Dr. Werner Lang. Image courtesy of Trabant Film.com.
In 1957, a remarkable new car rolled off the assembly line at VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, East Germany. Produced to be as simple as possible, the Trabant (“satellite,” in German) featured an air-cooled, two-stroke engine and a body constructed from Duroplast, a plastic formed from recycled materials like cotton waste and phenol resins. In 1958, an engineer by the name of Dr. Werner Lang was appointed chief engineer at the Zwickau plant, and under his guidance the Trabant would grow to become the global icon it is today. Lang died of a heart attack at his home in Zwickau, Germany, on June 17, at the age of 91.
Lang studied mechanical engineering and automotive technology in Zwickau, though his education was interrupted by the Second World War. In 1949, Lang went to work with Horch, working his way up to technical director in 1951. When the Horch and Auto Union brands were unified under the Sachsenring name in 1958, Lang was chosen as the brand’s lead engineer, resulting in his work on the 1962 Trabant 600 and the 1963 Trabant 601, a “modernized” version of the original Trabant 500 (also called the P50), which debuted in November 1957. While stylistically similar to earlier models, the 601 featured window cranks (as compared to the sliding panels used in the original car), an available under-dash parcel shelf and wind deflectors for draft-free ventilation.
Following the launch of the Trabant 601, Lang worked on several Trabant prototypes, though such efforts were hardly encouraged by the East German government which saw any further development of a car with a long waiting list and a backlog of spare parts orders as wasteful. Ironically, it was the Trabi’s success (ultimately, some 3.2 million units were produced) that precluded Lang from putting modernized versions into production. For all of its shortcomings, the Trabant 601 was an object of desire for the average East German family, and purchasing one required getting on a waiting list that could stretch to 18 years. Demand for Trabants created used prices that exceeded new prices (at least until the Berlin Wall fell), as the gratification of buying a used Trabi was instant.
Though reviled by West Germans for its pollution-belching two-stroke engine and limited top speed, Trabants were seemingly everywhere following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. For more than a decade after, Trabants remained a relatively popular car for those on a budget, due to their mechanical simplicity that ensured easy repair and a relatively low cost of upkeep. Even today, Trabis retain a near-cult following, and tourists in cities like Berlin and Budapest can rent Trabants to relive the glory days of the Cold War.
Trabants actually enjoyed a rich motorsport history in East Germany, too, where they were campaigned in both touring car and rally competition. What they lacked in outright speed (at least compared to cars of the West), they made up for in simplicity and durability, and ex-rally Trabants can still be seen at vintage events in Europe (and, occasionally, prowling the roads of America).
A rally-prepped Trabant visits the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Image courtesy of Justin Sheperd and Trabant Forums.
In the days before Lang’s death, the engineer had spoken on a panel at the meeting of the International Trabant Registry, and the 91-year-old was still happy to talk about his days at Sachsenring. Like the car he engineered, Lang won’t be forgotten by the Trabant faithful any time soon.