Classic car
Trabi, Wartburg & Co: So much GDR cars are worth today
After the fall of the wall, many owners could not get rid of them quickly enough, today they are asked as a classic car: car classic from the GDR. How many of these vehicles are there?
When the wall had fallen, they rolled over the border: Trabant, Wartburg & Co. After that, many East Germans could not get rid of the simply designed GDR cars with their stinking two-stroke engines. The longing for automotive modernity from the West was too great. But 35 years after the GDR disappears, the vehicles are now very popular as a classic car.
For a Trabant 601 in an flawless condition, collectors pay up to 7,000 euros – more than twice as much than in 2018. This can be seen from Classic Data market observation data. The Bochum company specializes in value analyzes on the classic car market. For the Wartburg 353 as a limousine, almost 10,000 euros are due in top condition today. He also doubled his value in seven years – depending on the condition.
Especially rare models traded for over 100,000 euros
The value of the Wartburg 311 has also doubled in the usual design of a four -door limousine. According to the analysis, almost 16,600 euros are possible for a model in top condition. The extremely rare coupé can even bring almost 35,000 euros.
It becomes even more expensive for interested parties of the EMW 327. The convertible and coupés built in small numbers are practically identical to the model of the same name by BMW until 1941 in Eisenach. According to Classic Data, collectors pay over 100,000 euros for copies in the best condition.
It is a development that surprises even proven experts such as the Thuringian classic car specialist Veit Kohl. There are hardly any comparable vehicles that would have gained in such value, according to the expert for historical vehicles. Most GDR cars are still “folded down” in the east of the country, said Kohl. For many collectors, they have now achieved cult status. There is a lot of emphasis on the condition of the vehicles. As the most original condition and the most completely documented history are as possible, Kohl is in demand.
Kohl does not believe that the increase in value will continue to continue in this way. Individual very rare models will always be traded high, the expert believes. For everyone else applies: “It is probably foreseeable that we have reached the peak because who else wants to buy it?”
Thousands of GDR vehicles are still approved
According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), around 8,900 vehicles from VEB Automobilwerke Eisenach (mostly Wartburg) were still approved last year – around half of their owners are older than 60 years.
There are much more “Trabis”: According to KBA, around 40,800 VEB Sachsenring vehicles were on Germany at the same time. Apparently they still enjoy great popularity in all ages. More than every second Trabi owner is younger than 60 years. Around 2,800 of them are even under 30. So they were only born after the last Trabant rolled off the assembly line in Zwickau in 1991.
Special classic car meetings
Several classic car meetings specialize in GDR vehicles-including the Zwickau Trabant and Eastern Vehicle Meeting, the International Eastern Block Vehicle Meeting in Pütnitz on the Baltic Sea, the Trabant meeting in Anklam and the East Mobile meeting in Thale in the Harz. Whether Trabant, Wartburg, Simson-Moped or IFA truck: The lovingly polished vehicles also attract many spectators. Some “GDR” country license plates can still be seen on the classic cars.
dpa
Source: Stern
