July 10th 1958
The final production line of Trabant started at VEB Sachsenring factory in Zwickau, Saxony. It was considered to be East Germany's answer to Volkswagen. The Trabant was a steel monocoque design with roof, bootlid, bonnet, fenders and doors in Duroplast, a form of plastic containing resin strengthened by wool or cotton. This helped the GDR to avoid expensive steel imports, but in theory did not provide much crash protection, although in crash tests it has actually proven to be superior to some modern small hatchbacks. The duroplast was made of recycled material, cotton waste from Russia and phenol resins from the East German dye industry making the Trabant the first car with a body made of recycled material.
The engine for the Trabant was a small two-stroke engine with two cylinders, giving the vehicle modest performance of 25 horsepower from a 600 cc displacement. The car took 21 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and the top speed was 112 km/h. There were two main problems with the engine: the smoky exhaust and the pollution it produced. The fuel consumption was a modest 7 liters/100 km. However later models of trabant did had bigger 1.1L VW engine until 1991 when its production ended.
The name Trabant means "fellow traveler" in German and was inspired by Soviet Sputnik. Since it could take years for a Trabant to be delivered from the time it was ordered, people who finally got one were very careful with it and usually became skillful in maintaining and repairing it. The lifespan of an average Trabant was 28 years.Used Trabants would often fetch a higher price than new ones, as the former were available immediately, while the latter had the aforementioned waiting period of several years.
Trabant P50
Minimalist Trabant Engine Bay
Mural on the Berlin Wall at the East Side featuring Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German Leader Erich Honecker riding together in a Trabant.
The Painted Trabants used by the band U2 on their Zoo TV Tour hanging in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Trabants Car Show in Aleksandrow Kujawski, Poland.
The mechanically simple, easily tunable engine makes Trabants interesting for low-cost rallying
Source:
The History Channel
Wikipedia