In the end of the 80th on a holiday in austria a couple with a barkas arrived at the camping place. The next morning a carpet was holding a open motor with all parts around, couple wat walking tot the small city to buy replacements. The say it's like a bycicle motor not a complex system. And after an hour of 2 they left with their barkas.
A wonderful piece of history!!! BTW, I found your channel because I own a Lada Niva 2121, just like the one you just buy. I would love to convert that to electric as well. Great Channel!!
Very interesting! I would definitely fix or upgrade the brakes as a priority. Then sort out the steering. Ultimately it would be great to convert to an EV, you could line the entire floor with lithium batteries.
3 things are important for Barkas steering. 1. The original tall side 6,70-13 tyres, (you can buy it today fresh aftermarket ones) 2. the original big steering wheel (this old model has the old 311 Wartburg steering wheel later it changed) 3. the front suspension spindle bolt has pin bearing which needs good lubrication. If water get insinde it can rost under a week A good adjusted (dual-duplex front brakes-need some knowledge to adjust properly) and good ferodo materials use brake system works like any other car from this period. The VW T1 has worse brake than Barkas. (simplex front and rear also) The blue smoke looks bad today but it is less harmfull than a modern diesel car's unvisible cancer causing particles. Two stroke engines don't produce NOx !
@@Simon-dm8zv So do 4 stroke engines. The difference being one produces the blue smoke due to oil and petrol not being fully combusted and the other produces blue smoke when the engine has some sort of internal failure that compromises the combustion capability.
Diesel engines, at least here in the US, are cleaner than even four stroke gasoline engines, even in this regard, and this holds on the road as well as during the tests. Mind you, US gasoline engines are substantially cleaner than Euro-Spec ones, because the US has such strict laws and standards for emissions. California's are stricter than the Feds, but the Federal Standards are stricter than any standard formulated by any non-US government. So this is, by comparison, horrible. But that's the US. Europe is perhaps a little different, as was discovered during the diesel emissions scandal.
I had a 1990 Barkas pickup in UK in 2018 I never found it a problem to drive. Brakes worked well and steering although slightly heavy whilst low speed manoeuvring was never a problem. The engine was easy to work on and could be dropped out from underneath in a short time the reason I sold it was the chassis center box section was getting thin due to rust. ( I still doubled my money though when I sold it). Great vehicles and so much more cooler than a VW bus.
Reminds me of my 1966 VW bus I had back in the mid 80s. The main difference was it would reliably take us on a 500 mile vacation at highway speeds, without breaking down, and no smoke!
I can almost smell it. Wonderful. It bring me back to Hungary in the old days. My uncle had a flatbed version. I remember the doors being rather "clunky".
I spent my summer holidays in a small Hungarian village from 1995 to 1999 and if I remember correctly the owner of the ABC (grocery store) had a grey Barkas van exactly like this one. For only having a few hundred inhabitants there was surprisingly much infrastructure in that tiny hamlet - said grocery store, an even smaller hardware store, a post office and several slightly dodgy-looking bars/cafés. I seem to remember two wine/beer houses and one kávéház called something like Fortuna presszó. That far out in the sticks there were still plenty of Eastern Bloc cars in the late 90s, Trabant, Wartburg, Skoda, the occasional Lada and once I even saw an UAZ 469. I've got relatives in eastern Germany and spent one memorable summer holiday there as a 5-year-old riding in my aunt's blue Trabant and my uncle's red Lada, that probably sparked my fascination with communist cars. The motorways were amazing too, incredibly bumpy concrete panels and my parents' Mitsubishi van wasn't exactly known for its refined smooth ride. I really enjoyed the bumps as a kid though.
My short summary of socialist vehicles. 20 years the same, no power, high consumption, loud noise, no power steering, no air conditioning, no electric windows. Well, let's not forget the winter starts. The whole family made money on the vehicle for several years. Spare parts not available. I know a lot of criticism, but these are my memories of socialist vehicles.
It’s an normal ddr two Stroke I think it’s the Same like in the Wartburg.And the Esst German cars were all Advanced by the Time there were Build but there were Build a Long Time without any big upgrades. For example the Trabant 601 was Build from 1959 Till 1989
The basic construction of engine goes back to 1939 DKW F9. Due to WWII this car started into production from 1950 as IFA F9 in East Germany and DKW 3=6 in West Germany. This basic 990 cc 3-cyl water cooled engine was produced for Wartburg cars and these cute vans until 1989 - a mere 50 years! Nothing to do with Trabant (air-cooled!) or Soviet Union....
All DDR vehicles were front engine I think. Czechoslovak Skodas and Tatras and Soviet Zaporoshez were rear-engine designs. Tatra built luxury cars like the 87 with an air-cooled rear-mounted V8 engine! A bit like a Corvair on steroids I guess.
Ha! Brilliant..Judging buy the way it drives and the amount of fumes produced, It's almost as if the manufacturer actually set out to kill the occupants and anyone unfortunate enough to be passing by! ☺
What an awesome piece of history in excellent condition! As cool as it would be to make it an EV, it seems a shame to take away its smokey soviet soul!
The Barkas is notorious for his spectacular tendency to nosedive and get the rear wheels off the ground (when not loaded) (search for "Barkas braking" on RU-vid) when braking is applied hard, so yes, Barkas have an effective braking system.
Thank you, guys, for the answers. I am asking so that I could judge what the chances are to rescue such a vehicle nowadays. Bad brakes would clearly mean the car is not fit for traffic, so that's not desired.
