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.