From Guenter Hohne's new book, DDR Design, an appreciation of East German design.

(See Part 1 here, and find out more about Hohne's work and writings here.)

The Trabant 601, produced without change from 1964 to 1991, did not embody the significant technical or aesthetic progress of the P 50 and P 60. But the crackling two-stroke engine remained, and the interior became more Spartan than its predecessor. The silhouette of the automobile now appeared functionally "purified" and angular--an object constituting nothing more than a relatively reliable means of transportation with a minimum of comfort. In stark contrast stood the French Citroen "Duck"--a bird of paradise.

At the same time, in the sixties and seventies, the East German industrial design duo, Clauss Dietel and Lutz Rudolph, together with the Zwickau Trabant engineers, created more beautiful, functional alternative models, two of which ran perfectly as test vehicles, but none were allowed to be mass produced. The GDR state leadership was of the opinion that East German car drivers could only choose from what they were allotted, so motorists often waited 10 to 12 years to be issued their Trabants.

When people started calling the "new" Trabant "Trabbi," the word conveyed more ironic condescension than love, in the same way that calling Communist Party Leader Erich Honnecker "Honnie" implied everything but "honey." Both were pathetic contemporaries never freely elected by the East German people. After German reunification the "Trabbi" advanced as a nostalgic East German cult object only among the younger generation, which saw in it a comical, noisy, stinky but fun little car.

For parents and grandparents, who didn't have the alternative to drive any other vehicle, it stopped being fun early on: When they needed a replacement part, for instance, which was hardly ever available.

The Trabant was sometimes called an "asphalt blister." The majority of its owners were thoroughly fed up with the car by 1989 when The Wall fell and the civilized world of automobiles came to the GDR. Within 12 months the automobile that many had often waited 12 years to own was relegated to the car cemetery.

Peace to you, car body, old plastic execration!

--Guenter Hohne, translated by Jennifer Stahl

A Trabant 601 finally realizes it purpose in life.