[AT] Way O.T. Hot spot.-Disposable Cars

[HaliganBar at aol.com]

Larry;

I remember seeing a bunch of the Trabants when I was in Eastern Europe. When 
I was in Poland I saw a couple guys working on the underside of one...to make 
access easier they simply tipped the car over on to it's side. When they were 
done they rolled it back on to it's wheels. When I was there (shortly after 
the reunification) the Germans were trying to figure out what to do with all of 
the Trabants in Berlin. People would drive them from the east to the west and 
just abandon them on the side of the road.

Karl

In a message dated 3/29/04 4:33:12 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
rlgoss at evansville.net writes:

<< When eastern Europe abandoned the Trabant (a really cheap car that made
 the Yugo look like a limousine) the policy was that current owner's
 could continue to use them as long as they would run.  The resale value
 on them was absolutely zero, so when the cars stopped running, they
 would simply be abandoned along the road.  From that point, other owners
 would help themselves to whatever parts they needed to keep their own
 cars running.  The outer shell was plastic (similar to the Saturn) so
 the cars just stayed, and stayed, and stayed.  The last couple of times
 when I've visited Poland, the number of abandoned Trabant's seems to be
 diminishing.  Apparently, they are finally being carted off to
 landfills, sunk in the Baltic, or both.
 
 Larry >>