There was a ideological mindset amongst architects satirized by Tom Wolfe in his book "From Our House to Bauhaus." It was an amalgam of Louis Sullivan's "Form Follows Function" prescription and socialist-inspired deification of the "Masses." These notions were in place to some degree the year I took a class in architectural design, and still persist in some architectural and industrial design circles.
From that point of view it follows that the East German
Trabant, produced 1957-1991, theoretically had the makings of an outstanding automobile design. After all, it was a basic, function-focused "people's car" served up by a communistic state.
Many theories have a kind of beauty and perfection -- until they are tested by reality. The reality for the Trabant was that it was inadequate compared to most other cars of its era. Trabants I saw in Hungary in the late 1990s seemed pathetic when compared to that other "people's car" the Volkswagen in its late-1950s guise.
Let's take a look. The images below show the Trabant 601, produced 1963-1991.
Gallery
Trabants had a cage frame to which panels made from a kind of plastic were attached. This was not the best surface for paint, so most Trabants had a dull appearance, painted in light colors that tended to disguise highlights that normally flatter a car's shape if the shape is a good one.
Combined front and rear views. High-style features include headlights with slightly "frenched" bezels and fin-like rear fender extensions that in combination give the a car a bit more physical and visual length.
Two publicity photos. This Trabant has chromed hubcaps and a chromed rain gutter strip above the windows. Note the dull finish. Wheels are small, but this is common to many small cars, even though it gives such cars a toy-like appearance. The Volkswagen Beetle, on the other hand, had more normal wheels, giving it a purposeful look.
So much for Trabant's proletarian roots.
