Trabant
The first of the Trabants left the factory of the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Saxony on 7 November 1957. The Trabant was a relatively advanced car when it was launched in 1958, with front wheel drive, a unitary construction, composite bodywork, and independent suspension. Its greatest downfall was its engine: by the late 1950s many small cars in western countries already used cleaner and more efficient four-stroke engines like that in the Renault. Budgetary constraints and raw materialsshortages forced the use of an outdated but inexpensive two-stroke engine in the Trabant. When released, the Trabant was technically equivalent to the West German Lloyd automobile, which had an air
cooled two-cylinder four-stroke engine in a similarly sized vehicle.The Trabant's air-cooled two cylinder 500 cc (31 cu in) (which was eventually upgraded to 600cc) two-
stroke engine was derived from a pre-war DKW design, with minor alterations being made throughout the car's production run. The first Saab car had a larger (764 cc), water cooled, two cylinder engine. Wartburg, a GDR manufacturer of larger saloons, also used a DKW engine: a water-cooled three cylinder 1,000 cc (61 cu in) two-stroke unit.
1958 marked the production of the original Trabant, the P50. This car was the base model of the Trabant series, and even the latest 1.1s shared a large number of interchangeable parts. The 500 cc 18 hp (13 kW) P50 evolved into a 20 hp (15 kW) version in 1960, gaining a fully synchronized gearbox amongst other things, and finally got a 23 hp 600 cc engine in 1962, becoming the P60.The Trabant /trəˈbɑːnt/ is a car that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the Eastern Bloc. It was advertised as having room for four adults and luggage in a compact and durable shell; and being relatively fast. Due to its poor performance, outdated and inefficient two-stroke engine (which produced poor fuel economy and smoky exhaust), and production shortages, the Trabant was regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the extinct former East Germany and of the fall of the Eastern Bloc. This is due to the fact that in former West Germany, many East Germans streamed into West Berlin and West Germany in their Trabants after the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was produced for nearly 30 years with almost no significant changes; 3,096,099 Trabants were produced in total.[3] In Western nations, the Trabant's shortcomings are written about to great extent for comedic effect. However, the Trabant, in some cases, has become trendy for collectors to import older models to the US due to their low cost and easier import restrictions on antique vehicles.Meaning "satellite" or "companion" in German, the name was inspired by Soviet Sputnik.[4] The cars are often referred to as the Trabbi or Trabi, pronounced /ˈtrɑːbi/ TRAH-bee in English. Due to the long waiting period between ordering a Trabant and actual delivery (in some cases, years), used Trabants would fetch higher prices than new ones. The people who finally received their own Trabant treated the car gently and were meticulous in maintaining and repairing it. The lifespan of an average Trabant was 28 years.[5]
There were four principal variants of the Trabant:
the P50, also known as the Trabant 500, produced 1957–1962
the Trabant 600, produced 1962–1964
the Trabant 601, produced 1963–1991
the Trabant 1.1, produced 1990–1991 with a 1,043 cc (63.6 cu in) VW engine (making the "1.1" a slight misnomer)
The engine for the 500, 600, and original 601 was a small two-stroke engine with two cylinders, giving the vehicle modest performance. The combination of the vehicle's very light curb weight (~600 kg / 1100 pounds) and the engine's ability to go quickly to high revs made its acceleration between 30–50 km/h quite formidable.
At the end of production in 1989, the Trabant delivered 19 kW (26 horsepower) from a 600 cc (37 cu in) displacement. It took 21 seconds to accelerate from 100 km/h (60 mph) and had a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). There were two main problems with the engine: the smoky exhaust and the pollution it produced – nine times the hydrocarbons and five times the carbon monoxide emissions of the average European car of 2007. The fuel consumption was 7 l/100 km (40 mpg-imp; 34 mpg-US).[8] Since the engine did not have an oil injection system, two-stroke oil had to be added to the 24-litre (6.3 U.S. gal; 5.3 imp gal) fuel tank[9] every time the car was filled up, at a 50:1 or 33:1 ratio of fuel to oil. Gas stations of the time, in countries where two-stroke engines were common, served premixed gas-oil mixture from the pump. Today, owners carry a container of two-stroke oil in the car for this purpose. Because the car lacked a fuel pump, the fuel tank had to be placed above the motor in the engine compartment so that fuel could be fed to the carburetor by gravity; a trade-off of this design was an increased fire risk in front-end accidents. Earlier models had no fuel gauge; a dipstick was inserted into the tank to determine how much fuel remained.
Trabant two-stroke engine.
The Trabant was a steel monocoque design with roof, trunk lid,hood,fenders, and doors made of Duroplast. Duroplast was a hard plastic (similar to Bakelite) made of recycled materials: cotton waste from the Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry. This made the Trabant the first car with a body made of recycled material and was partially responsible for the misconception that it was made of cardboard. Various crash test results showed it performed better than comparable contemporary Western hatchbacks.[10][11][12] The Trabant was the second car to use Duroplast, after the "pre-Trabant" P70 (Zwickau) model (1954–1959).Production of the Trabant reached 3.7 million vehicles on 30 April 1991.
