After the collapse of the Berlin wall, most of the 2.5 million or so Trabant cars built in communist East Germany were quickly disposed of by their fortunate owners. As a poignant reminder of the 'Cold War', a few of the noisy, smoke-billowing, cardboard-bodied Trabants ended up in the hands of collectors.
But we can't imagine too many have been hot-rodded in the manner of Robert Lange's sinister-looking Trabbie.
Pictured outside the Sydney Opera House during its current Around-Oz tour, is Robert's 1988 P601 Trabant. The 28 year-old German backpacker bought the car about five years ago, complete with its original two-stroke, 600cc engine pumping out around 26hp.
He then spent the equivalent of $17,000 tuning it into the cool cruiser it is today, including getting the roof chopped, front disc brakes fitted and adding a front spoiler and alloy wheels. The rear bench was removed to make room for the 'music equipment'.
Robert and the car arrived in Sydney in late-December and after securing the required permits for driving the left-hooker, the pair have traveld around 15,000kms including trips to Ayers Rock and up to North Queensland.
Not surprisingly, the low-slung Trabbie has attracted plenty of attention from passengers by, as well interest from the police on a couple of occasions.
So why a Trabant? "It's my first love." says Robert. "I'm divorced and I can't see my daughter... so I've come to Australia and started a new life, and my Trabant is all that I have. And it's a really different adventure to go with this car around Australia and to the Outback."
Apart from a few minor mechanical dramas the car has performed faultlessly.
"In a thunderstorm the mechanics of the wipers were broken and blocked the motor, so the motor burned out," Robert said. "So I'm traveling without wipers at the moment. But in April a mate from Germany is coming over and bringing out new parts..."
Robert and his Trabant plan to stay in Australia for 12 month. To follow their travels visit www.opentrabi.de.

Unique Cars #259