Trabi Kombi Restoration of Sorts

I felt I was't out of my depth enough with the jeep project so I decided to start another project in parallel to help keep me on my toes

I viewed this Trabant on Sunday after leaving the Motors meet in Midway, liked what I saw so had it delivered Monday after work

As of yet I don't actually know a whole lot about these little cars... but I'll tell you what I know.

This particular model is a Trabant 601 kombi (meaning estate or station wagon, much like a modern day Skoda). They were affectionately known simply as a "Trabi" in their native East Germany.

The 601 was designed I believe in 1962 or 1963 and for that time it boasted some interesting features for it's communist owners. The only problem was that they saw almost no development at all between 1963 and 1989 when the wall came down bringing an end to the Eastern Bloc.

Though the structure of the car is steel the steel only forms a "bird cage" not unlike a Corvette (well a little unlike). The actual body panels are made out of a material called Duroplast. This is largely due to there being a shortage of steel for non-milarty purposes, however, Duroplast does offer some advantages over steel too. In the same thickness as steel it is 2.5 times stronger and lighter too! This means that Trabis don't really dent, are remarkably strong and weigh in at somewhere between 615kg and 650kg.

The other interesting feature is the engine. A 2 cylinder 600cc air cooled 2-stroke developing 26BHP transversely mounted and driving the front wheels through a 4 speed manual gearbox with the selector mounted on the steering column. Though this sounds like a bad idea by todays standards IMO it makes an awful lot of sense for the market in which it was intended. They are fantastically easy and cheap to produce which is great from the manufacturer's side. They are also incredibly simple! No valve train or camshafts, no timing belt or chain, no distributor, no water pump, no oil pump just 2 pistons thumping up and down, a fan for cooling and a generator for making the electricity. This is also advantageous for the owners as there is essentially no maintenance to be done! Not even oil changes. 2-stroke was available premixed at petrol stations in both 40:1 and 50:1 so I really believe it is a fantastic car "for the people".

The suspension I also find interesting. I'm not sure exactly what name is given to the type of setup. Basically it has independent control arms for each wheel but the axle shares a single leaf spring mounted across the body. Again similar technology to some Corvettes! Steering is managed by a non assisted rack and pinion. I can't comment on the ride or handling really at this stage but the steering is surprisingly quick!

The brakes are dual circuit with drums on both the front and rear. From reading other reviews of these cars the brakes leave a lot to be desired. Indeed there is a HUGE amount of pedal travel before the brakes bite. Moving it on the driveway last night I though I might have inadvertently pressed the clutch with my right foot and almost ended up piling it into the back of my 156

If anyone is still reading that just about exhausts my knowledge of these cars for now. Here's a few pictures of Trabi! Hopefully I'll have more to add over the next few days