I have been given a Trabant!
Discussion
Next door the old eccentric bloke died after a series of strokes. His collection of farm machinery and old tractors (Ferguson T20s mainly) have been offloaded and all that was left was a rather fetching blue Trabant 601s Universal. I mentioned in passing one day that I'd quite like a closer look, and his (not quite widow, they weren't married) told me I could have it. Not quite what I had in mind , but gift horses and all that.
Anyway, I now have the paperwork. Which consists of a Czech registration document thing ...
And a sworn affidavit in Czech and English signing the car over to my neighbour. And other bits and pieces. I had a quick poke about yesterday and it's all there - well I assume it is, didn't lift the bonnet, but the suspension isn't looking like no engine! The headlights turn on, the ignition light comes on, but that's all. Bear in mind I was chancing my arm, battery hasn't been charged or anything. It seems that next door brought it over from the Czech Republic in 2010 and promptly parked it in a shipping container for ten years. From what I can gather it's a 1980 car, which is handy because that would make it tax and MOT exempt. So first job is to pull it out of where it is with my Rangey, and try and fire it up.
I've taken the prudent move to join the IFA club for Eastern Bloc two stroke cars, because I think I'm going to need help registering it. I suppose a NOVA is the first thing? Or not?. Hopefully they can help verify it's age so it gets a V or W suffix plate. One thing is for sure, the mechanical side of things shouldn't be too taxing.
So, watch this space! For anyone asking the 'Dear God, why?' question,because I can and it's there. Anyway it's got a happy smiley face and the wife thinks it's cute.
Mechanically I think I only need a Swiss Army knife. The snag will come if there's welding. I've never learnt to weld and have no kit. But I see there's might welders for sale on the bay for £150ish. But let's not run before we can walk. Get the old girl out of that barn and into my nice warm garage.
Nice 
. If you haven't seen them, Aging Wheels (Robert Dunn, a kind of American version of Hubnut 
) on YouTube has a Trabant and has done videos on his. https://www.youtube.com/user/agingwheels
. If you haven't seen them, Aging Wheels (Robert Dunn, a kind of American version of Hubnut ) on YouTube has a Trabant and has done videos on his. https://www.youtube.com/user/agingwheelsEdited by ajprice on Monday 27th July 16:43
ajprice said:
Nice . If you haven't seen them, Aging Wheels on YouTube has a Trabant and has done videos on his. https://www.youtube.com/user/agingwheels
I did watch a few of those last night. . If you haven't seen them, Aging Wheels on YouTube has a Trabant and has done videos on his. https://www.youtube.com/user/agingwheels
I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. First thing I ordered for it was the obligatory DDR sticker for the rear. And I think it'll lose it's towbar, I mean even with all it's horses it's only got 26 of them. Definitely ambition outweighing ability there!
See the previous PH Trabant Reader's Cars thread for inspiration: Trabant 601 - The Beast from the East (of Germany)
jeremyc said:
See the previous PH Trabant Reader's Cars thread for inspiration: Trabant 601 - The Beast from the East (of Germany)
Yep, thanks for that. Read the thread two or three times already! I think mine is in better nick than that one. At least I hope it is. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of spares available on line at reasonable prices too. Seems a full brake service is only about £100 for shoes and cylinders, springs, etc. And that's front and rear.Today we dragged her out of her shed with the Rangey.
And discovered she had no brakes at all. And a solid pedal. This meant keeping it attached to the Rangey as a brake. Once on the drive, attached a set of jump leads and found that we had headlights and sidelights, a horn, interior light and that was pretty much it. A nose underneath was next, to discover a very pleasant surprise that she's as solid as a rock and well undersealed. No welding required! Yippee! Turning the key and....nothing. clouted the solenoid a few times and still nothing. Same with the starter motor. About two litres of fuel in the tank, which looks clean. Won't risk it though. Next up, air filter, looked like new. All good there then. Airbox off, just to give moor knuckle clattering room and out with the plugs. Which again, looked OK. But obviously I'll buy new. HT leads showed no cracking, but the caps were heavily corroded. And the coils didn't look overly clever. So new coils, leads and plugs then. Engine turns over freely and piston crowns don't look bad at all from what I can see through the plug holes.
Next up i decided to see if I could coax the starter motor to turn. No such luck, but I did free up the solenoid so I get a reassuring clunk when I turn the key. I'll have to take the starter out, but it's held in with two huge hex bolts and I don't have an Allen key that big!
