Trabant Tech Forum

"secondly I spoke with my mot Garage about the emissions of a trabant and he is pretty sure they make allowances and he is reading up about that"

Great news that you've got a helpful garage on side, and they are definitely completely exempt from the emissions test... which is nice!

Hi thanks Ron ,I think I had better explain as a lot of folk don't quite understand why I am looking at the more expensive ones, well first I don't have a Garage or anywhere that I could make any major repairs so I would need to work in the street and in the uk it sure does rain ,which means major repairs would be a Garage as in pay for ,whilst the minor jobs I could do myself like I do my Romahome , now one would have to admit the more expensive Trabants have had a lot of the work al;ready done and so cuts my pay for at the garage jobs down a lot ,so I pay more for the car but less for major repairs, Which is why I look for Trabi in the £2000 or more bracket like this one which I have had my eye on for a long time now [MEDIA=youtube]aR49-FrmaX8[/MEDIA] so if any one has one in this condition for £1200 please let me know ,very best wishes Brian.

So long as you understand that you're buying a £1200 car that has been polished by a classic dealer and marked up by close on £2k.

Don't believe the mileage, either - that'll be 117,000km... these cars almost always come over with no documentation other than the registration document.

Just make sure more expensive actually means better condition and it's not just an import that a dealer has UK registered and polished and done nothing else other than mark it up £500 or £800

ha ha must type faster but honestly I used to work at a car auction and dealers would buy cars and do nothing except wash and polish and stick a huge mark up on

ok ,yes I know what you mean thanks again Best wishes Brian.

I reckon we can probably take a guess as to where that car came from and who brought it over, too! - and therefore guess as to the validity of the MOT.

I'm being really serious here - you can choose to listen or ignore me! - but go and get a decent ride in a Trabi, and try if you can to actually drive one in a variety of different conditions. Speak to an owner (in person, not just on the forums), and do all this before getting drawn in by a shiny looking example at a classic car dealer.

They're really simple cars, so long as you understand what you're doing, they can be fixed with very basic tools and often in very little time... however, as an ageing 2-stroke engine with very little power, hauling around 650kgs, things can and do go pop from time to time. This could happen to a shiny and expensive dealer car just as easily as it could happen to a fresh and cheap import.

Hi ,mbeamish I have a question I have no doubt that what you say is the truth, so where are you going to get a good cheap one from ,if I import one and its any thing like the Romhome I imported that cost me an arm and a leg and I swore I would never do it again, I have seen a few cheaper ones early on and 30 folk are bidding on that lol ps I would have thought buying from a classic car Garage they must be responsible for selling a Good car ,best wishes Brian.

How do you define 'good' when you're taking about a 30 year old East German 2-stroke?

Dealers do the absolute minimum to cars they sell. They wash and polish and clean but they won't do anything else if at all possible. You would be far better buying a scruffy looking but solid import and spending a little time and money improving it . You will end up with a better more reliable car ,than simply buying a polished one off a dealer. A dealer £2000 car is just as likely to break down and need repairing as a £1200 straight off ebay.

Hi Steve I define good as i do my 30 year old guitars which play better than todays rubbish in yet they are 30yrs old and you are lucky to get one the demand is that great, you know I hear people having a go about the trabi and it was built from nothing if that isn't classed as good I don't know what is and folk are falling over themselves to get one over 30 yrs
latter ,so good means usable .

The point being - you'll get very little extra protection from buying a dealer car. Almost any claim against a dealer could easily be batted away as wear and tear, due to the age of the car.

Hi I have a question for you if you were looking for a Trabant would you go for a excellent body and under carriage or a excellent Engine Gearbox etc,?

Same advice I'd give on any classic car - rust is harder to fix than oily bits! - a Trabi engine and gearbox can be replaced in a morning, they're incredibly simple things, so it's even more applicable than usual.