Brett Neely

Modded Trabant in Eisenhuettenstadt, Germany, Fall 2007

It was small, cramped and ugly, made partially out of plastic, powered by what was essentially a very dirty lawnmower engine and was the epitome of the East German consumer economy – the legendary Trabant.

The waiting time to get one was sometimes over a decade. They weren’t especially reliable but mechanically simple enough to fix yourself. And they last forever, around 40,000 of them are still on the road nearly 20 years after production stopped.

For years, there have been rumors in Germany that someone would come up with a new Trabant, not unlike the new Mini. And now my friend Kristen has confirmed that it’s happening: A German company says it’s making an electro-Trabi with a solar cell on the roof to help charge the battery (I guess that will atone for the old Trabi’s horrible emissions).

I’m guessing they hope this will work a lot like the  Mini reinvention did. There’s certainly a built-in audience worldwide that came to love the ugly little ducklings. There was a movie, Go Trabi Go, there are Trabi clubs across the country and you can even get a guided tour of Berlin in one.

I’m going to try and track down the story and see if I can get a ride in one. I’ll be curious to see if they can sell the idea of merging eco-chic with East German retro-ugly.

And now for something completely awesome, the Knight Rider intro, as re-imagined for a Trabi: