Up until recently, I had a Trabant P600... the model just prior to the
P601 which was in production from 1963 until 1991.
The Duraplast body is a mixture of textile fibers and plastic fibers.
Kind of like fiberglass using wool instead of glassmatt.
This means two things... the body sags when wet... and it smeels like a
wet dog... much worse when wet and even worse when the body is damaged
and the inner fibers being rotting.
The basic structure of the Trabant is a pressed steel chassis with a
very simple transverse spring suspension. Compared to it's competitiors
of the day (1958-1962 or so) it's not a bad car. The engine is a bit
coarse, but powerful and relaible and the car would easily do 60mph and
haul 4 people... quite a feat for the era and price. (Think of it as a
2 stroke Mini at half the price... the performance is almost as good as
a Mini 850 and the size and capabilities are similar)
Of course, by the mid-60's the compettiors had moved on and Trabant was
still building the same car... all the way until VW bought the factory
in 1990 and fitted the last few body sheels with a VW Polo 1100.
I now only have one Iron Curtain car in the collection... a 1962 Tatra
603/2. Air-cooled, rear engine, hemi V-8, dual carbs, 4-sp on the
column, gas-fired heater, fully independent suspension, 4 wheel discs, 6
passenger, etc...
Bill Elliott
Lake Barrington, IL
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