Immortal Trabants / Nesmrtelni Trabanti

Do you remember Trabant cars?? The “Trabant people” had a an important get-together the day before yesterday. About 150 of them met in Breclavsko from where (as a crowd was watching) they proceeded to drive in a colony to the towns of Lednice and Mikulkov. Many Trabants had actually an improved design such as stronger engines, modernized interiors (leather seat covers or inbuilt CD players), or were even re-built into cabriolets. This meeting wasn’t supposed to be just a “show-off” session for the Trabant owners; they also got the chance to buy spare parts for their four-wheeled babies, which are no longer available on a general market.

For me Trabant was without a doubt one of the main symbols of communism; the characteristic smell and sound one got to experience when one of those cardboard beasts drove by is just unforgettable….The Trabant manufacturing was initiated in 1958 by a company from East Germany (VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Swickau) and ended in 1991.

A few years later one could hardly even spot one on the Czech roads – everyone was sick of them and the owners were getting rid off them left and right. The word “trabant” means “fellow traveler” in German. Originally Trabant was supposed to be a three-wheel motorcycle but the VEB changed their mind at the last minute. What is also interesting is that since the beginning of its production Trabant’s design had not gone through one upgrade (as it was with other communist cars such as Skoda). More on the history of Trabant can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant.

CZ: Pamatujete se na trabanty??? Cesti “trabantari” meli na Breclavsku predevcirem sraz! Seslo se jich vice nez 150 a pak se jich cely voj pred kolonou divaku produciroval do Lednice a Mikulkova. Mnoho trabantu jejich majitele vlastnourcne vylepsili a to tim, ze jim dali silnejsi motory, moderni interery (kozene potahy, CD prehravac…) a nebo je premnenili na kabriolety. Tento sjezd ale pry nebyl urcen jen k vychlubovani, ale take aby trabantari meli prilezitost koupit si nahradni dily, ktere uz dnes bezne k dostani nejsou.

Trabant byl pro me bez debaty jednim z hlavnich symbolu komunismu; ten charakteristicky smrad a ramus, ktery jste zakusil/a, kdyz kolem vas jeden projel se proste neda zapomenout….Vyroba trabantu byla zahajena vychodo-nemeckou firmou VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Swickau v roce 1958 a zkoncila az v roce 1991. Jiz v polovine 90. let ale zacali mizet z ceskych silnic. Slovo “trabant” znamena v nemcine “pruvodce”. Puvodne to mela byt tri-kolova motorka, ale plany byly na posledni chvili zmeneny. Co je zajimave je, ze behem 30ti let jeho vyroby, puvodni model Trabantu – oproti autum jako byla Skoda – nebyl ani jednou zaktualizovany do podoby novejsiho modelu(vice o historii Trabantu najdete na http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant).

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