Trabant is a series of small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced.
The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. The concept was proven by German engineer Felix Wankel, followed by a commercially feasible engine designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. The Wankel engine's rotor, which creates the turning motion, is similar in shape to a Reuleaux triangle, with the sides having less curvature. The rotor spins inside a figure-eight-like epitrochoidal housing around a fixed-toothed gearing. The midpoint of the rotor moves in a circle around the output shaft, rotating the shaft via a cam.
Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as an indicator of the power an engine might be capable of producing and the amount of fuel it should be expected to consume. For this reason displacement is one of the measures often used in advertising, as well as regulating, motor vehicles.
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
East German jokes, jibes popular in the former German Democratic Republic, reflected the concerns of East German citizens and residents between 1949 and 1990. Jokes frequently targeted political figures, such as Socialist Party General Secretary Erich Honecker or State Security Minister Erich Mielke, who headed the Stasi secret police. Elements of daily life, such as economic scarcity, relations between the GDR and the Soviet Union, or Cold War rival, the United States, were also common. There were also ethnic jokes, highlighting differences of language or culture between Saxony and Central Germany.
Horch was a German car manufacturer, which traced its roots to several companies founded in the very late 19th and early 20th century by August Horch.
HQM Sachsenring GmbH is a Zwickau-based company that supplies chassis and body parts to the automotive industry. The company was named after the Sachsenring race track. Founded as VEB Sachsenring after the end of World War II, Sachsenring was one of the few manufacturers of vehicles in East Germany, its best known product being the Trabant, produced between 1957 and 1991. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Sachsenring transitioned from a government-owned company under a centrally-planned economy to a private corporation in a free market economy.
Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany.
Wartburg is an East German automotive brand used for cars manufactured at VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach. Origins of the brand date back to 1898. The name derives from Wartburg Castle on one of the hills overlooking the town of Eisenach where the cars were made. From the 1950s until the late 1980s, Wartburgs featured a three-cylinder two-stroke engine with only seven major moving parts. Production ended in April 1991, and the factory was acquired by Opel.
The DKW F102 is a passenger car that was produced from August 1963 by the German manufacturer Auto Union. Superseding the Auto Union 1000, it was the last model branded as a DKW by the manufacturer and also one of the last West German production car equipped with a two-stroke engine, the last being the Goggomobil.
The Wartburg 353, known in some export markets as the Wartburg Knight, is a medium-sized family car, produced by the East German car manufacturer AWE for their Wartburg brand. It was the successor of the Wartburg 311, and was itself succeeded by the Wartburg 1.3.
The Auto Union 1000 is a luxury compact front-wheel drive automobile manufactured by Auto Union GmbH between 1958 and 1969. It was the first model branded as an Auto Union by the manufacturer since the 1930s; it replaced the DKW 3=6, although the latter continued in production, until the end of 1959. The two cars were broadly similar, but the new car had its two-stroke engine enlarged to 981 cc yielding a 10% - 37% power increase.
Go Trabi Go is a 1991 German comedy and road movie directed by Peter Timm. It was the first major box office hit about events concerning the newly reunified Germany. Unlike other films in this period that focused on the problems following reunification, Go Trabi Go sees the main characters, former citizens of East Germany, explore places in Europe outside the Eastern Bloc that they were not allowed to visit during the Communist era.
Industriewerke Ludwigsfelde is an automotive factory in Ludwigsfelde in Brandenburg, just south of Berlin in Germany. The factory is part of Daimler AG and since 1991 it has made Mercedes-Benz vans. It is also the producer of the Multicar line of automobiles.
The Wartburg 1.3 is a car which was produced by Automobilwerk Eisenach between October 1988 and April 1991. The car was an updated version of the Wartburg 353, with a 1.3-litre, four-stroke, four-cylinder engine as also used in the second generation Volkswagen Polo, instead of the original 1-litre, two-stroke, three-cylinder unit found in the 353.
Jalopy is a vehicle simulation game developed by English developer MinskWorks and published by Excalibur Games. The game follows the player and their uncle who attempt to build a Laika from individual parts and drive from East Berlin to Turkey using it.
The Trabant 1.1 is the fourth and final series production model of the East German Trabant series, made by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Unlike its predecessors, which have a two-stroke engine, the Trabant 1.1 has a four-stroke engine. In total, 39,474 units of the Trabant 1.1 were made from May 1990 to 30 April 1991. This makes the 1.1 the rarest Trabant model.
The Trabant P 50, also known as the Trabant 500, is the first series production model of the East German Trabant series, made by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. It was produced from 1957 until 1962; in total, 131,495 units were built. In 1962, VEB Sachsenring switched production from the P 50 to the short-lived intermediate model Trabant 600, which combined the exterior styling of the Trabant P 50 with the technical design of the next generation Trabant model, the Trabant 601.
The Trabant 600, also known as the Trabant P 60, is the second series production model of the East German Trabant series, made by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. It was produced from 1962 until 1965; in total, 106,117 units were built. The Trabant 600 was a short-lived intermediate model that combined the exterior styling of the Trabant P 50 with the technical design of the next generation Trabant model, the Trabant 601. For a short period of time, the Trabant 600 estate was built alongside the 601 saloon.
RGW-Auto was a joint project for the construction of passenger cars in the former East Germany and Czechoslovakia. Both countries were members of Comecon. The aging Trabant 601, Wartburg 353, Škoda 100 and Dacia 1300 were to be replaced by vehicles with a modern design. The manufacturers involved were Automobilwerk Eisenach (Wartburg), Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau (Trabant), AZNP Mladá Boleslav (Škoda) and Uzina de Autoturisme Pitești (Dacia). Mass production of the ambitious project was to begin in 1978, but it never happened.
