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Post by Sam Tyler on Jun 20, 2021 19:14:42 GMT
Another obscure Eastern bloc motor - The Wartburg. It was East German, front wheel drive and had a 3 cylinder two stroke engine, it was very similar mechanically to a Trabant, which was never imported into Britain. The Wartburg stopped being imported in 74 due to pollution regulations, as it was very smoky. They weren't that common, even less so than a Moskvich, but I do remember seeing the odd one. There was a bloke down our road that had three Wartburg Knights, he was a bit of an eccentric and was always tinkering with them. One of them he converted to run on paraffin and that one did smoke. Whether he still used two stroke oil in it as well I don't know but going to work first thing in the morning he'd leave the street under its own smog blanket. Sam.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jun 20, 2021 19:45:58 GMT
Again I heard of these Wartburg's but never really seen one although you could say the car offerings from the likes of DAF and other similar manufacturers are just as rare these days. I'm surprised the infamous Trabant didn't make it over here officially too.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jun 20, 2021 20:11:01 GMT
I'm surprised the infamous Trabant didn't make it over here officially too. They were rumoured to partially made of cardboard, not sure how accurate that is.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 20, 2021 20:22:03 GMT
It was a material called duroplast, which is a resin plastic reinforced with fibres, similar to fiberglass.
I remember years ago, early 80s, when I had my A40, I was a member of the owners club, and we used to get a quarterly magazine. In one issue, an A40 owner was telling the story of a trip he'd made to Germany in his car, and he briefly crossed over into what was then East Germany. The front aspect of an A40 does vaguely look like a Trabant and when he returned to his car, which he'd parked up, it was surrounded by an interested crowd of East Germans who thought it was a new, and much upgraded version of a Trabant.
He had to explain that it was British and had been made in 1959!
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Jun 21, 2021 10:05:46 GMT
Again I heard of these Wartburg's but never really seen one although you could say the car offerings from the likes of DAF and other similar manufacturers are just as rare these days. I'm surprised the infamous Trabant didn't make it over here officially too. A mate of mine at work has a Wartburg, a Tatra and a Trabant which he's had for years, sadly the Wartburg is the only one that runs at the moment. Villain
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Post by D.C. Burtonshaw on Jun 21, 2021 15:27:43 GMT
It was a material called duroplast, which is a resin plastic reinforced with fibres, similar to fiberglass. I remember years ago, early 80s, when I had my A40, I was a member of the owners club, and we used to get a quarterly magazine. In one issue, an A40 owner was telling the story of a trip he'd made to Germany in his car, and he briefly crossed over into what was then East Germany. The front aspect of an A40 does vaguely look like a Trabant and when he returned to his car, which he'd parked up, it was surrounded by an interested crowd of East Germans who thought it was a new, and much upgraded version of a Trabant. He had to explain that it was British and had been made in 1959! Interesting! I wonder also if it might have been because they thought it looked like a Trabant Kombi (the little estate version) which had a similar profile and fins at the back to an Austin A40, as I remember someone commenting on the resemblance when they saw a picture in a magazine of the Trabi estate.
The Mother of a lad who went to me and my brothers school drove a Wartburg Knight saloon too for a while, she still had it into the 80's. An orange M reg one, it eventually got parked up for a while after it must have broke down, before they moved it on, as they lived near us.
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Post by John Steed on Jun 21, 2021 20:32:01 GMT
I remember when we used to visit my Gran who lived in the Erdington area in Birmingham there was a little backstreet garage a couple of streets away which specialised in Trabants, There was always about 5 or 6 parked outside there for sale. My Gran died in 2004 and I have never had cause to visit the area since but I assume the garage is probably long gone.
Steed
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jun 21, 2021 20:50:41 GMT
It was a material called duroplast, which is a resin plastic reinforced with fibres, similar to fiberglass. I remember years ago, early 80s, when I had my A40, I was a member of the owners club, and we used to get a quarterly magazine. In one issue, an A40 owner was telling the story of a trip he'd made to Germany in his car, and he briefly crossed over into what was then East Germany. The front aspect of an A40 does vaguely look like a Trabant and when he returned to his car, which he'd parked up, it was surrounded by an interested crowd of East Germans who thought it was a new, and much upgraded version of a Trabant. He had to explain that it was British and had been made in 1959! Didn't they also have very smoky engines? I think the authorities were keen to get them off the roads.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 21, 2021 21:06:21 GMT
The last ones, made just after German reunification, in 1991 had VW Polo engines, which did away with the pollution issue.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jun 21, 2021 21:20:38 GMT
Must have been a death trap with its fuel tank above the engine for gravity feed!
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