Cars Made In The Eastern Bloc

SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA- SEPTEMBER, 29 (RUSSIA OUT) A stuntman with LADA Estate car jumps into the Baltic Sea during the exercises of Russian Emercom Ministry units shown at the International congress Road Safety for the Safety of Life in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on September, 29, 2016. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) /

2 of 6

A Trabant car makes its way through the snow on a road near Birkenwerder, eastern Germany, on March 5, 2008. Strikes and a sudden spell of winter weather caused transport chaos in Germany as employees of public transport services went on strike in support of wage demands. The Trabant, nicknamed “Trabi”, was the former east Germany’s “People Car” with some 3 million units produced between 1957 and 1991. AFP PHOTO DDP/MICHAEL URBAN GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read MICHAEL URBAN/DDP/AFP via Getty Images) /

Trabant (1957-1991)

The Trabant is the poster boy (poster car?) of Eastern Bloc cars. The body was made of Duroplast, which is akin to Bakelite and is some kind of funky plastic that can be recycled and doesn’t really decompose but can be shredded and used in cement. It was powered by an undersized (initially 500cc and then upgraded to 600cc) two-stroke engine probably better suited for a scooter. The engine smoked, polluted and didn’t generate a lot of power but the Trabant did max out at 62 mph, which took 21-seconds to achieve.

There was a substantial waiting list for the car, an average citizen waited at least a decade to own new or they could get one on the secondary market at an inflated price.

More than 3,000,000 Trabants were produced and they have a cult following amongst car collectors.

Home/Cars