Trabant Car By Section Of The Soviet Berlin Wall In Central Berlin Editorial Image

The two iconic images of Soviet Berlin- the Trabant Cars and the remains of the Berlin Wall.The Trabant is an automobile which was produced from 1957 to 1990 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. It is often seen as symbolic of the former East Germany and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general. The Trabant was loud, slow, poorly designed, badly built, inhospitable to drive, uncomfortable, confusing and inconvenient.The Trabant had a hard plastic body mounted on a one-piece steel chassis, front-wheel drive, a transverse engine, and independent suspension – unusual features at that time 1950s — but it remained the same up until the 1990s. The 1980s model had no tachometer, no headlights or turn signals indicator, no fuel gauge, no rear seat belts, no external fuel door, drivers had to pour a mix of gasoline and oil directly under the hood.