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Every small improvement needs to be pointed out. Hat applies even today. When we add to our MiG-21 scissors
to the main landing gear and side panels, then we will make a bombastic advertisement as well!
HISTORY
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Info Eduard - April 2011
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Info Eduard - April 2011
tank held 24l of a gas and oil mixture, this time in
a ratio of 33:1. I don’t want to get into its impact on the
environment of the former East Germany, but it really
did reek, and I would nd it very difcult to believe
that it didn’t bother anybody.
In January, 1963, the Trabant 601 was presented
to delegates of the SED. This was the East German
communist party cleverly named as a unied wor-
kers’ party. Things here were liberally masked behind
certain copies, as indicated in the notes on the Soviet
Union above. The East German comrades were very
astute students of their Soviet gurus, but it appears
as though with their open subscription to communism,
they were somewhat careful. Unfortunately, these
types of things have a hard time of dying off here
in the Czech Republic, but, personally, I think that it’s
a good marketing ploy, and a traditional brand
is a traditional brand. But, let’s leave comrades to co-
mrades, and back to the Trabant. In the fall of 1963,
110 of the initial Trabant 601s were produced, fo-
llowed by a second run of 23 vehicles in January,
1964. Why there were the two initial series built,
don’t ask me. I’d be interested in knowing myself. In
any case, the second generation of the Trabant was
born. The Kombiks were built until 1965 in the 600
version, and was replaced by the 601. From Septem-
ber, 1966, there began manufacture of the interesting
version Trabant 601 Kübel, with an open body and
Trabant 601F differed from the military version ‘A’
in only some details.
no doors. The front Duroplast hood
remained unchanged, but from the
front slope rearwards, an all metal,
open box-like structure with a canvas,
detachable roof was added. A mili-
tary version was designated Trabant
601A (Armee), and there was also
a civil version, the Trabant 601F (Forst)
for forest workers and farmers. There
was not a lot of difference between
them. The military version had machi-
ne gun holders. Another known version
was the Trabant 601GS, apparently
for Grenzschutz (Border Guard).This
was a very important institution in East
Germany, as there was this desire
of the East German population to bolt
across the border. The Kübel vehicles
for many years drove escort for the
cycle race between Prague-Warsaw-
-Berlin (the order would change from
year to year, and saw the addition
of Kiev the year that Chernobyl blew). In 1973 there
were interesting colors applied to the Trabant 601F
in honour of the Soviet festival of youth and students,
that were used to shuttle delegates from ten cities whe-
re the festival took place. The bodies were white, the
upholstery red, the hood bore the respective city crest,
among others, the lead car carried the crest of the City
of Prague - would that make a nice kit, or what?
On the basis of the military Kübelwagen (let’s not
be afraid to apply the proper names to things) came
the Trabant Tramp in 1978 as a vehicle for spare time.
All in all, there were around 12,000 Trabant Kübel-
wagens.
By the time that production nally ended in 1991,
Zwickau produced over 3 million units. Unfortunately,
by the mid-sixties, the promising tempo of innovations
introduced slowed, reminding one of the theory by
Prof. Flegr on stagnant evolution. The Trabant stagna-
ted like a mammoth in the ice. There were innovations,
but the face of changes such as the shape of the rear
view mirrors, symbols on the hood, new wipers (made
by PAL at Kbely, Czechoslovakia), electronic ignition,
a sun roof, details on the dash, intensively advertised
rise of 3hp, or the instituting of ‘ecological’ mixing
of gas to oil at a ratio of 50:1 changed absolutely no-
thing. Development simply froze, which is for communist
regimes absolutely typical. Despite that, the rm did
try to develop new types. Some looked very promi-
sing, although, if you ask me, all of them were substan-
tially uglier than the relatively elegant Trabant, but
it died somewhere on the table of the central planners.
The cost of going forward with these were simply too
expensive for eastern standards, so focus was main-
tained on tried and true items in production. Even
though the product had become hopelessly obsolete,
production ran like greased lightning; the plan was ful-
lled, and the communist ideal was satised. I have no
idea if the communist comrades knew what was really
going on. I am sure that they did. They weren’t stupid,
but with Brezhnev at your back, they couldn’t help it,
as was demonstrated in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
With all of the stagnation, it was clear by the mid
eighties that things couldn’t continue like that in East
Germany. The coming of Gorbachev and his perestro-
ika eventually kicked comrades in our own country,
in the west of the Eastern Bloc. When at the time, the
Trabant export to Czechoslovakia was halted for
ecological reasons, it was obvious that something ne-
eded to be done. Salvation came, surprisingly, from
the West. The new president of Volkswagen, Dr. Carl
Hahn, came with a vision of expanding VW to the east.
The concrete step taken was an offer to the East Ger-
man Ministry of Industry on the sale of reconditioned
four cylinder, four stroke VW engines EA111. An agre-
ement was signed in the fall of 1984. The yearly output
capacity for the engines, installed in new vehicles, was
430,000 vehicles. The line was to be initiated at Karl-
-Marx-Stadt, where the traditional two stroke engines
were produced. The initiation of the production of the
1.1 litre gasoline engines was planned for 1987, and
diesels were to come on line a year later. In return, the
factory was to produce 100,000 engines for VW. The
bottom line price of the transaction was an (at that
time) astronomical 7 billion East German Marks, which
even inuenced the fall of the East German Mark
against its West German counterpart. That was one
of the reasons of the delay of the whole project, but,
then again, when was a deadline ever met in the East?
Ultimately, the line began moving on August 31, 1988.
The Trabant 1.1 saw parallel development, which was,
as is evident from its designation, powered by the VW
engine. In 1988, there were several tens of functional
examples of this vehicle, which was to be assembled
in a new factory at Mosel. In August, 1989, a test ma-
nufacture was initiated that produced 722 new Tra-
bant 1.1s. But that ever present curtain fell again, and
a colony of Trabants were sent to Hungary, where in the
summer of 1989, the government opened the border
with Austria. This was a hole through which thousands
of East Germans streamed to the west. Then, when the
Czechoslovak government closed the Slovak-Hungari-
an border, the would-be escapees descended down
on Prague, where hundreds, if not thousands ooded
Plastic components mounted on a steel skeleton.
Three more horses...stand back, man!
The Trabant category at Rally races were always
the highlight of the day. It was noisy, as though someone
let loose a bunch of pissed off vacuum cleaners. Often,
the teams would drive to the race, and overnight, change
the engine for a race specic one, which had about
ten horses more. After the race, the engines would be
changed back, and off to home they went. The vehicles
were considerably livelier and faster, really a race special.
Accidents often had fatal results, though. The crews were
also kept busy changing plastic panels.
New
seats