🚀 go-pugleaf

Mr. Horning is absolutely correct.  There are Trabants in the US... about 100
known cars, most in museums, but some driven daily.  There are indeed a couple
in the DC metro area.

For your information, there _were_ no emissions or safety requirements prior
to 1967, so any vehicle which could meet basic lighting requirements was
street-legal.  In fact, there were several companies which specialized in
these vehicles which would be mistaken for golf carts today.

And why should "tiny, unsafe" cars be outlawed?  Even a Trabbie is safer than
a motorcycle in a crash!

There is a whole car culture built around these mini-cars. Some major
companies also made mini-models. Sometimes these were 3-wheelers to get
around the European automotive taxes, but most often they were small, basic
urban transportation. Examples include BMW, Morgan, Subaru, and Honda. None
of these are very common in the US, but plentiful in Asia and Europe.

Bill Elliott
1964 Trabant P60
600CC, 2 stroke, 27hp, 65mph max.... not often driven on Interstates


In article <35bea91d.461633@news.pipeline.com>,
  whorning@pipeline.com wrote:
> bentley@access.digex.net.nyetspam wrote:
>
> >Walt Horning <whorning@pipeline.com> said something like:
> >: I saw a strange sight on the interstate this evening. It as a Trabant,
> >: a car made at one time in the former East Germany.
> >
> >[snip]
> >
> >: I also question the wisdom of allowing too small a vehicle on the
> >: interstates, but I know its a free country and they can take their
> >: lives in their own hands if they want.
> >
> >Actually Trabants have never been legal in the US. They can pass neither
> >federal safety nor emissions requirements, and while it is POSSIBLE to
> >spend a quarter million on, say, a Ferrari F50 to get it up to spec, a)
> >who in their right mind would spend that much on the world's cheapest car
> >(the Trabbie) b) I have serious doubts as to whether its fiberglass
> >unibody can be made to withstand a 30 mph frontal crash, regardless of
> >money.
> >
> >I doubt very seriously that you saw a Trabant on a US Interstate.
>
> Having seen hundreds of them when living in Germany and having see the
> Trabant logo made me a believer.
>
>

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