The Trabant: Celebrating East Germany's iconic vehicle

The Trabant was to the East what the VW Beetle was to the West — a vehicle for the masses. It was cheap to produce, with an outer body made of hard plastic. The car's moment in the spotlight came with the fall of the Berlin Wall, as citizens of the GDR spilled over the newly open East-West border in their "Trabis." There are still more than 30,000 Trabants on the streets of Germany today.

The Trabi was the dream of many East Germans — and the butt of many jokes in the West. Still, it was the most popular car in the GDR, and, even today, the Trabi has fans all over Germany and beyond. This image shows a convention in 2019 where hundreds of fans gathered at the 25th International Trabi Meeting in the eastern German town of Anklam.

At the five-day meet-up, more than 800 cars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Norway were registered to participate. The list of events included engine-throwing and pulling a Trabant through an obstacle course. The car's name means "satellite" or "companion" in German.

But not everyone sought such strenuous activities. These gentlemen celebrated Father's Day in retro suits. In the GDR, receiving a Trabi was a reason to celebrate, as well. If you wanted a car in the country where supply of pretty much anything was chronically tight, you had to sign up on a list and be patient. A waiting time of over 10 years wasn't unusual.

Trabi enthusiasts take good care of their cars, such as this Trabant 600. And original owners in the former GDR also had to treat their automobiles with kid gloves. Spare parts were extremely hard to come by and construction quality was poor, with the body of the car made of duroplast, a hard plastic made from recycled cotton waste.

When you finally received your Trabant, you couldn't drive around as carefree as these guys at the Anklam convention. You had to keep track of how much gas was still in the tank — regular Trabis didn't have a fuel gauge. The only sign that the car was running out of fuel was when the engine started sputtering. That was the driver's cue to find a gas station, and fast.

The meeting in Anklam wasn't just host to regular Trabis. The iconic car was turned into this firefighter version by Trabant enthusiasts themselves. No word on whether it has ever been used in an actual emergency.

The convention wasn't the only place to spot an unusual Trabi. On April 1, 2018, police in the eastern-German city of Görlitz presented this Trabant 601 as part of their new fleet. Excited Trabant fans, however, were soon disappointed when it turned out the cute crime fighting machine was nothing but an April Fools' joke.

This Trabi convertible on the other hand is real. What would you call the color — Panama-green or Capri-green perhaps? Though the Trabant was built in the GDR, which restricted where its residents could travel, the names of the nuances it came in were rather exotic. In addition to the greens, you could also get the car in Bali-yellow or Persian-orange, for example.

The Trabant wasn't exactly known for its comfort. Passengers in the backseat had very little room. That's different in this deluxe version. For friends of the cult car, it's the best of both worlds: They can revel in nostalgia while also stretching out their legs. A Trabi dream come true!

The Trabi also has fans in the United States, not least of whom is the Hollywood star Tom Hanks. The actor fulfilled a dream back in 2014, when he became the proud owner of this sky-blue Trabant P 601 de luxe. But, rather than driving it down California's streets, he said he wanted to have it exhibited in a Los Angeles automobile museum.