Terrible Cars That Should Have Never Been Sold

Trabant

Most people mention the Lada when asked about cars from the Soviet Union. But ask a Russian who lived through that era what was the most ‘popular’ car of this time, and they’ll say without a doubt that it was the trusty Trabant. The legend of the Trabant was known throughout the world and came to symbolize the West’s beliefs about the Soviet Union.

It was powered by the weakest engine they could find and on a good day, it could reach up to 18 horsepower. However, one of the good things was that it was made entirely out of recycled parts. Revolutionary for its day, the body of the car was recycled from used fiberglass.

Designed during the Fifties, the Trabbie as it is known by those who love it (there are fan groups everywhere who adore the Trabant), it was meant to compete with West Germany’s Volkswagen Beetle. But let’s face it, it may have been known in Eastern Europe as a ‘car of the people’ but a Volkswagen, it was not.

Known for not starting, an exhaust that could be mistaken for a chimney and its absence of brake lights or indicators, it was a death trap on wheels.

In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down and East Germans began flooding into West Germany, can you guess what they were driving? Who’s willing to bet what these same people were driving only a year later?