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The little plastic car that could

The Trabant, a signature socialist-era car, continues to enchant many Czech fans

By Hilda Hoy
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 16th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Martin Štefl, right, an auto mechanic, keeps photos of his eight prized Trabants in his wallet. His younger brother Petr jazzed up his 1991 Trabant with animal-print upholstery.
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Český ráj, north Bohemia
From the middle of this tranquil nature reserve two hours north of Prague, a rumbling can be heard approaching. The racket comes closer and closer until, with a sudden explosion of noise and honking of horns, a stream of bug-eyed classic cars in every color of the rainbow rounds a bend in the road.
Spectators watch, mouths agape, as some 120 Trabants roar by, their engines spluttering and their passengers waving, the auto parade emitting a noxious cloud of exhaust.
Once one of the few cars available behind the Iron Curtain, the iconic communist-era Trabant was produced in the former East Germany from 1957–91. They’re tiny, rattly, belch choking fumes and struggle noisily to reach a peak speed of 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) per hour. But, in recent years, they’ve made a comeback. Today, they’re a collector’s item and a point of warm nostalgia for many Czechs.
At a Trabant rally May 11–13, drivers from around the country and from Poland and Slovakia gathered in Český ráj to share in their love for this kitschy socialist car. Over the weekend event, Trabant fans talked shop, swapped parts and proudly paraded their cars — some still looking as they did under socialism, and some souped-up with neon paint jobs, fancy hubcaps and huge stereos — through area towns and villages.  
One of those drivers, 40-year-old Martin Štefl, lives, breathes and dreams Trabants.
“For me, there is no other car besides the Trabant,” he says. An auto mechanic, he owns no fewer than eight, and, like a proud father, keeps pictures of them in his wallet. As he speaks, he lovingly wipes down his favorite, the blue-and-white 1985 Trabant he’s driving today.
His brother Petr, 32, remembers sitting on his father’s lap at age 3, steering the family’s Trabant as his father drove. In his early teens, he, like his brother, learned to drive on a Trabant, and, at 16, he bought his own.
“Under socialism, everyone had to drive it, and didn’t like it,” he says. He owns just one today, one of the last ones produced in 1991. “Now, everyone is looking for it.”
“It’s not a mass product anymore,” the elder Štefl agrees. “This makes it much more of a collector’s piece than just a car.” This means it’s not just nostalgic older Czechs who are getting into Trabants now. Younger generations with no memories of socialist life are as well, he says.
Fantastic plastic
Jindra Kyselo, one of the organizers of the Český ráj rally, compares it to the hype over the old Volkswagen Beetle. Like the Beetle, Trabants have become a pop culture icon.
The longing for socialist kitsch has been dubbed Ostalgie, a German term that combines the words for “east” and “nostalgia.” In the Czech Republic, one example of Ostalgie is the recent resurgence of old Czechoslovak brands, such as Kofola, a communist-era substitute for Coca-Cola.
Trabants were built of Duroplast, a material that combined plastic with recycled textile fibers. Under the hood is a simple engine that’s easy to fiddle with, says Kyselo, 24. That matters more to him than any Ostalgie.
“They’re something like a big toy for adults,” he says as he deftly steers his beige Trabant, bought six years ago for just 12,000 Kč ($575), down a winding road. He’s since bought a new Škoda for commuting to school because he’d rather protect his prized Trabant from the elements.
Vehicle ownership has been rapidly increasing in this country in recent years, statistics show. But even with all those shiny new cars filling Czech roads, the trusty Trabant will have staying power, Kyselo says.
Also threatening the Trabant’s future have been environmentalism and the move toward lower emissions. Though there’s been rumbling in recent years about taxing the emissions of Trabant cars, Martin Štefl isn’t worried. “That discussion’s been around for a long time,” he says. And, besides, “The Trabant is not the dirtiest car on Czech streets.”

Hilda Hoy can be reached at hhoy@praguepost.com


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