqi oil fire,” as one writer put it.
No, the Trabant’s biggest problem was that it never really improved.
They were kind of ok when they were launched in 1964. The thing is that east germany totally was not able to keep up with western tech and the politburo even forbid the manufacturer from improving the car. So they were still producing a 1964 car in 1989 with totally outdated tech. And they were not able to produce enough for the demand, leading to decades long waiting times
They were very outdated even in the 1960s. After the German reunification, people were simply abandoning them by the side of the road behause they literally had zero value.
Trabants were shit.
And you had to wait ten years to get one.
In .ml terms that means you got 40 years of enjoyment out of your communist car!
Plus going 0-60 in five minutes gave you more time to bask in awe at all the slate gray brutalist architecture!
It was for sure not just the communists doing grey brutalism!
True, but pointing that out doesn’t really go with the flow of the banter 🤷🏻
Oh no
https://fee.org/articles/the-worst-car-ever-a-brief-history-of-the-trabant/
They were kind of ok when they were launched in 1964. The thing is that east germany totally was not able to keep up with western tech and the politburo even forbid the manufacturer from improving the car. So they were still producing a 1964 car in 1989 with totally outdated tech. And they were not able to produce enough for the demand, leading to decades long waiting times
They were very outdated even in the 1960s. After the German reunification, people were simply abandoning them by the side of the road behause they literally had zero value.
They were pretty modern in some ways. Transverse front engine layout, independent rear suspension, body panels made from recycled materials.
… two stroke engine…
Yes, that is not one of the “some ways” I mentioned…