Trabant 601 - The Beast from the East (of Germany)

[AceOfHearts]

Thanks I will take a look

(but I have been doing the welding, Jon has been making the panels and doing all the thinking )

[Lewis's Friend]

AceOfHearts said:

Thanks I will take a look

(but I have been doing the welding, Jon has been making the panels and doing all the thinking )

It's all true. I can't weld at all. I think of myself as being an angle grinder specialist...!

[LeoZwalf]

Lewis's Friend said:

LeoZwalf said:

Good commitment here lads, keep it up

Couple of months back I was in Dresden as part of our holiday. We went with Trabi Safari and did a tour of the city in a 601 "Limousine" (in quotes because...!!) and had a great time. It was a very hot day and the others on the tour opted to take the Cabrio cars, glad we didn't as they looked quite hot and bothered by the time we all got back! The workshop they have is pretty cool, it is full of Trabi's in various states of (dis)repair, some are being fixed up and some are so fked that they are in bits, used as donor cars to keep all the others on the road. I did take some photos but don't have them to hand - if you are interested I can post them up

I'd be interested to see the photos if you can find them.

Here you go

[AceOfHearts]

50 Shades of Beige

Cracked on with a few more bits today, mainly cleaning, rubbing down and repainting the floors so we are ready for carpet. Also put the drivers door card back on and some external trim bits. Plan for tomorrow is get the car in the air and start stripping the underside.

Before





After





Great pictures LeoZwalf

In September I went on a little Euro trip on the motorbike and stopped off in Berlin and saw the cars outside Trabiworld. I wanted to do the Safari but they were closing up when I arrived

I thought I would get into the Trabi way of life though so stayed at a DDR themed hostel which was spitting distance from the wall

[AceOfHearts]

Another picture heavy update today, we are starting to make good progress We started by turning the car around and removing the engine, then since we are refurbishing the suspension, decided to go the whole hog and drop the front subframe. Not bad for 2 hours work

I will let the pictures do the talking

[hidetheelephants]

Is the cart spring acting as the upper wishbone? Impressive low-rent engineering from the not-so-jolly east germans.

[Lewis's Friend]

hidetheelephants said:

Is the cart spring acting as the upper wishbone? Impressive low-rent engineering from the not-so-jolly east germans.

I think the spring and shock locate the top of the hub from memory (it was only this morning)...!

[shalmaneser]

Holy Jesus!

Is that... Is that all that's supposed to be there?!



I was just idly musing about the possibility of a cheap engine conversion but I can see that would require some serious re-engineering!

[LordLoveLength]

hidetheelephants said:

Is the cart spring acting as the upper wishbone? Impressive low-rent engineering from the not-so-jolly east germans.

Or the British - take a look around the back of a Triumph Herald or Spitfire. At least the East Germans had an excuse!

[jamiebae]

shalmaneser said:

Holy Jesus!

Is that... Is that all that's supposed to be there?!



I was just idly musing about the possibility of a cheap engine conversion but I can see that would require some serious re-engineering!

Spaceframe. How card can it be?

I imagine body rigidity is up there with a wet paper bag or an over-dunked hobnob in the torsional stiffness stakes.

[AceOfHearts]

New carpet just arrived

[rangie999]

Love these little cars.....have just picked one up myself. Have been using trabant welt for parts, who are you getting yours from?
I notice that yours is not uk registered yet. Have you done that yer or still to do? Have sorted my nova document just got the rest to do..
That carpet looks spot on I could do with some myself I think!
Anyway great work so far I'm enjoying your updates...

[AceOfHearts]

Good stuff, and no still not registered because it needs an MOT before we can send off the documents (I have been through the NOVA process a couple of times before which has always been a pain ) I can imagine it being even worse now the local offices are closed.

I imagine we are going to have a bit of a battle with this as it has actually been in the country for around 8 years, and was originally imported over as a film prop. We have the German registration document with the car though and the name of the guy (and company) that imported it originally, so we will have to suck it and see when the time comes. I am hoping it will be MOT'd by early next year (maybe February?) and I expect the paperwork will take a couple of months to sort.

Have you got any pictures of yours? What are your plans with it?

ETA yes Trabantwelt are where we have been getting most of the bits from. The sills were from German Ebay. LDM tuning are also worth a look for other odd bits but I think they are a little more expensive

Edited by AceOfHearts on Wednesday 21st October 22:09

[hidetheelephants]

LordLoveLength said:

hidetheelephants said:

Is the cart spring acting as the upper wishbone? Impressive low-rent engineering from the not-so-jolly east germans.

Or the British - take a look around the back of a Triumph Herald or Spitfire. At least the East Germans had an excuse!

They had the sense to restrict such nonsense to the blunt end; the wobbliness has strictly defined limits of doubt and uncertainty.

[rangie999]

Mine has been in the country for years as well unregistered. Nova finally sorted, it was a lot easier in the past .....
I will try to sort some pictures once I get to grips with finishing it off. It's on the ramps with no brakes at the moment as I am replacing them completely. Then quick tidy up for the MOT so I can get it registered then into the body shop to tidy the floor and replace the damaged rear panel whilst the registration goes through. I am aiming for Christmas at the moment.
Have used both the German sites you mention with mixed results although maybe if I was better at German it might be easier.
I am totally fascinated by the engine even though it's rather old fashioned. Two strokes are the future maybe...so few moving parts and such simple tech! Fancy some kind of supercharger would make it interesting.....

[LeoZwalf]

shalmaneser said:

Holy Jesus!

Is that... Is that all that's supposed to be there?!

Dude it's a 1960's, communist, 590cc, 2 cyl, 2 stroke engine - what did you expect?

[Hooli]

AceOfHearts said:

New carpet just arrived

That's so bad it's brilliant

[MPoxon]

Really enjoyed reading this. Good work and looking forward to following the progress.

[rangie999]

Have just got my registration pack from DVLA and it all looks fairly simple except they want proof of age as I don't have the original registration document. Do you think that the chassis plate and date stamp on the bulkhead will be sufficient or do I need a professional date letter from an expert!?
Thank you...

[AceOfHearts]

I think if you add in a polite covering letter with all the information you have, and photos of the date plates should be sufficient. The first car i put through was missing some documentation but they didn't seem to hold it against me