Dreams of comeback for German cult car Trabant

Nov 6, 2007, 15:59 GMT

Berlin - The car that was synonymous with East Germany and achieved cult status after the collapse of communism celebrates its 50th anniversary on Wednesday amid dreams of a comeback.

The last of the box-shaped Trabant cars rolled off the production lines in 1991, two years after the Berlin Wall came down, but more than 50,000 of them are still chugging along German roads.

The first Trabant left the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerk factory in Zwickau on November 7, 1957, three years after the East German leadership decided to make a robust and affordable car for the people.

The chassis was made from hardened plasticised cotton treated with resin and heat-pressed into form. This enabled the cash-strapped East German economy to save on expensive imports of steel.

The car, commonly known as the Trabi, was powered by a two-stroke engine of the type usually reserved for motorcycles. It took 21 seconds to go from 0 to 100 kph and had a maximum speed of 112 kph.

Despite its modest performance, the Trabi was a big hit in East Germany, even though motorists had to wait an average of 12 years to take delivery. It was also also exported to other communist countries.

The chassis construction pays off for today's owners because it does not rust as much as metal ones and therefore needs less maintenance.

The cars became well-known in the West after the fall of the Berlin Wall when many were abandoned by their eastern owners after migrating westwards.

They also appeared in post-reunification feature film Go Trabi Go and the more recent Good Bye Lenin!, which took a nostalgic look at life in East Germany.

Trabis also became the butt of jokes like: 'How do you double the value of a Trabant? Fill up the tank!,' or 'Why do some Trabis have heated rear windows? To keep your hands warm while pushing!'

The car has since become a collector's item with a devout following that includes more than 80 drivers' clubs spread across Germany. They are also used as tourist attractions.

Visitors to Berlin can join in a 90-minute Trabi safari to take in the sights. The tours conducted in several languages also offer people the chance to drive one of the cars themselves.

The Trabi is also popular with thieves. According to the Association of German Insurers, it was the second-most stolen car in 2006 after Porsches.

Some 3.7 million Trabis were sold before the last one left the production lines on April 30, 1991.

Now a model car firm in southern Germany has plans for a new Trabi. The Herpa company said it has already found partners for the new car, a scale model of which was shown at the Frankfurt car show in September.

Herpa has bought the rights to the Trabant name and plans to reinvent it as a retro-styled lifestyle car using the power unit and running gear from the BMW 1 series compact.

'This is a cult car. You only have to say the name Trabi or Trabant and people know straight away what you mean,' said Herpa managing-director Klaus Schindler.