What Has My Trabant Ownership Experience Been Like?

I try to sum up three years of happenings into 13 minutes. Also, the engine falls apart.

[a.d.sullivan]

That looks EXACTLY like my mom's stolen Ford Taurus.

[Eis_Bear]

The trabant wasn't a symbol of oppresion to the people of the eastern block, it was quite the opposite. It may have been a sympton of a broken system, but to the people that owned them they stood for freedom.

[sjoormen]

That are not problems, that are features.

[herbiehusker]

That car looks like a stolen Ford Taurus!

[swunt]

you should really take the holes out of the engine. maybe replace them with non-holes. it's not cheap but worth it.

[dietdoubledew]

We used to go on vacation to hungary back when i was a child. 4 people all their luggage and a trailer. My dad were able to fix most of all problems that accrued with just simple adjustments or replacements. I still have that trabant in my barn. I converted it recently to a 12 Volt system with vape ignition and now i am going to do some body work. Next year "we" will travel to Balaton. My wife is from cologne and the only experience she had with that car is the smell and the noise when i started it last year in the barn after two decades and it immediately backfired on her a dark and oatmeal thick cloud of old two-stroke smoke. To say the least she is concerned . Greetings from Germany

[Strmcrash]

Something about the Trabant's headlighs and grill makes it look like it's always slightly worried or nervous about something. It's like the little car that hopes it can but won't be surprised if it can't

[joesans]

We have a joke in Germany about Trabants. How do you double the value of a Trabant? By filling the fuel tank.

[aidanstevens]

“Actively choosing not to worry about it until I absolutely have to” sums up the life of a Trabant perfectly

[captainevenslower]

Yeah the engine has holes where there shouldn't be one, but show me any other car that can still run in this state.

[purplesparc]

Nice summary and great to hear that you are planning to further restore the car :)

The short VIN is definitely something that is fun to deal with even in Germany. It does not fit any format.

What you are experiencing with your engine, and also diagnosed yourself after seeing the exhaust leak, probably results from leaky gaskets on the top or bottom of the cylinders. Since you have a new carburetor (ruling out float valve problems) and your ignition was already finetuned multiple times, that seems to be the only problem for me. Luckily all (externaly applicable) engine seals are only a couple of bucks on Trabantwelt.

As for electrical problems: Check the grounds! Especially if everything is making contact in the headlight assembly. In the engine bay there are only 2 connection points to check. My left blinker magically came back to life after I reattached the ground wire to the front left wheel arch.

Buffing for me worked well with a mildly abrasive household cleaner (the one you use for the kitchen sink etc.)

Three friends and I roadtripped my Trabant this summer. Made it 3200 kilometers to Portugal in a 29 hour non-stop driving session + 14 hour session. Never had a single problem. However, the engine "gave up its ghost" shortly after beginning the return trip by sucking crankshaft bearing parts into the cylinder. I never knew its true age, but if the 95000 km on the odometer are correct, that's a good lifespan. Now I need to save up for a rebuild after I get my car back on a trailer...

[jocking]

Some additional info for your license plates - those are not "normal" Hungarian plates. The ones beginning with "Z" and followed by 4 numbers (the smaller numbers are for the date) are temporary plates for vehicles that were exported abroad. The normal license plate is in a "ABC-123" format with 3 letters and 3 numbers.

As much rust as a shark has eyebrows. Now that's a remarkable thing to say...

[LoudenSlow]

Long time viewer, first time comment. Thanks for tempering my lust for Trabant ownership with a lethal dose of reality. But I still sorta kinda want one as a daily driver because adventure.

[guidojansen]

If this car passed safety inspection, it tells everything about safety inspection on the US

[TruckCentral]

Holy hell... just found out Trabant made a pickup truck!! You up for a trip to Hungary?

[seandoole]

Your description of installing the halfshaft boots was entirely, unabashedly accurate. It is less difficult to re-compress & assemble the front spring without the correct tools than it is to put those buggers on.

[Ironication]

Oh my god! I'm hungarian and my dad, my grandfather and my uncle all used to drive one of these. Still have one in working condition back home. Good stuff!

[Bauerofficial]

= momentary gas consumption gauge.

Wie bekam der Zweitaktmotor eigentlich Löcher im Zylindergehäuse?

[baneus]

I just stumbled over this video and I cried from laughter while watching. Thank you from Germany.