28 Year Old Green Trabant - You Lucky Thing

March 12, 2008

Berlin, DDR Nostalgia, it is such big business. The love for the “simple ways” before the free market and unemployment… forget about being shot on sight it you attempted to go over to the West and the secret police always keeping an eye on you, and it seems like quite a nice life.

The typical life expectancy of a Trabant is 28 years which means they still have some years left on our roads giving little trouble to their owners. It seems that the colour green is seen as very lucky in Germany, so a 28 year old green Trabant means you have something to boast about if you happen to be the lucky owner.

The friendly DDR “green man” on traffic lights, “Ampelmaenchen”, is getting a cult status of his own, towns fight to keep theirs, and there is now even a Mrs Ampelmaenchen.

Berlin and the business of nostalgia is reported on at http://lexeth.blogspot.com/2008/03/berlin-and-business-of-nostalgia.html

Related Posts:

• February 25, 2008 -- Berlin Trabant Tours
• June 2, 2008 -- Contrasts
• May 12, 2008 -- Old cars still kicking… classic cars still on the roads….
• April 23, 2008 -- Cold War Modern
• February 14, 2008 -- Trabant Street Furniture
• February 11, 2008 -- The Life of the DDR
• January 28, 2008 -- Burnt Trabant
• January 23, 2008 -- Trabant - a cheap chic hot rod?
• August 23, 2007 -- Call to save the Berlin Wall
• June 22, 2007 -- The “Stasi Suite” is more expensive than the budget “Pioneer Camp”…..