Trabant P 50

The Trabant P 50, also known as the Trabant 500, was the first series production model of the East German Trabant series and was built by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau from 1957 until 1962, with 131,495 units made including pre-production cars. It was a small two-axle car with front-wheel drive and a self-supporting body, a steel skeleton clad in duroplast panels made from cotton waste and phenol resins, and it was sold as a two-door saloon and a three-door estate, with a Camping estate and a panel van version as well. An air-cooled two-cylinder two-stroke petrol engine built by VEB Barkas-Werke drove the front wheels through a four-speed gearbox and gave a top speed of around 90 km/h. Production ended in 1962, when the Trabant 600 took its place.