Editing Trabant (section)

=== {{anchor|1990s and beyond}}1990s and later ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F086568-0046, Leipzig, ausgeschlachteter PKW Trabant (Trabbi).jpg|thumb|alt=Junked, vandalised car|Many Trabant vehicles were abandoned in Germany after 1989 (this one photographed in [[Leipzig]], 1990). A [[Volkswagen Golf Mk2|Volkswagen Golf]] can be seen parked in the background. Private brands like [[Volkswagen]] spilled over into East Germany after its state-owned auto industry collapsed.]]
[[File:Trabi World (Berlin-Mitte 2013) 1209-1089-(120).jpg|thumb|Trabi World, a tourist attraction in Berlin featuring a Trabant museum and a self-driven tour of Berlin in Trabants.]]
According to Richard Leiby, the Trabant had become "a symbol of the technological and social backwardness of the East German state."<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard A. Leiby|title=The Unification of Germany, 1989–1990|url=https://archive.org/details/unificationofger00leib|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|page=[https://archive.org/details/unificationofger00leib/page/185 185]|isbn=978-0-313-29969-8}}</ref> Trabants became a symbol of the GDR's serious flaws in the West after the fall of the [[Berlin Wall]], when many were abandoned by their Eastern owners who migrated west. Unlike the [[Lada Niva]], [[Škoda 120|Škoda Estelle]], [[Polski Fiat 125p|Polski Fiat]] ([[Fiat 125|design licensed]] from the Italian car manufacturer) and [[Zastava Koral|Yugo]], the Trabant had negligible sales in Western Europe.

A Trabant could be bought for as little as a few [[Deutsche Mark]]s during the early 1990s, and many were given away. Although prices recovered as they became collectors' items, they remain inexpensive cars. In her ''Bodywork'' project, [[performance artist]] [[Liz Cohen]] transformed a 1987 Trabant into a 1973 [[Chevrolet El Camino]].<ref>{{cite news
 |last        = Keats
 |first       = Jonathon
 |title       = High-Performance Artist
 |publisher   = [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]
 |date        = July 2003
 |url         = https://www.wired.com/2003/07/high-performance-artist/
 |access-date = 1 December 2016
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20161201143910/https://www.wired.com/2003/07/high-performance-artist/
 |archive-date = 1 December 2016
}}</ref> The Trabant was planned to return to production in [[Uzbekistan]] as the Olimp during the late 1990s,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/1997/08/16/050.html |title=Trabant Clunks Back to Life |publisher=Moscowtimes.ru |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211234731/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/1997/08/16/050.html |archive-date=11 February 2008  }}</ref> but only one model was produced.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/040Compecon/Soviet/Uzbek/040900autos.txt |title=Automobile Industry in Uzbekistan |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110703225339/http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/040Compecon/Soviet/Uzbek/040900autos.txt |archive-date=3 July 2011  }}</ref>

[[File:Trabant P50 or 60 during the First Trabant Rally.jpg|thumb|alt=White Trabant with lettering, with the Capitol Building in the background|A Trabant during the first Parade of Trabants in 2007]]

Former Bulgarian [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria)|Foreign Minister]] and [[Atlantic Club of Bulgaria]] founding president [[Solomon Passy]] owned a Trabant which was blessed by [[Pope John Paul II]] in 2002 and in which he took [[Secretary General of NATO|NATO Secretaries General]] [[Manfred Wörner]], [[George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen|George Robertson]], and [[Jaap de Hoop Scheffer]] for rides. In 2005, Passy donated the vehicle (which had become symbolic of Bulgaria's NATO accession) to the [[National Historical Museum (Bulgaria)|National Historical Museum of Bulgaria]].<ref name="vesti">{{cite news|url=http://www.vesti.bg/?tid=40&oid=752914|title=Соломон Паси подари трабанта си на НИМ|date=13 July 2005|publisher=Вести|language=bg|access-date=13 November 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718003113/http://www.vesti.bg/?tid=40&oid=752914|archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> In 1997, the Trabant was celebrated for passing the [[moose test]] without rolling over, as the [[Mercedes-Benz W168]] had; a [[Thuringia]]n newspaper's headline read, "Come and get us, moose! Trabi passes A-Class killer test".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.drive.com.au/drive/new-car-comparison/petite-feat-20100824-13odc.html |title=Petite feat |publisher=drive.com.au |date=6 May 2005 |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325180528/http://news.drive.com.au/drive/new-car-comparison/petite-feat-20100824-13odc.html |archive-date=25 March 2012  }}</ref>

The Trabant entered the world of [[diplomacy]] in 2007 when Steven Fisher, [[Deputy chief of mission|deputy head of mission]] at the British [[Embassy]] in [[Budapest]], used a 1.1 (painted as close to [[British racing green]] as possible) as his [[diplomatic car]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.politics.hu/20081204/british-deputy-ambassadors-ride-small-and-green |title=British Deputy Ambassador's ride small and green |publisher=Politics.Hu |access-date=28 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112943/http://www.politics.hu/20081204/british-deputy-ambassadors-ride-small-and-green/ |archive-date=21 July 2011  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = http://totalcar.hu/magazin/szerelem/drtrabi/ | title = A brit nagykövethelyettes Trabantja ("The British Deputy Ambassador's Trabant") | publisher = TotalCar.hu Ltd. | first = Csikós | last = Zsolt | date = 10 November 2008 | access-date = 5 October 2012 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110812132127/http://totalcar.hu/magazin/szerelem/drtrabi/ | archive-date = 12 August 2011}}</ref> American Trabant owners celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall with the Parade of Trabants, an annual early-November rally held in [[Washington, D.C.]] The event, sponsored by the privately owned [[International Spy Museum]], includes street tours in Trabants, rides, live German music and displays about East Germany.<ref>{{cite web|date=7 November 2020|title=14th Annual Parade of Trabants|url=https://www.spymuseum.org/past-events/14th-annual-parade-of-trabants-virtual/2020-11-07/|access-date=15 April 2021|website=International Spy Museum|publisher=[[International Spy Museum]]}}</ref>