Almost 100 Trabants descended on the German capital to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event, which included a tour of the city, took place 25 years to the day since the unification of east and west. Dave Richards was there.
It began in a supermarket car park, which was chosen for its proximity to the recently opened 'Ostel', an authentic East German-style hotel.
Organiser Klaus Brinkmann, who has owned his 1965 P60 Camping since 1990, explained: “We wanted to make a real celebration of the cars we love and the reunification of the city that gave them their notoriety.”
Dominic Russell-Price and partner Christine Blackburn drove their Trabant from Yorkshire to Berlin for the event
As the fume-laden convoy sped off to the West, many onlookers were astonished – and choked – to see the IFA cars head past. The enterprising Marko Strohbach took part in the tour in his 1968 P601 Limousine, complete with six volt electrics, while towing a 1982 IFA QEK Junior Wohn Wagen, or caravan.
Helmut Mann and Dieter Herrmann own a menagerie of DDR vehicles. Here they've re-enacted camouflage and dress uniforms of the hated Border Guards along with a genuine NVA (National People's Army) 1985 Barkas B1000