For people who deride these cars, the wartburg and trabant were designed simply to transport a family from A to B. it didnt have to be competitive because there was no other choice. there were no materials/funds available for any other design, they simply did the best they could with what they had.
Epic video! I have a Trabant myself. If you think they broke down too often you're maybe right... I am still a student (22 years old) and if you can believe I mended my Trabant at the side of the road with a chewing gum and a cigarette. And it worked till i got home (made about 70 km), so the moral of the story is that if you have some mechanical inspiration you can repair it yourself... if not, sit on the side of the road till some one comes pick you up... you can repair the engine in 2 hours.
Wartburg 1000 - Hat ein bekannter von mir auch, den hat er von seinem Vater "geerbt". Da haben wir schon mit 6 Leuten drin gesessen. Das Fahrzeug ist mit 4 Leuten auf der Rückbank immer noch komfortabel. Die besten Autos kamen nun mal aus dem Osten.
Hat ein bekannter von mir auch, den hat er von seinem Vater "geerbt". Da haben wir schon mit 6 Leuten drin gesessen. Das Fahrzeug ist mit 4 Leuten auf der Rückbank immer noch komfortabel. Die besten Autos kamen nun mal aus dem Osten.
Emanistan Actualy I saw on TV many years ago that cars built in east Communist Germany were a disaster in quality. It showed a factory worker trying to close a door with a crow bar Another shower black smoke coming out of the exsaust pipe
I think I may have ridden in one of this thing once. It was not sound like a Plymouth. I would not trust it in long hauls, but it would get you around. The couple I met in GDR may have been setups, I really do know.
I knew these Trabants had bodies of fiber reinforced plastic, but seeing them in assenbly they resemble "plastic hobby model kits"scaled to life size. Well almost...
you must have been lucky MrMizarhi... ive owned a couple of Trabbis and a couple of Wartburgs.. The Trabbis gave me more grief than anything else ive owned.. but i still love them!! The only grief i had with the Wartburg ( A column gearchange 353 S ) was the gear linkage was always going out of sync, so i couldnt change gear.
My son (age four) watched this over and over and over again... and then it disappeared. The song is wormed into our family. Can someone tell me what it is?
In Romania, I see (2011) on the streets few Wartburgs and Trabi's (I have photos), remainings of old inter-communist commerce. One excentric guy from Bucharest make luxury-limousine from an Trabant, he says already cost over 8000 euros. There's also the "Trabant" club (with parade, parties)
With so many two cycle cars on the road, could you get premixed fuel at the pump? Or have to add oil? In Handwerker song they aren't singing "Der muß zu uns Kindern gehen" but what?
Yeah... And I grow up in Poland, I was 12 when communism in this part of world felt up. I remember then our first car - Wartburg. Think what u want, in those times it was a car. Hard to belive from US or UK, I know. But it's history, guys. And we saw it. Now even we are looking at that and we're... well, suprised! Changes...
it would be interesting to feel the outside of the car since it is plastic, you are so used to a car feeling like metal and heavy,, but to knock on a car like this and it feel like a plastic toy or golf cart that makes an impact on you especially when you are about to get inside to ride in it.
We had Skoda in Canada not a common car but better than a Lada. Even a Lada wasn;t so bad compared to American cars of the time. They rusted and broke down a lot but they were very cheap so it all worked out....
slimv29, it doesnt take long to build a trabant, it is rather quite easy and fast. What the problem was is that they merely had shortages of supplies to make the car. Remember, when your a socialist police country, you dont take in imports from other "democratic" and "free" countries, you have to produce them yourself. In east germany you had about three options, trabant, wartburg or take the train. Two car companies cant hold up a country of millions. Gruss von Rheinland-Pfalz mein freund
They should have retooled, motors made to use western petrol, western safety standards, etc, and kept the factories open. Yes, those cars were not very good by western standards, and I spent a lot of time in the "GDR" so I know, but they could have been sold as cars for short distance use, within a city or village, their size was good for european narrow city streets, and sold very cheaply. And exported to places like Africa where ANY car would have been seen as a luxury.
tomschnadelbach They did put a Polo Engine in it before the war ended and I thought the factory was taken over by VW, with Opel taking over the Wartburg factory? Is not the VW UP the modern Trabant?
frighteningly labour intensive for such a small simple car. Looks like 1930s production technique. By the way, I really want a trabant or a wartburg. sadly very uncommon here in the UK, no wartburgs since 1974 and trabant never officially imported.
