Re: [Amc-list] Remember when?

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007, Keleigh Hardie wrote:

> That orange Trabant is interesting. I didn't know cardboard could rust...

Most? All? of them are made of that composite gunk.

I know little of them. I made a very serious effort to locate
anyone I was around that had access to one to lift the hood
so I could photo it.  At a big flea market (where I got a nice
Tesla (Czechoslovakian) (Czech Repulic these days) car radio)
a vendor was offloadin his wares from one, I tried to locate
someone who spoke english to be intermediary, but they guy
thought I wanted to BUY the Trabbie (not sure it would fit in
checked baggage for the return flight).

This is what I know of them technically:

600cc twin air-cooled premix ported two-stroke motor up front,
front wheel drive, single transverse leaf in front. The motor
looks pretty decent design, in the cutaway drawing poster I
bought at said flea market. (One of those high-quality things
from a dealer showroom, circa 1968.)

Has dual point distributor, possibly one contact/coil per
cylinder; my drawing doesn't show what the two points are doing
or the coil(s). A little RTFM would probably find me a TSM.

Interior looks generic 60's low-end-euro (think Volvo). Basic
gauges, plain seats. Good use of space, didn't get to sit in
one but looks roomy enough. This car was made for Russians,
not Japanese, remember.

I never saw a crumpled one. Possibly impact takes them off the
road, but there must be a non-fatal failure mode, but I never
saw one.

Laugh all you want (while you keep in mind how Gremlins get
laughed at) there are many of these 20 - 30 years old still in
regular use. They are by no means rare; they are very common.
This is not Cuba; there are plenty of cars around.

In that list of photos are two or three that I took by sticking
my camera under the front of the car while walkin down the
street, from the front bumper back. Hard to decipher.

There's even a wagon, which is really great.


This is what I know of them culturally:

They are very well respected, considered very reliable, well made
and repairable as hell. There is no love for the ex-USSR here,
this isn't some displaced paternal fuzzies for the old days.

They're all old now and I guess that owning one is out of love,
habit or necessity for an old cheap car. Hungary is not rich,
but it's no 3rd-world country.

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