Thank goodness we live in modern times, where stuffing a much newer, much more powerful West German engine into an ultra-light cotton-composite East German car is a real thing that can happen. Meet the most perfect brown Trabant 601S of all time: the one with an engine from a 2001 Audi TT up front.
Polish Trabi fan Arek Winiarski gave his car the perfect modern makeover, with a track day-ready interior, plenty of go-fast parts from an Audi TT and suspension taken off a Honda.
Gone is the Trabant’s unique dashboard-mounted shifter in favor of a more conventional floor-mounted six-speed shifter. The turbocharged 1.8-liter Audi TT engine replaced the Trabant’s usual 26-horsepower 600-cc two-stroke engine, increasing the top speed by over 60 mph.
Winiarski upgraded the suspension, brakes, wheels and tires to match the extra go-power of the little car to match, too. Can’t have power if you can’t control it!
All of this went into in a car whose original curb weight was only 1,355 lbs. It’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect.