East Germany

Mention the Trabant, and most people picture a smoky, sputtering plastic car, the butt of endless jokes about East German engineering. Nicknames like “A Disgusting Belch of Communism” or “a spark plug with a roof” cemented its reputation as a symbol of socialist-era stagnation. But this common image barely scratches the surface of a far more complex and fascinating story. It’s a tale of remarkable innovation born from desperation, of surprising durability that became a fatal flaw, and of a vehicle that drove its way through the Iron Curtain and into the history books. ...

When you hear the term “plastic car” today, you might picture something cheap, flimsy, or disposable. But in the resource-scarce landscape of post-war East Germany, “plastic” wasn’t a pejorative—it was the future. Engineers were pioneering a revolutionary material that was not only tough and lightweight but was also derived from some of the most unassuming industrial and agricultural byproducts. The car was the AWZ P70, and its body was crafted from a remarkable composite called Duroplast. This wasn’t the flimsy plastic of modern stereotypes; it was a testament to ingenuity in an era of scarcity. Here are five surprising truths about this forgotten wonder material that challenge everything we think we know about “plastic” cars. ...