THE Trabant — the smoke-spewing, bone-rattling, communist-made glass-fibre car that has been compared with a sardine can and a lawnmower — may bring the automobile revolution to Africa’s shanty towns and transform the developing world.

That, at any rate, is the blueprint to be announced in Frankfurt today as entrepreneurs try to resurrect the cult car of the Cold War.

The East German regime launched the Trabant in 1957 simultaneously with the launch into space of the Soviet Sputnik. Both events were supposed to signal the arrival of modern socialism.

By 1989 many East Germans found themselves driving through the rubble of the Berlin Wall in their Trabants which had barely changed in the preceding 30 years; the car, maximum speed 100 kmh (60mph), had become a metaphor for a defunct system.

Now engineers are rediscovering the merits of the car with its two-stroke engine and its bodywork made of a unique blend of phenol and compressed cotton known as Duroplast.

Developers from Sachsenring, the insolvent car factory, are promoting the AfriCar, a lightly adapted Trabant that could ferry farm goods, building materials or a family of four. The AfriCar would be aimed initially at South Africa and sell for about €3,000 (£2,100), making it by far the cheapest car on the African market.

The Trabant’s merits stem from its painful communist history. Since many customers had to wait for up to 14 years for delivery, and spare parts were scarce, every driver had to reckon on doing his own repairs.

It was the simplest of cars: there were no disc brakes, no radiator, no oil filter or oil pump, no fuel gauge and the flow of petrol was powered by gravity — the tank was above the engine — so there was no fuel pump. Shrewd drivers carried not only spare tyres but also spare engines. It was noisy and dirty, yet, because of the small number of moveable parts, it was almost unbreakable and cheap to run.

The developers, presenting their plans to the Economic Forum, are trying to drum up investment money to complete a feasibility study by early next year. It is already being promoted as an African version of Henry Ford’s Model T, which brough motoring to the American masses. If the idea is accepted, it could change the mobility patterns of a continent. It would also save the Trabant factory, or at least the know-how associated with the car.

The scheme is stirring fascination in Germany because it has reminded people that not everything invented under communist rule was doomed to self-destruct.

This feeling goes beyond the 80 nostalgic Trabant motoring clubs across Germany, where dedicated car-owners try to recover parts of their lives lost when East Germany collapsed.

The new respect for the Trabant derives from its simplicity. Simple products made in a climate of shortages sometimes prove the best solution in countries with difficult geographical conditions.

“This is not really about bringing the Trabant back from the dead,” Roman Winkler, the director of development, said. “It’s about a logical preference for low tech over high tech.”

Gerhard Franz, the head of an online company selling East German products, says that business is booming. “Over a third of our clients are born-and-bred Westerners,” he said, dismissing the idea that he is profiting from East German nostalgia.

Trabants can still be seen across Germany and Eastern Europe. Many have been converted into open-top sports cars or vans. They are seen as a gimmick but also as a practical city car, easily parked and low on fuel consumption. They are regarded as a lifestyle statement by people who want to show that they are not in a hurry.

The logbook

The first Trabant, the F8 saloon, was built by the state-owned East German car company IFA in 1949, although under the IFA name. The first car under the Trabant name, the P50, appeared in 1957. The Trabant 600 saloon, right, had a 23bhp engine with a top speed of 60mph. The P601, introduced in 1964, was made for 30 years.

DEBATE

Will the Trabant ever be a cool car?

debate@thetimes.co.uk

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Mandela’s tribe threatens President Zuma
• The French empire strikes back
• Wife of cheating governor exacts a political revenge