The Trabant was the result of a planning process that had originally intended to design a three-wheeled motorcycle. In German, a Trabant is an astronomical term to denote a moon or other natural satellite of a celestial body. In its Slavic origin, Trabant has the same meaning as the Russian word sputnik, namely 'companion'.
Full production. Trabant P50 built in 1959.
The first of the Trabants left the factory of the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Saxony on 7 November 1957. The Trabant was a relatively advanced car when it was launched in 1958, with front wheel drive, a unitary construction, composite bodywork, and independent suspension. Its greatest downfall was its engine: by the late 1950s many small cars in western countries already used cleaner and more efficient four-stroke engines like that in the Renault. Budgetary constraints and raw materials shortages forced the use of an outdated but inexpensive two-stroke engine in the Trabant. When released, the Trabant was technically equivalent to the West German Lloyd automobile, which had an air
cooled two-cylinder four-stroke engine in a similarly sized vehicle. The Trabant's air-cooled two cylinder 500 cc (31 cu in) (which was eventually upgraded to 600cc) two- stroke engine was derived from a pre-war DKW design, with minor alterations being made throughout the car's production run. The first Saab car had a larger (764 cc), water cooled, two cylinder engine. Wartburg, a GDR manufacturer of larger saloons, also used a DKW engine: a water-cooled three cylinder 1,000 cc (61 cu in) two-stroke unit. 1958 marked the production of the original Trabant, the P50. This car was the base model of the Trabant series, and even the latest 1.1s shared a large number of interchangeable parts. The 500 cc 18 hp (13 kW) P50 evolved into a 20 hp (15 kW) version in 1960, gaining a fully synchronized gearbox amongst other things, and finally got a 23 hp 600 cc engine in 1962, becoming the P60. The updated P601 was introduced in 1964. This car was essentially a facelift of the P60, with a different front fascia, bonnet, roof, and rear, whilst retaining the original P50 underpinnings. This model stayed practically unchanged up to its production end, with the most major changes being 12v electronics, coil springs for the rear, and a different dash for the latest models.Trabant P1100 prototype
The Trabant's designers expected production to extend to 1967 at the latest, and East German designers and engineers created a series of more sophisticated prototypes through the years that were intended to replace the Trabant P601; several of these can be seen at the Dresden Transport Museum. However, each proposal for a new model was rejected by the GDR leadership due to constant shortages of critical raw materials, which were required in larger quantities for the more advanced designs. As a result, the
Trabant remained in production largely unchanged.Late production (1989–1991)Many Trabants were abandoned after 1989 (this one photographed in Leipzig, 1990)
Trabant 1.1 model with VW Polo four-stroke engine.Starting in the summer of 1989, thousands of East Germans loaded their Trabants with as much as they
could carry and drove to either Hungary or Czechoslovakia en route to West Germany. Many of them had to get special dispensation to drive their Trabants into West Germany, as many of them failed to meet West German emissions standards (their pollution was four times the European average).
In 1989, a licensed version of the Volkswagen Polo engine replaced the ancient two-stroke engine, the result of a trade agreement between the two German states. The model, known as the Trabant 1.1, also had minor improvements to the brake and signal lights, a revised grille, and MacPherson struts instead of the leaf spring-suspended chassis. However, by the time it entered production in May 1990, the two states had already agreed to reunification.
It soon became apparent that there was no place for the Trabant in the reunified German economy. The inefficient, labour-intensive production line was kept open only because of government subsidies. Demand plummeted as residents of East Germany preferred second-hand western cars which were more efficient and produced less pollution.
The Trabant production line closed in 1991 and the factory in Mosel (Zwickau), where the Trabant 1.1 was produced, was sold to Volkswagen AG - a move that was seen as ironic given that Volkswagen owns Audi (formerly Auto Union) - which was the original owner of the factory before it was forcibly wound up by the Soviet regime and its directors forced to flee to the West, where the company was re-founded in its current home in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The rest of the Trabant company became HQM Sachsenring GmbH. Volkswagen has now substantially redeveloped the Zwickau site, which now is a centre for engine production, as well as small scale production of the Golf and Passat.
Some pruduction numbers
In totall built 3.10000 built
Nowe in 2014 there are only 32.311 over in Germany
P-50 131.450.
P-60 106.628.
P-601 2.218.547.
Trabant 601 Standard (Limousine, Universal) Trabant 601 S. (Sonderwunsch - Special Edition) With optional equipment like fog lamps, rear white light and an odometer.
Trabant 601 DeLuxe. Like the 601 S and additional twin-tone colouring and chrome bumperTrabant 601 Kübel. Jeep version with no doors, folding roof, auxiliary heating system, ignition system is RFI shielded.Trabant 601 TRAMP. Civilian version of the Trabant Kübel, mainly export to Greece.Trabant 601 Hycomat. Made for users with missing or dysfunctional left leg. It had included an automatic clutching system.Trabant 800 RS. Rally version.