Sporistics
Trabant 601
Not rated
 

Lineage

By Halopro895
04/23/2020 - 12:18:56

Type: Economic land vehicle
Rating: -1 (Not rated)
Tags: 2 cylinder, 2 stroke, 601, berlin wall, communism, ddr, duroplast, east germany, german, germany, halopro895, p601, saloon, trabant, trabant 601, trabant p601

Description

The Trabant 601 was a small 2-stroke, 2 cylinder, 4 speed manual transmission, 26 HP car produced in East Germany from 1964-1990, with nearly no changes made in its production lifespan. Its outershell was made of a fiberglass-like plastic material called Duroplast, a combination of cotton fiber and resin. This made the car extremely light and rust resistant, but the material is impossible to recycle, meaning abandoned Trabant body shells will effectively last forever, even after the steel frame and other parts have rotted away. Trabants are notriously slow, loud, poorly build, unreliable (unless well maintained by the owner), smokey, polluting and unluxurious, with the stock model lacking a radio, tachometer, odometer, and even a gas gauge though these could be obtained if you got a special "deluxe" edition. Trabants are very simple in construction, making maintenance easy for owners to carry out themselves. Due to the car's 2 stroke, 2 cylinder engine, oil must be premixed into the fuel tank. In addition, due to East Germany's communist economy, the production of Trabants was so slow that it could take up to 13 years of waiting before an ordered car was ready for the customer. This did not stop the car from being widely popular in East Germany, with over 3 million cars produced, due to the only other available option being the Wartburg and Lada, but these were out of the price range of most East German citizens and produced in far fewer numbers, with the Trabant even being hard to afford. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Trabants were used by many East Germans to flee the country, leading to the car becoming an icon of freedom, German reunification, and the failure of communism. The company quickly crumpled in the 1991, after it was unable to keep up with superior West German cars.

The Trabant came in 3 primary body styles, a 2 door saloon, also known as a 'Trabant Limousine', a 3 door hatchback estate version, known as the 'Trabant Universal', and a doorless, roofless military variant known as a Trabant Kubel, which also had a civilian version known as the Trabant Tramp. In addition to the standard 601 model, the car was built in a 601S model (featuring additional features such as fog lamps, additional gauges and other utilities such as a radio, though these varied), a 601 Deluxe model (similar to the 601S but with chrome bumpers and 2 color bodywork), 601 Hycomat (for drivers without the ability to use their left leg), and the 800 RS (a rally version, fitted with a much better engine).

Today, the Trabant has many dedicated fans worldwide, with a number being exported to The United States, England, and other nations, though they remain most popular in Germany, Hungary, and other mainland European nations where they were originally exported.

Comments

By Halopro895
 

I can't get the description to update. >:(

By Halopro895
 

Made slight adjustments to the wheelbase.

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