Berlin celebrates the Trabant, the iconic East German symbol
H2g2 The Earth Galactic Edition Guide.
This little car was made by a company called VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony and the production of the Trabant started in 1957.
The plant used to build the car was once the Audi factory before World War II and before the separation of East and West Germany after the war many models were made during the first decade production, but the most famous was the model number 601, which appeared in 1967 and was sold after the unification of Germany in 1991, the model 601 was unchanged in design and construction to the end production of the Trabant Trabant all production ceased at the end of 1991.
The style and form for the Trabant was simple and because of the early steel shortages of the 1950s, the body was made from a plastic that is similar to fiberglass called Duraplast The chassis was to a monocoque steel 1 Duraplast construction is a type of resin containing reinforced plastic wool or cotton.
Trabant had an average speed of about 100kph 65 mph and was powered by a two-stroke engine with two cylinders that had only five parts in the engine was so small and light, it can be lifted out of the car by one the reason the person two-stroke engine was that there were fewer moving parts required, and the shortage of raw materials materials that were available were too expensive to use.
The first model was called Trabant P50 and was manufactured between 1957 to 1962 Changes were made to the P50 in 1962, which then became the P60 The main change is a new engine was fitted to increase capacity feeding 600cc to about 25 horsepower He had a zero at the speed of 60 mph over 21 seconds.
The P60 was manufactured for two years, 1962-1964.
Other improvements and modifications were made to the P60 in 1964, which then became the P601.
The P601 then remained more or less unchanged from 1964 at the end of production in 1991. Some minor changes were made to lighting, electricity and inside but overall the P601 has become a standard , basic car.
The engine had made a few changes that meant that there was less oil needed to be in the essence if the two-stroke engine has never been updated four times more commonly used elsewhere Volkswagen was the experience with a four-stroke engine in this began as a joint venture but this time, in late 1990 for production in early 1991 was going to be reduced and completely stopped in late 1991.
Because of the engine be of various two-stroke, exhaust emissions have been high in pollutants and also had a very distinct smell instead of the normal Common smell gasoline four-stroke engines, gave the exhaust of a Trabant burnt oil smell as emitting blue smoke It would certainly fail any exhaust emissions of cars relevant today as testing, reliability has become a problem and the engine was does not the strongest units.
But someone saw a way to turn even this in a way to keep the legend goes a Trabant Thorsten Jahn decided to can the smell of a Trabant exhaust and sells on its website in a news report on BBC, he said, the smell is something very special and rare nowadays.
The Trabant 601 was used as a prop by pop group U2 and included in their Zoo TV tour they had several vehicles suspended by son at group concert halls of the ceiling was.
The same cars are now hanging from the ceiling in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
A comedy movie was made about the Trabant called Go Go Trabbi It featured an East German family traveling through Europe and was released shortly after the reunification of Germany in 1992.
A bright blue Trabant was the star of the car of the winning film in 2003 the fall of the Berlin Wall, Good Bye Lenin.
In 2001, an American called Spy Game film featured a car chase that involved a Trabant It was led by actor Brad Pitt playing the Tom Bishop spy In the film, he tries to pass a Germany of East from East to West Berlin before the fall of the wall.
Trabant now has a popular public from the owners of Trabant clubs formed across Europe.
The Trabant name translates satellite The name was chosen as it was originally as a spin-off of the very similar P70, which was built in 1955. The main difference is that the 22HP engine P70 was more powerful than the original Trabant s 18HP.
Not Panicking Ltd is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
H2g2 is created by h2g2 users that are members of the public The views expressed are theirs and unless stated are not those of the non Panicking Ltd Unlike Edited entries, entries are not verified by an editor If considers an entry in violation of the rules of the site Chamber please file a complaint for further comments, please visit the feedback page.
Guide to hitchhiker in the galaxy is a quite remarkable book has been compiled and recompiled many times and in many editorships It contains contributions from countless numbers of travelers and researchers.
H2g2 The Trabant East German people's car, H2g2, Trabant, is.