hee hee hee hee "trabani" ^_^

[solarbird]

The Trabant was the two-cycle-engine tiny family sedan of East German make that came in many ways to symbolise Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe: small, dumpy, underpowered even for their size, deeply out of date, and not even designed to be actual cars, but instead intended as kind of a temporary half-step above the motorcycle but ossified into an inadequate long-term solution. They're not being made anymore, of course, and haven't been for quite a while - new production went away not very long after the collapse of the Eastern economic bloc.

A decade and a half later, left to their own devices, the members of the various Trabant Enthusiast Clubs in Hungary are restoring them - which, in this case, generally means "building them correctly for the first time" - or, often, are turning them into little racers. See these for examples:

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/032.jpg
(I really like this one)

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/037.jpg
and under the hood:
http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/048.jpg

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/051.jpg
TRABANT MOTORSPORTS ZOMG

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/055.jpg
(this is not a standard engine)

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/057.jpg
d00d spoilers are cool

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/059.jpg
two cycle power!

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/062.jpg
ha HA - racing stripes

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/063.jpg
"trabani" hee hee hee hee hee

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/069.jpg
(NOX? You have to be shitting me. NOX?!)

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/080.jpg
zomg roll bar!

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/103.jpg
hee hee hee hee "NO FEAR" hee hee hee hee

http://twk.lusteenet.hu/twk/pics2/006/075.jpg
and a good time was had by all!

I dunno about you, but as someone who doesn't even like cars (they smell bad and they're very noisy), I find something kind of heartening about this. There's a metaphor in all this that I kind of like. Plus, all shiny and cleaned up, the way Trabants never really were in their day? They're actually pretty cute.

I bet they'd make great testbeds for electric engines.

Comments

[chirik.livejournal.com]

*giggles* They're cute little cars!

I always think someone should turn a cute little car like that into a cute little pickup. Silly, pointless. But cute.

[foibos.livejournal.com]

Heh. I rode in Trabi back around '92. A couple of buddies from Rostock visited Sweden, slept over in our apartment and gave me a ride to the university the day after. "Nice car," I told them. They rolled their eyes and said "no."

[mistwolf.livejournal.com]

KAWAII!

[honormac.livejournal.com]

That was my first thought when I clicked the first picture link...

"Aww... They're cute!"

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Haha.

And of course, U2 used Trabants during their ZooTV tour (http://chouille.free.fr/Best%20of/tourn%E9es/zootv.jpg). Also, another one (http://www.studiopark.co.uk/U2zootv.jpg).

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

The best trabant I ever saw was in (former) Eaast Berlin in 1997. We were walking down the street when we came to a trabi that had obviously been there for a while; there was a tree growing out of a hole cut into its roof.

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

Heheheh cute. I love the one with flames. :D Must show these to Paul.

[solarbird]

EXACTLY. Which is, of course, why this rules. ^_^

Trabants..

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen one Trabant in the US- some years ago,in Florida..roadstripe yellow in color. I doubt it would make a good electric car-the frame probably wouldn't support the batteries.Sort of a weedeater on wheels. Lawnchair tubing for a frame, the body made out of some resin-y stuff that looked like bedsheets soaked in ear wax.IIRC, the engine had a provision for starting with a rope(several older model tiny cars did)...A good engine swap for the Trabant might be a "crotch rocket" motorcycle engine..Scott

Other odd cars..

[(Anonymous)]

Has anyone else seen the Sebring Commutacar? A 1970's electric car-vastly overbuilt to support the heavy lead-acid batteries..Used to see them fairly often when I lived in Florida(mid to late 1970's)..A friend of mine's dad owned a foreign car junkyard outside Orlando,so I got to see a lot of weird cars...Scott

Trabant Fever

[(Anonymous)]

Fantastic. A band I "managed" in high school (my primary duty was embezzlement) named one of the songs on their CD 'Trabant' because the bassist/mastermind thought it was a cool, obscure name. He found out about them from U2's tour where they used Trabants as lighting rigs. Funny enough, I was just talking to him about this a few days ago, when we drove by the Trabant Cafe down on 45th. -Danny

[foibos.livejournal.com]

Speaking of "rules", I'm so kicking myself right now for not bringing my camera on my last trip along route 26/47 (never mind, it's in the backwoods of Sweden). There is a gas station/garage there that has a turquoise Trabant on the roof. Along its side is written "King of the Road" :)

Re: Trabant Fever

[solarbird]

A band I "managed" in high school (my primary duty was embezzlement)
That's true for every band "manager," though, isn't it?

we drove by the Trabant Cafe down on 45th
I've always wondered why they named it that. Apparently it can also mean "satellite." But I heard of the car first. It made me laff. ^_^

[aerialscribe.livejournal.com]

I rode in a Trabi in Stuttgart in '99. One of the original Trabi's, not a remake. It was like a toy car, but really fun!

They were considered crap cars, but you know what....they never really broke down, and even when they did, they were easily fixed with almost no tools.

If I ever buy a car, maybe it will be a Trabi.