An old Trabant from the 70's parked right in front of a brutalist building from the 50's. It doesn't get better than this if you happen to have a weak spot for communist creations!
This car has been parked (and mind you, this is not a parking place) in front of the apartment block for at least four years. Wonder why it is in a relatively good condition? I have seen the owner a few times cleaning the car and pumping the tires. Crazy, huh?
Have you ever seen a Trabant in real life? It's a bizarre car, to say the least.
Thanks for dropping by!
Dan
Our car is a '95 model and has a non functional right door and a decaying body. It still works.
It sounds a lot like the car me and my girlfriend have right now :) What kind of a car do you have?
Its a Toyota Tamaraw FX 95 model.
Now my father happened to fix the door and it is working now.
Pretty hard on the road because every bump I can feel with my aching back @irreverent-dan
I must say , I really really like this picture. There is something profound about it. That's gas that your man cleans it and pumps the tyres, but doesn't drive it... Like something from a comedy.. :o)
I am glad that you like it, man :) I must say that there's also something creepy about that :)
Ya, I really do, really arty.... There must be some story behind the man who keeps that car going... A bet, a lost relative they cant let go of.. Who knows?
If there was a "Muscovite", "Zaporozhets" or old "Zhiguli", I would think that this photo is from Russia during the USSR
Haha, absolutely! You can still some of those cars here :)
I have never seen a Trabant in real life! But I had the same feeling when I saw Lada's all over Russia while traveling there - other era, and interesting cute little cars between all the brutalist and depressing architecture :D
Haha :) The Lada's are classic! My grandfather used to have a shiny blue Lada :) When did you travel in Russia?
Oh WOW! I love them, they are cute little cars. I traveld through Russia in 2015, stayed for a month. Trans Mongolia Express via Ulaanbaator to Beijing :D
Oh WOW - this must have been a fabulous experience! Did you traveled on your own and do you happen to speak Russian?
P.S. Sorry for the super-late reply :) I kinda took a very looong summer break from Steemit.
Ohhh - summer breaks are a great idea :D
Yes, it was fabulous indeed! I still need to convert all those stories (and pictures! ;-)) to Steemit :D
I don't speak Russian but I did learn the Cyrillic alphabet which was just enough to decipher hamburger, pasta bolognese, computer, auto, taxi, sushi... :')
That's hilarious @irreverent-dan. Maybe he takes the car out when you're not looking. 😂
Haha, yes! I usually walk this street in the morning on my way to work, so maybe he takes it out for a spin during the day 😁
I haven seen quite a few Trabants in my life, but none of them for years. I remember though the exhaust smoke smell of them and the noise :)
Haha, both the exhaust smoke smell and the noise are hard to forget! 😁
Great picture to capture the sense of place. Never heard of the car tho.
Thanks, dude! I think these cars never made it across the Atlantic :)
Such a sick capture!
Thanks man! :)
Hi, dear Dan!
You still can see those cars in Romania, too :)
I'm planning a trip to Bulgaria, maybe we'll have a beer together. Are you on Discord to send you a private message?
Hey Cristina :) That's awesome! You can find me on discord as irreverent-dan#4220
I've written you :)
Yeah rarely I would still see them in Holland, but that was getting more and more like a collectersitem. But they look so cute!
So, if I understand correct....this dude is cleaning the car and maintaining it, but is never driving and it is one the sidewalk??
Weird dude,....weird
You understood correctly, lol :) I wonder how those that live there tolerate him 🙄
I'd be super surprised to see one of these cars in a Western country :)
So... The owner keeps the tires pumped, but never moves it? Does he ever start the engine? If not, I hope he at least drained the fluids before storing it there! It would actually be fun to restore that one and drive it around town.
Nice photo. It does look pretty communist, especially in black and white!
Thank you!
That I don't know! Haha :) Man, the Trabants run on a mixture of oil and gasoline, so you cannot imagine the clouds of white smoke that come out of the exhaust. And the sound of the engine is just ridiculous :)
How is your summer coming along, by the way?
So it's a two stroke engine. That would suck to have to mix gas and oil everytime you had to fill up. It would get old quick.
That car looks like something from the Mr. Bean shows. I can just imagine an entire episode of Mr. Bean pumping the tires and filling it with gas. Hahaha loved those shows.
Yes, having to mix oil with gas must be a pain in the ass. lol
You nailed it with Mr. Bean! It totally looks like a scene from the show haha
Lol... I guess he could retro-fit a better engine to meet emissions rules.