I can't . With my present salary as a security in a hotel of just slightly over Malaysian$1,100++ (roughly US$323.53 cents) , how can I afford to buy one , even our cheapest locally-made Perodua Kancil (Mousedeer) .
Yes. But the chassis was literally made of cardboard and plastic (there used to be metal cars available in East Germany, but after people used them to drive through the wall, they switched to cheaper materials). On the upside, plastic and cardboard don't rust, so as long as you didn't crash into anything, your car chassis lasted forever...
Also, check out pimpjuice5259307's comment in the top comments section to learn yet another reason why the average person had to wait so long for a Trabant. Go learn yourself some history, and rid your mind of the propaganda, prejudices, and misconceptions that it's currently filled with.
You're American, right? do you ever drove in a Trabant or Wartburg? I don't think so, you just hate communism and everything what communist countries have made. Actually, those cars are very reliable, i own 3 Wartburgs and 2 Trabants, they are al original, never welded or restored. The oldest is from 1956 and the newest is from 1972 and they still run well and i travel several tousends kilometers with them in Europe in the summer days. They are old fashioned, but very strong.
In capitalist world now its exactly the opposite thing, The contructors are so productive than we have many cars not sold. Beaucoup trop de marques de voitures chez GM, trop de produits qui ne se vendent pas, ça créé des faillites gigantesque. Le capitalisme n'est pas un modèle parfait.
Yes, the pinto along with a slew of crappy cars were made in a capitalist country from the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's. What happened? The Japanese market expolded over the next 20 years giving consumers a CHOICE in what to buy. The American car market almost went completly under until the 2010's Ford the saw the writing on the wall and started making good cars again. Cryslers and GM still do not get it. If the DDR still existed you would stll be driving old brken down crappy Trabants
For people who deride these cars, the wartburg and trabant were designed simply to transport a family from A to B. it didnt have to be competitive because there was no other choice. there were no materials/funds available for any other design, they simply did the best they could with what they had.
At last!! I've found a car to carry my 57 footballs.
Epic video! I have a Trabant myself. If you think they broke down too often you're maybe right... I am still a student (22 years old) and if you can believe I mended my Trabant at the side of the road with a chewing gum and a cigarette. And it worked till i got home (made about 70 km), so the moral of the story is that if you have some mechanical inspiration you can repair it yourself... if not, sit on the side of the road till some one comes pick you up... you can repair the engine in 2 hours.
An excellent, informative clip. Thanks very much for posting it :)
we had a hatchback one
it brought a lot of memories
Wartburg 1000 - Hat ein bekannter von mir auch, den hat er von seinem Vater "geerbt". Da haben wir schon mit 6 Leuten drin gesessen. Das Fahrzeug ist mit 4 Leuten auf der Rückbank immer noch komfortabel. Die besten Autos kamen nun mal aus dem Osten.
Hat ein bekannter von mir auch, den hat er von seinem Vater "geerbt". Da haben wir schon mit 6 Leuten drin gesessen. Das Fahrzeug ist mit 4 Leuten auf der Rückbank immer noch komfortabel. Die besten Autos kamen nun mal aus dem Osten.
The commercial dates back to 1966.
Great! I was just looking for a car that holds 57 Footballs. Now I' ve found it!
Just look at the look of accomplishment on that guy's face at the end when the door actually closes.
Emanistan Actualy I saw on TV many years ago that cars built in east Communist Germany were a disaster in quality. It showed a factory worker trying to close a door with a crow bar Another shower black smoke coming out of the exsaust pipe
I think I may have ridden in one of this thing once. It was not sound like a Plymouth. I would not trust it in long hauls, but it would get you around. The couple I met in GDR may have been setups, I really do know.
