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The Staff of SOH
Speaking of Trabants.....
- Thread starter Lionheart
- Start date
brad kaste
Charter Member
....Sounds like my out of tune snow thrower. Except my snow thrower holds up a lot better.....
grunau_baby
SOH-CM-2025
Brings back memories...(no I never had a car do this to me)...
Well around 1991 I almost bought one, the style was sooo cuuute post-socialist:costumes::costumes::costumes:. Lightblue, a late version allready fitted with an VW Polo engine. Fortunately I never did!!!
The same year I happened to see one involved in an accident in Berlin. That cheap plastic just snapped like cardboard (with almost the same sound). Fortunaletely no one was injured. But concerning car-history they are classics:toilet:.
Alex
PS: Stylewise I prefer those old dutch DAFs, they look similar, but only have two gears: forward and backwards (note: backwards goes as fast as forwards - not just feasr gear:isadizzy
Well around 1991 I almost bought one, the style was sooo cuuute post-socialist:costumes::costumes::costumes:. Lightblue, a late version allready fitted with an VW Polo engine. Fortunately I never did!!!
The same year I happened to see one involved in an accident in Berlin. That cheap plastic just snapped like cardboard (with almost the same sound). Fortunaletely no one was injured. But concerning car-history they are classics:toilet:.
Alex
PS: Stylewise I prefer those old dutch DAFs, they look similar, but only have two gears: forward and backwards (note: backwards goes as fast as forwards - not just feasr gear:isadizzy
Francois
FS Veteran
Hey Bill, thanks, that was fun.
I'll forward it to my kid brother (of 53 by now...LOL) who collects and restores these Stinky Toys.
And stink they do... the Russians could have won the Cold War with them by just lining up a couple 1000 of them and choke us to death with the 2-stroke fumes !!! :costumes:
As for the Daf..... that's in a different league, and one of its own! The very first really practical 'automatic' with vario-drive..... and a REAL engine, not a 2-stroke moped engine like the commie version
Just sayin'......... :d
I'll forward it to my kid brother (of 53 by now...LOL) who collects and restores these Stinky Toys.
And stink they do... the Russians could have won the Cold War with them by just lining up a couple 1000 of them and choke us to death with the 2-stroke fumes !!! :costumes:
As for the Daf..... that's in a different league, and one of its own! The very first really practical 'automatic' with vario-drive..... and a REAL engine, not a 2-stroke moped engine like the commie version
Just sayin'......... :d
grunau_baby
SOH-CM-2025
Yep, a pitty DAf was sold to Volvo and ceased their original production. The cars looked a bit dated, but there were some good ideas in the development department. Volvo even took DAF designs out off the drawer and used them after they took over (see below)
1. an easily recognizable DAF already labeled as Volvo
2. a DAF design which finally was produced as Volvo
3. Another goodie from the former DAF design-department (as far as I know) which brought up many styling characterisitics still seen on Volvo cars
Well, as to Trabants, the GDR was crowded with them, after the Wall fell they all rotted away in the streets for years. Now there are only few left spoiling the air. But the car saw many peculiar modifications:d:
http://www.trabant-aufbereitung.de/50_jahre_trabant.htm
Alex
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
The design was based on the classic 1972 Volvo P1800ES, Lefty.
Their current C30 is too.
And I like the looks of those little DAF's as well! (Wouldn't want to own one, but they look cute!)
A real T55 Rally:
:d
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
IIRC it was actually 'cardboard' or some sort of pressed paper beneath the outer skin...
EDIT: I was wrong:
"The Trabant was a steel monocoque design with roof, bootlid, bonnet, fenders and doors in Duroplast, a form of plastic containing resin strengthened by wool or cotton. This helped the GDR to avoid expensive steel imports, but in theory did not provide much crash protection, although in crash tests it has actually proven to be superior to some modern small hatchbacks.<SUP> </SUP>The Trabant was the second car to use Duroplast, after the "pre-Trabant" P70 (Zwickau) model (1954-1959). The duroplast was made of recycled material, cotton waste from Russia and phenol resins from the East German dye industry making the Trabant the first car with a body made of recycled material."
Daveroo
Members +
that lil red n white one is just too cute......i want oneThe design was based on the classic 1972 Volvo P1800ES, Lefty.
Their current C30 is too.
And I like the looks of those little DAF's as well! (Wouldn't want to own one, but they look cute!)