This summer is odd, so far. If all goes well, I may be moving north. Being closer to Canada would be welcome. Maybe they'll let me immigrate.
How are things going for you?
Haha, would you really like to immigrate to Canada? :)
It's been raining every single day for the past 2-3 weeks, so I can't really call it a summer. Which isn't as bad as it sounds because the temperatures stay around the 20-25°C :) What else? I handed in my resignation letter and now they are trying to keep me in the company by offering me more money and the option to work remotely.
Working remotely would have some benefits. Are you looking for a career change?
Ugh... Rain. That was winter, the year I lived in Jerez. It makes getting out for photos difficult. I hope you're finding something enjoyable to do indoors.
Canada would be great, actually, though I would definitely prefer Spain.
Have I ever seen one? I've been traveling with one! How about that? :D Many people had Trabant back in communism.
Haha, and how does it feel to travel in a Trabant? 😁
It was many, many years ago, I was a kid back then and in communist Romania there were not many cars, nor gas for them. So if someone had a car, even a trabant, that was already something. My neighbor had one, they were 5 in that car 😆
Now I guess the lack of safety would freak me out 😁
5 people in Trabant? Jesus Christ! 😁 I don't even want to imagine what would happen if you crash in that thing...
Yeah, two parents and 3 kids :) I don't think if you're familiar with life in Romania before 1989 but back then, if you had a car, you were entitled to 30 liters of gas a month and there was a law about who is allowed to drive each Sunday. One week the plates ending with in an uneven number, next Sunday the even numbers. :D With 30 liters of gas ... you kept your car in the parking lot or in front of the apartment building most of the time :)
Wow, that is something I didn't know... I know that this uneven-even number rule is implemented in some cities nowadays in order to reduce the traffic. But I guess there was much traffic in Romania back in the days
The problem is that roads and parking lots were seized for that many cars. After 1989 everything changed. Now many cities are overcrowded, there are not enough parking lots, in some cities there's nothing that can be done. During rush hours you're stuck in traffic.
My father even owned one maybe 20 years ago. Wow, it was crazy slow and you was supposed to cross your fingers when it was raining... It just tended stopping and refused to start before getting dry. Absolutely amazing!
Man, that must have been terrible, especially when you guys had an important trip to make 😁 I just read that it's a 26 horsepower beast with a top speed of 100 km/h! Did you dad's car have seat belts?
Well, it did have seatbelts as I remember. At least for the front two seats. Backseats... Ugh.. No!
I don't thing it was capable of reaching the 100 km/h. Maybe if the road was going down, yes... Otherwise, sooo difficult!
I wonder to know this car is not use for driving. but why
It was a creepy regime...thats why this car fits perfectly..
Absolutely, and you can still see the remnants of it all over the country.
I don't know much about cars, what I do know is that I love the color grading of this photograph. ✨
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Thank you but the truth is that I din't color grade it that much :) The colors were pretty much the same in real life.
Love the photo. My dad had a Wartburg car before it was hip in Denmark. I loved it but my friends would turn up their noses until they needed a ride or had to move and then they loved it.
Thank you, Lakshmi! The Wartburg is another iconic vehicle, and it's hard to believe that you guys had such a car in Denmark :) How are you doing, by the way?
Thank you my friend, I'm well. Will get back online soon. Doing a fundraiser for a free medical clinic in India and then will have more computer time.
I've never seen or even heard of a Trabant.
I want to thank you, @irreverent-dan, for the support and upvotes on my blog. I truly appreciate it! 🍌
You are very welcome @bananamemos :) I am sorry that I am not super active lately comments-wise, but that (I hope) will change. Take care!
Hey, we do what we gotta do. You'll be back. :-) 🍌
Hey ... this old car looks cool... you must go and try find more :)
In summer you can get a lot good photos when they are on the street :)
There's actually one more in the neighborhood, I posted about it once :) I think you can take awesome street photos during all seasons! Thanks for stopping by dude, and sorry for the super late response.
Hey! How are you? You're not very active on Steemit ... are you on vacation?
Hey dude, nice to hear from you! I am good, I just don't have much time lately for taking photos and posting on Steemit. How are you doing?
Yes, as I thought ... it takes time to post on Steemit...these days I'm studying the G80 because I'm starting a youtube channel on mountain tours and visits to Italian cities
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Beautiful Article friend..Well done...
Nice shot!
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