I knew these Trabants had bodies of fiber reinforced plastic, but seeing them in assenbly they resemble "plastic hobby model kits"scaled to life size. Well almost...
Fantastic!!
2:58 V6 Engine with twin turbo LOL
@sitwithabook Do you mean the childrens' song? It's about handcraft.
you must have been lucky MrMizarhi... ive owned a couple of Trabbis and a couple of Wartburgs.. The Trabbis gave me more grief than anything else ive owned.. but i still love them!!
The only grief i had with the Wartburg ( A column gearchange 353 S ) was the gear linkage was always going out of sync, so i couldnt change gear.
My son (age four) watched this over and over and over again... and then it disappeared. The song is wormed into our family. Can someone tell me what it is?
My dad's friend had a trabant, and another had a Lada, they were actually very reliable, they still have them.
Romanian
In Romania, I see (2011) on the streets few Wartburgs and Trabi's (I have photos), remainings of old inter-communist commerce. One excentric guy from Bucharest make luxury-limousine from an Trabant, he says already cost over 8000 euros. There's also the "Trabant" club (with parade, parties)
omg, TOO MUCH PROSPERITY!!
trabant is good car
@CumbrowskiCom Ladas ar nice my favourite is the 5 doored lada niva.
Yeah yeah it was Garde rapid the "hatchback" and it has 5th gear:)
Looks like a fine car to me...but damn, waiting 10-15 years for one? Holy dog shit!
the wartburg link (in the info) is not working
With so many two cycle cars on the road, could you get premixed fuel at the pump? Or have to add oil? In Handwerker song they aren't singing "Der muß zu uns Kindern gehen" but what?
0:17 I fucking died here knowing the actual quality of the Wartburg's brakes.
Exelent road holding and 125kph was still the best joke
Yeah... And I grow up in Poland, I was 12 when communism in this part of world felt up. I remember then our first car - Wartburg. Think what u want, in those times it was a car. Hard to belive from US or UK, I know. But it's history, guys. And we saw it. Now even we are looking at that and we're... well, suprised! Changes...
Weren't the bodies on the trabant made of duraplass?
it would be interesting to feel the outside of the car since it is plastic, you are so used to a car feeling like metal and heavy,, but to knock on a car like this and it feel like a plastic toy or golf cart that makes an impact on you especially when you are about to get inside to ride in it.
That music, though!
I know someone was delivering a new Wartburg to a customer and on the way there the engine seized up!
Thanks!!!!
Old people are driving these cars ir our country very often alogn with Skoda 120 and Lada ?2100? if you know it:)
We had Skoda in Canada not a common car but better than a Lada. Even a Lada wasn;t so bad compared to American cars of the time. They rusted and broke down a lot but they were very cheap so it all worked out....
The Wartberg's best feature was that one can put 57 footballs in the boot. Couldn't do that with the Trabant.
Alles noch echte Handarbeit - this was all real handmade work!! :)
( Fast - Almost )
how many of thouse trabant where made in 1 day? 1 maybe?
Trabant. The car as its simplest. And still making it longer than the cars million times more worth it..
whats name second song? please!
TOP GEAR make a video with dacia 1310..plzz:)
That wasn't fiber reinforced plastic, it was plastic reinforced cotton.
I WISHD ID HAD TRABANT 601 AND MOSKVICH
OMENA2293 OMENA2293 where do u live, they aren't that late (trabant, i dont see a moskvich very often for sale)
How caught up is the East with the West nowadays? Anybody know?
@cheeriosinabowl I would buy one! the "Ikea P601" also known as "Erik"
@italokid80 you guys have dacias.
I don't think I'd want to go 78 mph in a Wartburg.
slimv29, it doesnt take long to build a trabant, it is rather quite easy and fast. What the problem was is that they merely had shortages of supplies to make the car. Remember, when your a socialist police country, you dont take in imports from other "democratic" and "free" countries, you have to produce them yourself. In east germany you had about three options, trabant, wartburg or take the train. Two car companies cant hold up a country of millions.
