The communist era gave life to numerous cars, but it’s debatable whether they were any good. However, among them, there was the Trabant, which used to be a common sight on Eastern European roads a few decades back, but most units are gone these days.

The story behind this Trabby started 14 years ago, in Poland, when its current owner purchased it with the intention of restoring it. Besides the visible work made to its body panels and to its interior, a 1.1-liter engine, from an old Polo, was added initially. Over the years, it carried a 1.3-liter unit, a 1.8-liter and even a 2.0-liter from a Golf GTI.

Just when it seemed that the Trabant was in its final version, its owner crashed another car from his garage, an Audi TT, and this is when he considered adding the salvaged 1.8-liter turbo and the Quattro all-wheel drive from the Ingolstadt model.

When running on 95 octane fuel, it produces 270 PS (266hp), at 5,700 rpm, and 369 Nm (272lb-ft) of torque, at 4,500 rpm, allowing the small car to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.5 seconds and to reach 200 km/h (124 mph) in 15.5 seconds.

In order to cope with the extra oomph, the owner installed Audi brake discs on all wheels, 312mm in the front and 256mm at the rear. It even comes with even fully functional ABS and ESP systems.

Photo credits: Artur Owsiany, Via Autoforum.cz

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