The old East German Trabant, widely reviled as the worst car made to date, had its day in the sun on Monday when 50 of them spluttered along in a concours d’elegance, trailing their telltale wake of oily blue smoke.
The procession in the Bulgarian town of Beloslav, coincided with a literature and book fair.
“We decided to gather in the eve of Book Day because the Trabant is the only car that is also made of paper,” said the organiser, Vlado Dimchev.
The Trabants, of which about 3,5-million were produced between 1957 and 1991, have bodies made of pressed cardboard and plastics.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Trabant was quickly discovered abroad by collectors and its chubby face can now be seen on the streets of many European capitals.
The Trabants raced for a symbolic prize of €15 and all the racers got an additional €5 for fuel — and oil.
“Eventually we all got outraced by a cyclist,” Dimchev said.
The event was not attended by Bulgaria’s best-known Trabant, in which its owner, Minister of Foreign Affairs Solomon Passy, has driven several high-profile passengers, including the late pope John Paul II. — AFP