Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Full list of Trabants sold at classic auctions over the last few years (scroll down for pics and details)...quite variable
https://www.glenmarch.com/cars/results? ... ld_cars=0#

Lo and behold I find a Trabant has sold at quite a recent Auction at Killingworth. just down the road on 15th July 2023.

https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/ ... e/?lot=348

Neil

[xantia_v6]

A Daf?

[Zelandeth]

Knew you'd find your way to the answer!

The key shared points with the Invacar of course being:

[] 2 cylinders.
[] Extensive use of plastics in the body.
[] Air cooled engine.
[] Derided by the masses and subject to a load of urban myth and misinformation - even skimming the Wikipedia page I can see a couple of errors right off the bat. The mention of the engine being based on a pre-war DKW design for a start...it isn't.

I've had several people tell me that it's a car I really need to try out, but I've never come across one before at a price I was willing to pay. However the current owner of this one has always fancied a shot of a P4, and I've always fancied a shot of a Trabant, so we've come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. I reckon the value for this is probably somewhere around the £2-2500 mark. Needs a little bit of work but at least is in regular use, unlike many.

Will be interesting that's for sure. First left hand drive car I'll have owned (driven plenty), first column shift (as above), and first two stroke. First two stroke *car* I think I'll have driven...handful of commercials with Detroits in, but they're rather a different animal! Don't imagine a snowmobile really counts either. I'll be brushing up on how they need to be treated a bit differently to look after them before heading off to collect it.

[mickthemaverick]

Excellent, got one right for a change!!

[CitroJim]

Wow! That's certainly going to be an adventure Zel... Magic

[MattBLancs]

Trabant: definitely interesting. Two stroke I've no direct experience of but think have read loads of idling is something they hate. Are the plastic panels easy to repair if damaged, or is it full replacement for anything above a scratch etc?


Bedford Rascal: my dad used to run about in them as work vans, so I have spent many a happy hour riding in the back of those (and C15D and little Renault van?)
The rascal was ridiculously short geared and wore engines out, I'm sure one had three rebores and got rid as was begining to struggle starting (and there's no fourth oversize!!) Very loveable things though, just wouldn't fancy a crash in one

[CitroJim]

No worries if you need any 2-stroke advice Zel... Not automotive but I have had loads of experience with all sorts of 2-stroke engines all throughout my life, everything from lawn mowers to racing karts and multi-cylinder motorcycles...

I love them. The noise and the aroma, especially the aroma, especially if a bit of proper Castrol R-40 has been added to the petroil mix

Two-stroke diesels are a bit special too... Especially in Deltic form

Matt, I believe the Trabby body panels were made from old rags bonded together by resin so if need be, a visit to Primark will provide the raw materials for a repair

[mickthemaverick]

Matt, I believe the Trabby body panels were made from old rags bonded together by resin so if need be, a visit to Primark will provide the raw materials for a repair

Not really necessary to visit Primark, just pass the damaged part across the bows of a lycra clad cyclist and you will have an instant repair!!

[CitroJim]

Matt, I believe the Trabby body panels were made from old rags bonded together by resin so if need be, a visit to Primark will provide the raw materials for a repair

Not really necessary to visit Primark, just pass the damaged part across the bows of a lycra clad cyclist and you will have an instant repair!!

[myglaren]

Take a page from the Oli book, resin impregnated cardboard.

[Gibbo2286]

A cop friend asked me to look over a car he was going to buy, sticking out from under the filler on the sills was a whole concerto of sheet music, that'll fix it.

[Zelandeth]

Bedford Rascals are great fun and cheerful things to drive - just not on a windy day in northern Scotland. That is moderately terrifying.

I imagine repairing Duroplast body panels would be exactly the same as repairing fibreglass really. While the materials are made quite differently, at the end of the day they're unstressed reinforced plastic panels.

Duroplast is made up by heating up layers of phenolic resin powder and cotton fibres in a high temperature press. The process on a production line being much more similar to pressing a steel panel. The "cardboard" thing is a result of somewhat self depreciating humour East German humour, combined with the fact that in an accident it tends to tear looking a bit like cardboard. Similar to fibreglass though it dissipates a whole bunch of energy while doing so, so it actually fares far better in an accident than people think.

To repair though I'd just treat it the same as fibreglass.

One day I do have half a plan to own something running a two stroke diesel - but that's a good way off yet. 40s era GM PD4014 or very close derivatives being the target. I have had the pleasure of driving one once and was blown away by it. Look at what a coach over here was in the 40s...then compare to one of those. Power steering, power brakes that can stop the rotation of the earth, and the ability to cruise comfortably well in excess of 70mph...plus the soundtrack of a straight six two stroke Detroit to go with it.

[MattBLancs]

Not a "Commer Knocker" then?



I'm sure I read of someone who was making a car using a TS3 - but I can't find any reference to it online at all now, sadly!

Edit: I wasn't dreaming it, here you go:

[CitroJim]

Duroplast is made up by heating up layers of phenolic resin powder and cotton fibres in a high temperature press.

Rag-reinforced Bakelite!!!

[MattBLancs]

An advanced fused composite!

Have to say it doesn't sound very "do a bit of that in your garage" compatible! But if you can just treat it like fiberglass and slap resin and matting at it maybe it's nowt to worry about