Eastern Germay’s best known, omnipresent make entered the scene after World War II. When the nation was split into two, so were its factories. In the Federal Republic, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and Volkswagen got back on their feet and thrived, whereas in the East the Trabant was one of the few cars produced from the 1950s on. Up to 1989, about 150,000 a year were manufactured at Zwickau, near the frontier of what was then Czechoslovakia. The chassis of the 601 consists of a sheet steel platform which supports a very simple plastic body. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, East Germans poured out from behind the crumbled “iron curtain” in their Trabants and for some time afterwards the 601 was the symbol of freedom regained.
Presented by Fiat Auto Poland, Bielsko Biala
Engine: 2 cylinders in line, two stroke
Capacity: 595 cc
Max. power output: 26 bhp
Max. speed: 100 km/h
