The Wartburg is dead, long live the Wartburg!
The last Wartburg ever made rolled off the assembly line 25 years ago - and straight into a museum. Since then, this clunky-yet-spunky East German automobile has become a collector's item. Check out why.
East Germany's 'plastic bomber'
They just don't make 'em like they used to. Back in the former East Germany, the Wartburg was a popular alternative to the rickety Trabant. For about 4,000 East German marks extra (about 18,000 in total), comrades could get a car with more horsepower and a slightly less boxy design. The Wartburg also had a faster top speed - 120 kph - "but only going downhill," as the East Germans used to quip.
In AWE
After the first Wartburg was manufactured at the AWE automobile factory in Eisenach in 1955, another 1.2 million units followed. But after the Berlin Wall crumbled, so too did demand for East German cars. All of a sudden, some 6,100 workers were facing an until-then-unheard-of prospect: joblessness.
Cars, but no customers
The level of economic stability in Eisenach, where the Wartburg was assembled, has often been reflected in the number of vehicles parked on the side of the road. By April 1991, "there were streets full of unsold cars," as Harald Lieske, the former head of AES' works council, remembers. In this picture, a row of Wartburgs and Trabants is flanked by the Berlin Wall.
Opel to the rescue
Hope for the thousands of East Germans, who were used to spending their workdays on the assembly line in Eisenach but who feared for their jobs, came in February 1991. That's when Opel broke ground on a new automobile plant for its Corsa and Adam models. Still, half of the people employed in the auto industry in eastern Germany would lose their jobs after reunification.
Leftovers
In all, there were 1.2 million Wartburgs manufactured in Eisenach - compared to around 2.8 million Trabants that were produced in Zwickau, another East German motor city. Today, there are only 7,300 Wartburgs and 33,550 Trabants left that can be legally driven in Germany.
Times of old
Most of the Trabants you see out on the road are in the eastern German state of Saxony, where around 8,000 people still zip around in their plucky, no-frills cars. But the shiniest, best maintained ones can be spotted at old-timer shows around the country. Both the Wartburg and the Trabant still have a special place in many Germans' hearts.
Have car - will travel
Production of the Wartburg began with a model known as the 311, but later models had a more recreational edge. There was the Wartburg Tourist, for instance, or the Wartburg Reise - German for "travel." There was also the Wartburg Camping, which had an extended trunk for all that extra gear and a soft roof that could be peeled back. But all that's nothing compared with…
...waterproof Wartburgs!
Yes, this car could float. Too bad it was never mass-produced. Only a handful of units exist, like the one seen here in a museum in Eisenach.
Under the hood
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but horsepower is not. The Wartburg was equipped with a two-stroke motor that gave it a whopping 110 HP - enough to get it going up to 120 kmh.
Tail end
Some Wartburg owners waited 14 years before their pre-ordered vehicle was delivered. With that much anticipation, it's no wonder East Germany's second most popular car achieved such cult status.