Meanwhile all this messing with the electrics has coaxed the wipers and indicators into life. But I can't for the life of me see how you change from dip to mainbeam. Perhaps you don't? Clearly it's an upmarket model, it seems to have two speed wipers with intermittent option. No really, it does. But the washer jet is a manual pump! So to sum up, it needs brakes all round, possibly a starter motor, the handbrake sorting out, likely same as the brakes. Clutch pedal is working the lever, but lord knows what is happening inside the bellhousing. All the gears engage and the engine turns freely by hand.
As you can see, it's got some weird bad boy light surrounds, and a panel instead of a grille. So I was quite pleased to discover some unmolested light surrounds and a 'proper' Trabant grille in the boot.
Oh, and the bit of trim on top of the dash is in the car but not fitted. All in all I'm very pleased. If I had all the bits I need I reckon she could be MOT ready by Sunday, which is a bit of a result. But she won't be of course because I need to order the bits.
I'm not even sure I need to MOT it, because it's 40 years old. But then again, she's still on Czech plates and she's going to need UK ones if I'm going to pollute the atmosphere with two stroke.
And discovered she had no brakes at all. And a solid pedal. This meant keeping it attached to the Rangey as a brake. Once on the drive, attached a set of jump leads and found that we had headlights and sidelights, a horn, interior light and that was pretty much it. A nose underneath was next, to discover a very pleasant surprise that she's as solid as a rock and well undersealed. No welding required! Yippee! Turning the key and....nothing. clouted the solenoid a few times and still nothing. Same with the starter motor. About two litres of fuel in the tank, which looks clean. Won't risk it though. Next up, air filter, looked like new. All good there then. Airbox off, just to give moor knuckle clattering room and out with the plugs. Which again, looked OK. But obviously I'll buy new. HT leads showed no cracking, but the caps were heavily corroded. And the coils didn't look overly clever. So new coils, leads and plugs then. Engine turns over freely and piston crowns don't look bad at all from what I can see through the plug holes.
Next up i decided to see if I could coax the starter motor to turn. No such luck, but I did free up the solenoid so I get a reassuring clunk when I turn the key. I'll have to take the starter out, but it's held in with two huge hex bolts and I don't have an Allen key that big!
Meanwhile all this messing with the electrics has coaxed the wipers and indicators into life. But I can't for the life of me see how you change from dip to mainbeam. Perhaps you don't? Clearly it's an upmarket model, it seems to have two speed wipers with intermittent option. No really, it does. But the washer jet is a manual pump! So to sum up, it needs brakes all round, possibly a starter motor, the handbrake sorting out, likely same as the brakes. Clutch pedal is working the lever, but lord knows what is happening inside the bellhousing. All the gears engage and the engine turns freely by hand.
As you can see, it's got some weird bad boy light surrounds, and a panel instead of a grille. So I was quite pleased to discover some unmolested light surrounds and a 'proper' Trabant grille in the boot.
Oh, and the bit of trim on top of the dash is in the car but not fitted. All in all I'm very pleased. If I had all the bits I need I reckon she could be MOT ready by Sunday, which is a bit of a result. But she won't be of course because I need to order the bits.
I'm not even sure I need to MOT it, because it's 40 years old. But then again, she's still on Czech plates and she's going to need UK ones if I'm going to pollute the atmosphere with two stroke.
Edited by Tyre Smoke on Thursday 30th July 17:16
That is one mega result, well done!
In your opening post you mention that people might ask why....my response would be “if I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand”...not my phrase, but useful for deployment when adopting projects like this !
Even better that it has the 2 stroke engine, much easier to work on IMHO than a 4 stroke as there’s hardly any moving parts!
Look forward to seeing this one progress..
In your opening post you mention that people might ask why....my response would be “if I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand”...not my phrase, but useful for deployment when adopting projects like this !
Even better that it has the 2 stroke engine, much easier to work on IMHO than a 4 stroke as there’s hardly any moving parts!
Look forward to seeing this one progress..
I'll try and get a decent shot underneath this weekend. Can't believe how tidy she is.
Can anyone help with what I'd need to do for UK registration? If I can (and it is indeed a 1980 car) I'd like to get away with no MOT and historic tax. I think (trying not to get ahead of myself here) I will get her MOT'd at least to assist with the registration. But after that, tuck her up in the garage and bring her out on sunny days.
Can anyone help with what I'd need to do for UK registration? If I can (and it is indeed a 1980 car) I'd like to get away with no MOT and historic tax. I think (trying not to get ahead of myself here) I will get her MOT'd at least to assist with the registration. But after that, tuck her up in the garage and bring her out on sunny days.
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