Rudimentary design, narrow interior and bluish complexion exemptions … The tree mocked one of the worst cars never manufactured. Today, the Oriental Germany symbol vehicle keeps its fans and stubbornly refuses to disappear.
More trabanos in circulation today than in 2010
While Germany celebrated the 35th anniversary of its reunification on Friday and, therefore, of the disappearance of the GDR, the number of “trabis” on the roads has increased. According to the Federal Transportation Authority (KBA), some 40,800 work are registered in the country against around 33,000 in 2010. Glenn Kuschan, 58, has a garage south of Berlin. It has several trangers among its customers. He has 23, including a white model that belonged to his father, which shows more than 500,000 kilometers on the clock.
“My clients come from all horizons,” he said. Older people who grew up with trabi, but also young people who want a really authentic car. “
Originally from the Earth of Brandenburg, the region of the former GDR that surrounds Berlin, Glenn Kuschan sees in the symbol trabant a symbol: “He acquired a state of cult, in particular thanks to his link with the fall of the wall and reunification.” The first Trabrant was released from the factory in 1957, three years after the communist regime in East Germany had decided to produce a popular car to become, as its western rival, into an automotive nation.
“The Ceiling Cortation”
His body was made of a composite material based on plastic and cotton or paper fibers, to overcome the lack of steel. The rear windows did not open, and its noisy two -climate engine spit a mixture of oil and gasoline in the air. He was affectionately nicknamed “the cut -off with a roof.” With a maximum speed of 112 km/h, the communist trabi made a smile in Western Germany, where the BMW, Mercedes and other capitalist Porsche reigned on the roads and made the glory of the country abroad.
And I had no trabi what I wanted when I loved him. The citizens of RDA had to register on a waiting list and, sometimes, wait up to 15 years to receive their car, produced in Zwickau in one of the three colors available: ivory, sky blue or mint.
When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, thousands of Eastern Germans took the steering wheel of their trabans to reach the border, forming long queues, smoking engines, to see the West. After reunification, many abandoned the trabi, sometimes literally along the roads, to acquire Western cars. Factories will only survive reunification per year.
Eastern Berlin Guided Tour in Trabi
The Last Trabant, a model of pink sweets, occurred in 1991. In the Trabi Museum, in Berlin, visitors can admire a collection of 20 emblematic models and even embark for a guided tour of the city behind the steering wheel of a trabant. Participants have the pleasure of conducting the car themselves, accompanied by a guide while discovering the old Eastern Berlin.
![[Légende AFP via Google Traduction] A trabant goes to the construction of the Ministry of Finance when leaving the court of the Berlin Trabiworld operator, which offers](https://images.bfmtv.com/ZTlRtey-3xtV-vi8Ys18fzoGLBc=/283x392:1835x1265/2048x0/images/Trabant-2148743.jpg "[Légende AFP via Google Traduction] A trabant goes to the construction of the Ministry of Finance when leaving the court of the Berlin Trabiworld operator, which offers")
Thomas Schmidt, 49, who works in the museum and directs vehicles during the visits, says that “he practically grew in a trabi” and that today is “part of his identity.”
“She can do everything, she is indestructible,” he gets excited.
“And if you break down, the good side is that you can repair everything” due to its mechanical simplicity, Thomas Schmidt continues, before reciting a period that says about the trabi: “With a hammer, a pliers and a small cable, it can lead to Leningrado.”
Source: BFM TV
