ВАЗ 2103 и Трабант в Нью-Йорке
East German cars classic Trabant find home in Longmont.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, dozens of families in East Germany flooded the border to a new life in their small, rattly Trabant - car spare-yet-iconic that were manufactured sparingly in decades the communist country.
Once at the border, many families have abandoned their trabis - who sported spray motors with two similar time a lawnmower swollen s and body carved a type of plastic that has been reinforced with cotton or wool - the leaving scattered across no man's land or thrown in the streets.
More than two decades after the last Trabant rolled off the production line Sachsenring Zwickau, Germany, at least three have found a new cozy house in Longmont - two with Charlie Bigsby if it is mostly cannibalized for parts and one with John Short.
With only about 100 or Trabant in the US, making Longmont a hotspot of the German car culture.
It may take some kind of person and right to fall in love with a Trabant era, how Bigsby and short have the often maligned cars were the main victims of a seemingly endless amount of jokes - How to double the value a Trabant Fill the gas tank - and when the reunified Germany, the biggest problem with Trabant was how to get rid of them.
You could recycle t the body of the car, and burn the released toxic pollutants in the air for a few years in the early 1990s, scientists were even looking for one type of microbe that could eat cars , that have been stacked in junkyards.
But Bigsby and Short say trabis - which are becoming popular across Europe and the US as collectibles - got a bad reputation.
Trabant has the reputation of being cheaply made, but they were done sparingly, said Bigsby.
And by that, Bigsby means they have everything you need and nothing you do not t sun roof, no cruise control and, for that matter, not even a fuel gauge You hold a plastic gauge in the gas tank to tell when it's time to fill r up - and do not forget to pre-mix some oil with the gas.
They have everything you need for them to be a car - wheels on the bottom, the doors on the side, said Bigsby.
Bigsby, who has never been to the old East Germany, or even in Europe, for that matter, has fallen for Trabant, and in fact all odd vehicles, rare and Eastern Bloc -ish, when he was young and flipping European car magazines.
The strange they are, the less the more I'm interested, he said.
This explains why Bigsby now owns eight motorcycles from the same region - two Jawas manufactured in the Czech Republic and a Ukranian Dnepr - and a Czech Skoda car from the 1980s and Bigsby, who covets the few research in- Russian American cars Lada said he has another on the way Skoda.
Bigsby 1966 Trabant was modified to mimic a rally car Trabant, which apparently was a real thing.
A German team has rallied the whole of Europe, he said they ran in the Monte Carlo.
John Short 1972 Trabant more like the classic car that East Germans bought for the salary of about one year may take over a decade to have their car delivered and commissioned as families, is his main vehicle Trabant short, and he says he works well in all seasons.
The Trabi is great in the snow, he said that I had some snow straps East Germany.
In short, from England, first fell in love with Trabant when his family vacationed in Eastern Europe and then started driving one in his home country when he moved to Colorado, short didn t want to be Trabant-less, then he had a friend buy a car and put it on a ship bound for the United States.
Court took its precious cargo in South Carolina, then quickly took her across the country he can get his Trabant up to 80 mph on the highway - but it is better and more comfortable, he said , not to push 65.
Short is also a lover of authentic Trabi accessories, and beyond the snow straps, he and Bigsby built a tent for his car blue and yellow canvas creation appears on top of a welded frame that is fixed on the roof the entire case was built to the original specifications which runs found online.
We copied the letter, said Short, who used the tent on some fishing trips in the mountains.
For both short and Bigsby, with Trabant in Colorado has brought some attention and many an altercation with curious passersby and even other car collectors.
It's just great fun to attend a car show, such as cars and coffee in Lafayette, and back with a smoking, East Germany, just two Trabant time next to a bright red Ferrari said Bisgsby and shows all recipients that are grouped around the Ferrari leave as if she had the plague ask questions about the small German car's strange that they've never seen before.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Laura Snider at 303-473-1327 or.
East German cars classic Trabant find home in Longmont Boulder Daily Camera, classic, is German.