Well, quite a break from scribing on this organ, but there's not been too much to say.
I'm still not that much further forward with the Barkas hunt. As mentioned earlier the vehicles are rather rare in the UK. I have established contact with a man in London who's selling his, but the process may take a while to complete- we'll just have to wait and see. There are logisitical problems, in that I will have to take someone to Wembley with me in order to bring this particular "Cup" back up the M1 and M90. Moreover, i am on the point of moving into a new flat in Dundee at the beginning of August, which will mean that cashflow for a new motor is likely to be severely restricted until the end of the summer.
On that front, it's good not to be knocking out £100+ quid per month in insurance for a car that only gets driven once in a blue moon, but I still do miss the Trabant. If the Barkas option falls through (and at the moment it does seem to be a prospect about as likely as Gordon Brown holding a referendum on the EU Constitution), I will have little alternative but to source another "plastic dart" in my pursuit of the charmed chalice of a full driving licence. There are several which look in pretty reasonable nick for under 500 Euros on German e-bay at the moment. I've never been that much of a fan of "pimped" Trabis; you know, Kombis turned into mock cement mixers, Trabant Jeeps restyled in the shape of a pina colada with exotic fruit, knackered 601s re-engined with a 6-litre V12, giving them the average speed of a Spitfire on take-off. Maybe as a historian I'm a stickler for authenticity, even if the authentic Trabant is somewhat less exciting than the variants mentioned above.
So in the absence of a Trabant to tell you about, I've been away in Durham watching England thrashing a dismal West Indian side at cricket and beginning to plan for the flit to Jute City; I've also been planning another trip to Estonia for the second half of August where once again I hope to augment my knowledge of the Baltic tongue and set up a few more things out there. Sadly my ZAZ purchase mentioned in February has fallen through; my friend needed the money for her move to Greece, where she has established close diplomatic relations with an Albanian man. So the ZAZ which once had been earmarked for myself is now an "offroader" with an Estonian farmer in Viljandimaa; apparently the man uses it for mushroom picking expeditions, and for supervising the growth of his potatoes. This is the fate of many ZAZs, apparently, in rural Estonia; the car is frankly too embarrassing for most Estonians to be seen in on the republic's highways, although used offroad still as a toy, or for light duties. Probably just as well, then, from my point of view, although a few good ZAZs are for sale on the on-line site soov.ee, so I'm not totally giving up on that one yet.
Hopefully we'll be back motoring by September, frankly we'll need to be, otherwise this blog stands a good chance of atrophying through lack of things to say.
8 comments:
"I will have to take someone to Wembley with me in order to bring this particular "Cup" back up the M1 and M90."
...hold that thought! Tempted to draft a composite motion to my ruling NEC on this issue.
However, the emergence of "mini-Tortoiseshell" means that it currently commands 1,000,000,094 votes to my, err, 1.
LOL!!
I suspect you'll have your hands full preparing for mini-Tortoiseshell, old boy, but I shall keep your emergency composite in mind....
Hi,
I'm really interested in the Trabant and so I have a lot of questions to ask you since you're an owner.
-Can the Trabi go up steep hills?
-Did your Trabi ever break down?
-Did you ever drive your Trabant with a heavy payload? And if so, did your Trabi still perform well?
-What's the top speed you usually get out of your Trabi?
-What kind of mileage does your Trabi get?
-And finally, would you say driving a Trabi is worth it?
Thanks. Sorry about all the questions but it's just because I really admire the Trabant and I never really talked to a Trabi owner and I might purchase one later on.
Hi Todd
Answers to your queries:
1. yes, the Trabant can go up steep hills, though usually at a maximum of 50 km/h (31mph) when loaded with three other adults. It doesn't like hills much.
2. have a look back over this blog- yes, it did break down, the problem being a broken clutch. All Trabi owners are familiar with clutch changes. otherwise, there's very little that can go wrong with the car as it is so simple. other than the clutch, mine did 6000 kms over the last year, pretty much without a hitch.
3. I once drove the Trabant with myself and four others in it- the handling isn;t that great when overloaded. However, I have driven it many times with three other people in the car and a boot full of shopping, and it performed absolutely fine.
4. Maximum speed on the flat is around 60mph, but downhill, and on country roads, i did get mine up to 70. That's only for short bursts though. On the dual carriageway it cruises happily between 55 and 60.
5. I'm not sure what you mean by this question- mine had done 52000 miles by the time I sold it and I did about 3,500 last year. However, well maintained, the car will go well for any distance. there are Trabi owners in the UK Trabant owners club who have done 300,000 miles in theirs.
6. Yes yes yes. the Trabant is such an odd little car, but great fun to drive and everyone comments or smiles at it. they are nowhere near as bad as people who don't know what they're talking about make out. If you don't need to get anywhere very fast, and aren;t averse to the occasional bout of roadside maintenance, the Trabi is an absolute cracker of a car.
I'm really missing the one I sold, actually, and may get another later in the year iof this Barkas plan doesn't happen.
Good luck finding one!
This isn't a comment on the article per se, but just a wish of good luck with the impending move(s).
Thanks for answering my questions. About that one concerning "mileage", I'm from the USA and we typically use it to describe miles per gallon. We also do use it for total miles on a car.
So the Trabi sounds like it's a tough little car. Some of my friends said it seemed very underpowered and wouldn't be able to go up a hill or much of anywhere. But I suppose it could because of its duroplast body. I just wanted to check with a true owner.
In the part of the USA where I live, most people are obsessed with getting Japanese cars or Chevy Cavaliers. :-P And when I researched on the Trabant, it seemed like an awesome car since I'm not concerned about things like A/C or power-windows. lol
If I buy one, the only problem I think would be having it pass emissions tests. :-P But that's to worry about when I can find one.
Thanks again for your Trabi help.
All the best Steeplejack. I will keep you informed of the Red Lichties' progress up the table next season.
Guys (in order)
1. Ewan- many thanks. Will doubtless see you on "Pie & Bovril". Hope Morton's coming season in Div 1 is a good one! Montrose have made a few new signings, with maybe one or two more to come, so hopefully we'l be in the play offs at the end of next season, but that's what we've all been saying for the last ten seasons with frankly little change for our hopes.
2. Todd- I see what you mean now. The Trabi's MPG is about 50mpg in towns, dropping to about 30 on the 'freeway' as you guys call it. It only has a twenty five litre tank so a tank of that, if you just drive around towns for short hops, can last about 350kms. (about 200-220 miles). Not ideal for driving from Miami Beach to Washington DC, but fine for small journeys.
3. Maalie- thanks. My plan is to see all the derbies in the coming season so maybe we'll compare notes.
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