@@TrabantusachannelGood job ! I rented one in Hungary in 1989 A 601 De Luxe Combi . 15 DM a day -back then 8 Dollar a day . It was a well let’s say it friendly a dragon to drive , but a fun we had ! So I can understand , If you can earn some money with things you like , continue !
Sad fact is that Trabant car was practically all they could drive in former communist East Germany, that was the only car they made! No imports except Lada, Scoda and some other russian cars. My auntie grew up there and when she ordered her car they told her it takes 7 years on the waiting list...
Actually, Western cars were permitted in limited numbers in the DDR. If you had a relative in West Germany who was willing to buy a car for you via the Genex gift catalogue service (at an inflated price in Deutschmarks), then you could choose between a VW Golf (Mk.1, and later the Mk.2), Peugeot 305, Citroën GSA, Fiat 131, Volvo 244 and, in later years, the VW Santana/Passat, Mazda 323, Type 2 bus or transporter, Ford Orion, and from 1988 even the BMW E30 318i or 320i. The DDR Government even allowed a small number of Mercedes W114/115 saloons to be sold to the so-called professional classes, such as senior priests, professors, orchestra leaders, etc. The East German lawyer, Wolfgang Vogel, who brokered many of the East-West spy swaps, was allowed to have a Mercedes W124 300E, one of very few in the DDR before the Wall came down. And here's a thing: via the same Genex service, your West German relative could even buy you a Trabant, Wartburg, Skoda or Lada and it would be supplied to you in a few weeks instead of waiting for years. Hard currency was king, and the DDR was probably the most capitalist-minded of all the communist bloc countries.
@@smhorse Good comment, so if you had cash, the DDR gov was happy to cooperate, BUT you also had to be a supporter of the Party. My Uncle was the chief surgeon at the EAST Berlin Childrens Hospital way back in the 80ties, he was a staunch communist supporter. He was allowed to go over to West Berlin and buy himself an Alfa Romeo, that's how people are treated different in these regimes. He didn't complain, LOL. My Auntie went to order her Trabant and forgot she had left 500 marks in the back of her gov ID passport when she handed it to the "sales official", so when he came back out of the back office he said "you can pick up your Trabant next week." She thought she was a privileged citizen, but later realized the cash had gone, so yes, corruption killed that experience too... I am so glad my dad took us, mum and 5 children and fled that country just before the wall was finished!
