"Trabi" (the word means satellite) is one of the hidden marvels of German engineering. East Germany ("DDR")had very limited resources after WWII, in addition to some pretty weird manufacturing restriction, such as no 4-cycle engines and limits on steel production. Hence the Trabi was born with a 26-hp, air-cooled, two-cycle engine and a body made out of a cellulose composite (not metal!) rendering it a bit unsafe in crashes. The car is very simple: the gas tank is at the highest point under the hood, and the fuel is gravity-fed to the carburator (no fuel pump), the engine is air-cooled (no need for radiator, antifreeze or waterpump), and it has a direct ignition system (no need for distributor cap/rotor, etc.). The inside is very cramped and its dashboard has a profound simplicity: a speedometer, a digital vacuum gauge and a few switches. Max speed is 60 mph (more than enough for the bad roads in E Europe). Some of the trickier things about running one are adding oil to the fuel manually (like the old lawnmowers). The car also has a cute dipstick with liter-marks that one can dip in the gas tank to see how much gas there is, since there is no fuel gage. The gravity-fed fuel line has a manual shut-off that one has to use after parking not to flood the enginge. The shifter is a column-mounted, L-shaped, 4 speed thing with a black plastic handle. The design of the car is distinctive but simple. Round bug-type headlights, two doors and vertical stoplights complement some pretty odd color choices, such as diarrhea brown or traffic-light green.

When you eat dirt for the first time and leave your family to build a shack in the woods

A small East German car with a two-stroke engine that has become quite the pop culture icon in Germany ever since reunification. Known affectionatley by the Germans as "Trabis".

A Trabant is a small two door car that was produced in East-Germany during communst times. It was available in pretty much most of the E-European countries that were communist at the time and there are still many left. Many people disagree but i think that it is an awesome car. This is a car that I just fell in love with at first sight. It is truly a car that just has its own personality. It is just unique, out of the ordinary and you will just not find anything quite like it. In the latter years all of the morons just started trashing them and getting rid of them like crazy.