# On Lake Constance



## tsoc88 (Jun 27, 2007)

Saw these while I was touring Lake Constance on my ED in Sept 2008


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## b-y (Sep 14, 2004)

White car = Taunus (German Ford)
beige car = Trabant (former East Germany)

_Wikipedia:_ Ford Taunus was a range of family cars sold by Ford in Germany and other countries. Models from 1970 onward were similar to the Ford Cortina in the United Kingdom. The model line was named after the Taunus mountain range in Germany and was first made in 1939 and continued through several versions until 1982.

The model shown looks like a 12M P4 from 1962-66 (V4 engine, FWD)


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## sdsanta (Apr 13, 2007)

Cool cars. I stayed at Lindau for a few days on my ED and loved the area.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

In the third picture, there is a Wartburg 353 and Volkswagen Typ 3 (Fastback).

Cool old school cars!


.


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## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Patrick said:


> Cool old school cars!


Cool? Eh...

Trabi was only good for basic transportation, so you don't get rained on. Suspension very uncomfortable, gearshift impossible, brakes a 200 yards planning session (in which the car always had the veto option), heater/defroster merely suggestions and all the horses in the engine were actually tired ponies. Oh, and you had to mix your gas with your oil at the station in a 10 liter special container.

At the age of 5 I learned how to clean up fouled spark plugs, as a matter of roadside survival, being able to reach far away destinations. It would certainly be a fun car to try on today for an hour, but at the time it felt more like a curse.


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## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

In Berlin you can book rides with a Trabi on Trabi-Safari.

http://www.trabi-safari.de/










A communist commercial from 1960






(the Trabant was built without majou changes 1960-1989

And here a You-Tube-Video about the Trabant-plant.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

adc said:


> Cool? Eh....


Well, I am just a fan of old-timers in good shape, even Eastern European cars.

Your Trabant experience(s) sound sort of like my first Käfer, year model 1962! What a pile of junk. And I still own it! :rofl:

.


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## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Patrick said:


> Well, I am just a fan of old-timers in good shape, even Eastern European cars.
> 
> Your Trabant experience(s) sound sort of like my first Käfer, year model 1962! What a pile of junk. And I still own it!


A Käfer... oohh... a real Grand Tourer compared to the Trabant. :rofl:

Some are indeed much cooler than others. There is a guy in my neighborhood running an immaculate red Skoda Felicia convertible, truly a classy car IMO.

http://www.motorbase.com/vehicle/by-id/998/


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## tsoc88 (Jun 27, 2007)

*More From Constance*

Found one more pix from this series.


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## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

Here an article about the Berlin-Trabi-Safari on Spiegel Online:

http://www.spiegel.de/reise/staedte/0,1518,581712,00.html









(c) SPIEGEL


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## X3 Skier (Aug 21, 2005)

Back in the Day, I worked in Parts at a Lincoln Mercury Edsel (yes Edsel) dealership. We also handled Renaults and Skodas. Every time somebody bought a Skoda, there was a good discussion back in the Service and Parts Departments about moving the Dealership so the new Skoda owner could not find us to extract revenge.:angel:

Cheers


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## Alfred G (Apr 1, 2007)

X3 Skier said:


> Back in the Day, I worked *in Parts *at a Lincoln Mercury Edsel (yes Edsel) dealership. We also handled Renaults and Skodas. Every time somebody bought a Skoda, there was a good discussion back in the Service and Parts Departments about moving the Dealership so the new Skoda owner could not find us to extract revenge.:angel:
> 
> Cheers


In Parts?

But Skoda did have beautiful cars back then...


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## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Alfred G said:


> But Skoda did have beautiful cars back then...


The first time I drove one and crossed a railroad track I thought the pogo motion would never end. It was so severe it caused my foot to waver on the gas pedal which created a positive loop of pogo motion. I had to put both feet in to end it.

That's how I found out you are not supposed to leave the front trunk empty. But if you did that, it would exhaust all the horses in the 40BHP engine. Impeccable design, really.


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