Events & Meetups Forum

made reservations tonight!

Yes, I rented a U-Haul last year. The trailer they rent has it's pros and cons.

The pros: The Trabant will actually center onto their trailer's ramps quite well and the tires won't hang over the edges of the ramps and the underside allows easy access to tethering the car. But takes a little bit of extra effort to center the wheels on the ramps since the distance between the wheels is narrower than a "typical" car. It has inertia brakes which works well and won't lock up in case your tow vehicle is not wired up for brakes. My van is wired for brakes but there is no plug for it on the trailer.

The cons: The trailer is designed so that the front wheels can be strapped down. This seems to be a good idea even though it's best to tether the car down at both ends and not rely on the wheel straps solely. The problem is allot of the weight of the car is shifted onto the tongue of the trailer.

As you can see the rear end of my 1/2 ton van is squatted down. But the van did was not unstable at highway speeds. I had installed a rear sway bar on it which may have helped. I just couldn't see where I was going within the DC city limits because my headlights were now out of alignment! I think John suggested I center the car over the axles to take the load off the tongue. But then I could not use the wheel straps. But since I used four ratcheting straps on both ends anyway, it probably wouldn't matter.

My guess is these trailers are more suited for longer cars!

Despite having to drive 90 miles and back to get it, my sister-in-law's boyfriend has offered to let me borrow his car hauler so I may just do that this year instead of renting a U-haul. That way I can pick it up a week in advance, maybe go ahead and load it and not have to scramble loading the car up in the dark with flashlights like I did last year and get an earlier start.






By the way. I'll second that one tow dollies. I seriously doubt you could properly center the wheels of a Trabant onto a dolly. I was going to take my Yugo to a Fiat show in Philly. I rented the dolly, got home onto to discover that the distance between the wheels of a Yugo were too close to the center opening. I don't know if this makes any sense or not but my I was afraid one hard bump and half the car might fall through the center gap! If that makes any sense.

Also the straps that were supplied with the dolly were not small enough to wrap around a 13" 80 series tire. So there was no way to properly strap the car down and I was running out of time.

Also tow dollies fish tail like crazy. The only way I would rent another tow dolly was if I was going to haul a car across town. No more than 50 miles at 45 mph. Otherwise your constantly fighting it going down the road.

So I just took it back and paid he guy for one day and told him my problems and it wasn't going to work out for me.

What is the address of this hotel so I can check it out? I would imagine there are more than one in the area.

I clicked on the icon in the upper left hand screen but it said the page could not be found or missing DNS server or something.

[USER=777]@turbofiat124[/USER] the address for the hotel is "1500 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22209" .

same here.

Reserved a pickup truck, car trailer and motel/hotel rooms for the trip. Looking forward to it.

Hi everyone
A few weeks ago I had sudden lose of vision in my left eye, diagnosed with detached retina and needed emergency eye surgery. So far recovery has been moving along well but as you can imagine my vision has been adversley affected and haven't been able to drive. I do have some upcoming eye exams, My girlfriend has never driven a truck and trailer, so if I feel confident in my vision I will bring the Trabant, Otherwise I will be chauffered in Detroit iron!
see you in a few weeks!

You are braver than I am Michael!

I won't be attending this year. Several issues. Dad said he was either not interested, or could not go this year. I wanted my parents to come along for "moral support" because my wife has no experience in pulling a trailer and need an experienced backup driver in case something happens (to me). I'm trying to look out for my wife and daughter. The doctor says I have a condition called Meiner's disease in my left ear and for the most part does not cause me any problems but flares up about a couple of times a year. The only thing I can think of that triggers this is if I get really nervous or stressed out.

That's why I had to bail out at the last minute in 2014 because it hit me the day before I was to leave.

Last year something happened and I started getting dizzy after circling the block about five times looking for the elementary school (only to find out I was actually circling around the school itself!) I stopped the van and told Dad I was getting dizzy and he was going to have to drive for me. About 30 seconds later, I passed out in the passenger seat. I'm not sure if it was where I hadn't eaten anything that day or the stress of driving through DC or what.

I hate to sound like a woos guys but driving through large metropolitan cites is really my only phobia. Just like some people are afraid of spiders and snakes or are claustrophobic.

Maybe I need to buy this book to figure out how to deal with it:

http://overcomefearofdriving.org/71/overcoming-your-fear-of-driving-in-heavily-populated-areas/

Also my 18 year old van, going on 143,000 miles. I have this "concern" that the transmission is about to crap out based on some recent behaviors..

A couple of weeks ago we went on a day trip to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area to pick up a trash compactor (totally irrelevant I know). I personally have zero interest in this place (other than The Workshop tool store) but got a killer deal on the trash compactor for $65. Had to drive 100 miles down there and deal with all the tourist traffic to get it but was well worth the trip.

We stopped to get something to eat and when I got back in, the van wanted to "lurch" or slightly jerk at very low speeds but would run fine at speeds above 5 mph. It did this for about 5 to 10 miles at each red light. Then eventually was fine.

I stopped and checked the ATF. It is not burned but is pretty dark from worn clutch material. I have no idea when the transmission filter was last changed when Dad owned this van and he does not remember so I guess that means too long..

When I got about halfway home we stopped at a red light and I felt something engage or slip a few feet after I pulled out. Kind of like when the freewheel device on a Trabant finally engages when it's starting to crap out. Except with the Trabant it's a horrendous thud felt throughout the car. With the van it's less pronounced. Well guess what most automatics also use sprag clutches!

Then it seemed to do it the other day but just once.

The transmission is not slipping (like a worn clutch on a manual transmission) like I've seen with other automatics going south but more like something was not engaging at times.

I figured my best option was to go ahead and change the filter and see what happens.

Yesterday I dropped the pan (what a god awful mess). Other than friction material that has discolored the transmission fluid, there were no chunks of anything in the pan or filter and a minimal metal shavings stuck to the magnet. Much less than what I've seen with the drain plugs on manual transmissions.

I drilled and installed a drain plug in the pan (why didn't GM put one of these in at the factory??), popped the new filter in, the pan and topped it off with some fresh fluid. I changed the fuel and air filters while I was at it.

So far no symptoms but for some reason the van now sounds quieter because now I can hear a slight exhaust leak I never knew I had!

I'm not sure what that's all about. How could changing a transmission filter cause the transmission to sound quieter? Or was it just my imagination?

If it did crap out, I'd love to find an old donor pickup with a 5 speed and drop it in the van but I don't think the wife would like that since she says she knows how to drive a stick but just doesn't like to....

I think having a 5 speed in a large van would be damn cool! The last van I drove with a stick shift in the floor was an '84 Chevy cargo van.

see you all there...

I built a 2 stroke motorized bicycle just so i can go.

I am booked here as well
See you all next Friday night. Safe Travels everyone

Thanks bro hope to see you all there.

I'm going to be there tomorrow. I'm not driving a Wartburg this year but I still want to see all the Trabants and greet all you guys again. See you there!

What, no closer that you live to DC?

It looks like the weather is going to be nice this year. I would have liked to have made the trip but could not find anybody to help me drive. Hopefully next year.

Anyhow hope you guys have a great time and take lots of photos!

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