Gruss von Rheinland-Pfalz mein freund
They should have retooled, motors made to use western petrol, western safety standards, etc, and kept the factories open. Yes, those cars were not very good by western standards, and I spent a lot of time in the "GDR" so I know, but they could have been sold as cars for short distance use, within a city or village, their size was good for european narrow city streets, and sold very cheaply. And exported to places like Africa where ANY car would have been seen as a luxury.
tomschnadelbach They did put a Polo Engine in it before the war ended and I thought the factory was taken over by VW, with Opel taking over the Wartburg factory?
Is not the VW UP the modern Trabant?
frighteningly labour intensive for such a small simple car. Looks like 1930s production technique. By the way, I really want a trabant or a wartburg. sadly very uncommon here in the UK, no wartburgs since 1974 and trabant never officially imported.
I can't . With my present salary as a security in a hotel of just slightly over Malaysian$1,100++ (roughly US$323.53 cents) , how can I afford to buy one , even our cheapest locally-made Perodua Kancil (Mousedeer) .
Yes. But the chassis was literally made of cardboard and plastic (there used to be metal cars available in East Germany, but after people used them to drive through the wall, they switched to cheaper materials). On the upside, plastic and cardboard don't rust, so as long as you didn't crash into anything, your car chassis lasted forever...
You wait so long you could build your own kartie in a day:-))
So apparently these cars were so bad that the entire population of East Germany considered them to be a kind of running joke.
0:22 these would have sold like crazy in south america
So post-1980 or so, if you didn't have a car you were screwed if you needed one, if I'm thinking right.
Unless you worked for the government in the DDR. Then you could get a Trabant in a matter of weeks
Also, check out pimpjuice5259307's comment in the top comments section to learn yet another reason why the average person had to wait so long for a Trabant. Go learn yourself some history, and rid your mind of the propaganda, prejudices, and misconceptions that it's currently filled with.
James May at 3:50
Trabants forever!
Ikea should sell these cars ... then you could assemble them yourself. 50,000 pieces + instruction booklet.
when you get paid the same for working hard or hardly working their is no incentive to be motivated. hence the 10-15 year wait
To think that these cars were better than the Chevrolet Vega.
Electric cars like these would fulfil a gap in the market: Suppressed by EU crash standards. Keep on Trucking:-))))
In a communist country there was no competition.
Good old communist times...
Good old waiting 15 years for a car...
The only other car in the world completely hand-built is the Rolls-Royce. (!)
wow, handmade now its done all by machines on most cars
Handmade Car :DDD
You're American, right? do you ever drove in a Trabant or Wartburg? I don't think so, you just hate communism and everything what communist countries have made.
Actually, those cars are very reliable, i own 3 Wartburgs and 2 Trabants, they are al original, never welded or restored.
The oldest is from 1956 and the newest is from 1972 and they still run well and i travel several tousends kilometers with them in Europe in the summer days.
They are old fashioned, but very strong.
Top Gear will only destroy it, they don't like older more simple cars.
capitolism made the pinto.
I take it you dislike commnism
I bet you cant afford a car in capitalism
In capitalist world now its exactly the opposite thing, The contructors are so productive than we have many cars not sold. Beaucoup trop de marques de voitures chez GM, trop de produits qui ne se vendent pas, ça créé des faillites gigantesque. Le capitalisme n'est pas un modèle parfait.
Yes, the pinto along with a slew of crappy cars were made in a capitalist country from the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's. What happened? The Japanese market expolded over the next 20 years giving consumers a CHOICE in what to buy. The American car market almost went completly under until the 2010's Ford the saw the writing on the wall and started making good cars again. Cryslers and GM still do not get it. If the DDR still existed you would stll be driving old brken down crappy Trabants
*sigh* ze germans and zer cars...
Yep. Both capitalist and socialist societies made good and bad cars. Nothing to be surprised about. So your point is...?
c gf
Probably wasnt bad at first but as time went on, it sucked