The Trabant, the German Democratic Republic ( GDR) poster car, has meant many things to many people. For some, it was a symbol of failure; for others, it was a source of nostalgia of more secure days.

It is a windshield into the past-of an alternative socio-economic system, which fizzled out just like an old two-stroke engine; surviving only in picture postcards, toy models and in collector’s memorabilia.