#trabant #gdr #prototyp The Trabant 1.1 is the further development of the Trabant 601 and doesn't look very different to many people, but the connoisseur will immediately see what a Trabant 1.1 is, or what makes such a Trabant so special. But it gets more difficult with this pilot series Trabant, because it was built with many parts of the Trabant 601. For example, the bumpers and the taillights are still the old ones, so from the back you can't tell (except for the 1.1 lettering) that it's a 1.1 Trabant. It is easier to recognize from the front, as a modified hood, which is also made of metal, and a different radiator grille have been installed. On the sides you can recognize it by the tank filler neck and the other wheels. That was it already.
The color is also very rare on this car, it was not available on the Trabant 601 or on the Trabant 1.1 in series production. All in all, you see a Trabant here that is very unlikely to exist again, although it was 100% delivered like this.

I was very fortunate to be able to film this Trabant, and the owners gave me an interview and told all the details and the actual story of how they came about and why they had to restore the Trabant. From the early 1990s to 1995, the Trabant was driven as a normal car and visited many places in Germany, as was common for many at the time.

Differences between the Trabant 1.1 from the pilot series and the later series:

Bumpers, rear lights, axle cups from the Trabant 601.
Engine electrics, still with VW embossing, handmade heat exchanger, Bosch ignition distributor, Weber carburetor and other details. The Weber carburetors made in Italy were installed during the pre-series. There were no handles on the doors.
The color was also only used in these pilot series Trabant 1.1. Unfortunately, no one can say exactly how many had exactly this color, as shown here in the video.

The automobile holy grail, hard to beat in rarity.

pilot series? What is that peculiar?

A pilot series vehicle. Pilot series are used for the last check in order to be able to detect any errors that may still occur. The pilot series follows the pilot series and is also referred to as the pre-series. Products from the pilot series are not normally sold and are therefore correspondingly rare, which is not least reflected in the collector's price.