A real T55 Rally:
:d
grunau_baby
SOH-CM-2025
Ferry, concerning the plastic. The GDR refused to call it plastic, cause it was an english term. Instead they created the germanised word "plaste":d It had another advantage i did not rust!
LOL... Some of the things you guys have said about them make me think EVERYONE hates them..
I think at one of the bars in NYC, they hung a Trabant from the cieling, about the time the Berlin wall fell.
For me, its always interesting to see how another company makes another car so differently. Citreon's little Ami is an example. I almost was able to get one for $300.00 from a friends brother in Highschool. Never got it. Had a 2 cylinder oposed aircooled engine, like one 'section' of a Lycoming and with 1/4 of the 'ummph' as well, lol... Aux hand crank socket in the drive pulley with grille access, so you didnt have to push start it (in emergencies, I would think).
Dad had a little King Midget. That was a wild little car. Single cylinder Briggs and Stratton engine, centrifiqual flex belt trani-clutch, (like a snow mobile basically). It was more like a mix between a Jeep and a Golf Cart. Wild little car. The factory was started by a couple of newly retired AirCorp USA P-38 pilots.
Bill
I think at one of the bars in NYC, they hung a Trabant from the cieling, about the time the Berlin wall fell.
For me, its always interesting to see how another company makes another car so differently. Citreon's little Ami is an example. I almost was able to get one for $300.00 from a friends brother in Highschool. Never got it. Had a 2 cylinder oposed aircooled engine, like one 'section' of a Lycoming and with 1/4 of the 'ummph' as well, lol... Aux hand crank socket in the drive pulley with grille access, so you didnt have to push start it (in emergencies, I would think).
Dad had a little King Midget. That was a wild little car. Single cylinder Briggs and Stratton engine, centrifiqual flex belt trani-clutch, (like a snow mobile basically). It was more like a mix between a Jeep and a Golf Cart. Wild little car. The factory was started by a couple of newly retired AirCorp USA P-38 pilots.
Bill
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
It's a Marcos Mini Mk.3 from 1971; it has a 1.3 litre Cooper S engine. Thing is so small I almost tripped over it... :costumes:
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
Even though Marcos is now gone, their racecars still live on..:
http://www.techwork.nl/uploads/cms/zolder-21-6-2.jpg
:d
http://www.techwork.nl/uploads/cms/zolder-21-6-2.jpg
:d
Thanks Ferry,
I didnt know they were that big of an auto group. I only knew of their little sports car from years ago.
I have this in my photo archive. I think someone here actually posted it. I dont know if its a joke creation or someone was really trying to make a flying car.
I didnt know they were that big of an auto group. I only knew of their little sports car from years ago.
I have this in my photo archive. I think someone here actually posted it. I dont know if its a joke creation or someone was really trying to make a flying car.
Ferry_vO
Retired SOH Administrator
Don't think that Polo/C152 combo will fly for very long without a propeller...
Marcos never did make much cars; Their basic model was a typical British kitcar with a polyester bodyshell and a Land Rover V8. Their Race cars (The LM600)were developed by a Dutch race driver called Cor Euser and had a Roush tuned 6.0L Ford V8 engine under the bonnet. He's still making these race cars, but under his own name now: Marcorelly. Mar for Marcos, Cor as his first name, and Elly after his wife.
A few years ago one of his cars won the Spanish GT championship and they did pretty well in other racing series like the Belgian Belcar series.
Found one more photo of the Mini to show how tiny it really is; I think those wheels are 10 or 12 inch?
Marcos never did make much cars; Their basic model was a typical British kitcar with a polyester bodyshell and a Land Rover V8. Their Race cars (The LM600)were developed by a Dutch race driver called Cor Euser and had a Roush tuned 6.0L Ford V8 engine under the bonnet. He's still making these race cars, but under his own name now: Marcorelly. Mar for Marcos, Cor as his first name, and Elly after his wife.
A few years ago one of his cars won the Spanish GT championship and they did pretty well in other racing series like the Belgian Belcar series.
Found one more photo of the Mini to show how tiny it really is; I think those wheels are 10 or 12 inch?
lefty
SOH-CM-2023
The design was based on the classic 1972 Volvo P1800ES, Lefty.
:d
With immense respect to the Swedish motor industry, (I own a Volvo!) and their Dutch followers, the Scimitar GTE was first shown at the London Motor Show in 1968.
It must have been a very far-seeing copy of the Volvo P1800ES which was produced in 1972 !
I think the mimicry was on the Scandinavian side.