International Spy Museum -- 4th Annual Parade of Trabants:
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Description of Pictures: The Berlin Wall is long gone, but one Cold War icon is still chugging away -- the Trabant. Despite their questionable performance and smoky two-stroke engines, these little cars are now affectionately regarded as a symbol of East Germany and the fall of Communism. Trabants are a rarity here, but on November 6th some of the finest examples in the U.S. will chug their way to the International Spy Museum!
Drop in to view the vintage cars:
* Enter a raffle to win a ride in a Trabant [Note: I won a ride in the orange one]
* Interrogate experts about Trabants, the Cold War, and Communism
* Enjoy festive music from the German band Blaskapelle Alte Kameraden
* Check out our own Checkpoint Charlie and possibly even see the wall come tumbling down all over again!
* Sample German Sausages and Apple Strudel from Spy City Café
Free! No registration required!
Trabant Specs:
* Gets 30 miles to the gallon.
* Weighs only 1350 lbs.
* 4 speed column shift with front wheel drive
* Air-cooled, 2 cylinder, 2 stroke 500 or 600cc engine, 19-26 horsepower
* Dual ignition
* Rack and pinion steering
* No pumps whatsoever to fail i.e. water pump, oil pump, fuel pump
Same Event: Wait! There's more! Because I took too many pictures, photos from this event were divided among the following pages:
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2010_DC_Trabant_101106: International Spy Museum -- 4th Annual Parade of Trabants (116 photos from 2010)
2010_DC_TrabantP_101106: International Spy Museum -- 4th Annual Parade of Trabants -- Painting project (109 photos from 2010)
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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by Bruce Guthrie who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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TRABAN_101106_239.JPG: Sachsenring Trabant History:
The Trabant auto, affectionately known as Trabi, was produced from 1957-1991 by East German automaker Sachsenring at their factory in Zwickau. Trabants were the most popular car in East Germany for 32 years. Due to low production volumes and high consumer demand, the waiting time to purchase a Trabi was as long as 15 years. Trabi's became famous on November 9, 1989 when they were driven through breaches in the Berlin Wall thus giving their East German passengers their first glimpse of freedom since the construction of the wall in 1961. Based upon the Trabant's special part in this historical event, they have become a symbol of the failure of communism and the triumph of freedom.
1962 TRABANT P600 -- Technical specifications:
* Passengers: 4 (often more)
* Engine: 2 cylinders, 2 cycle, air cooled, 594 cc, 26 horsepower
* Fuel Capacity: 26 liters; 6.6 gallons
* Transmission: Manual, 4 speeds forward, 1 reverse
* Body: Duroplast. Cotton material bonded by resin
* Gross Weight: 623 kg; 1373 lbs
* Gas Mileage: 14 km/l; 34 MPG
* Top Speed: About 100 km/h; 62 MPH
TRABAN_101106_286.JPG: The textile-based auto shell can rip like this.
TRABAN_101106_300.JPG: Alte Kamaraden:
The "Alte Kamaraden" is the German Band unit of the City of Fairfax Band. The "Old Comrades" have introduced American audiences to the lush, spirited festmusik played by Bavarian bands since 1977. The ensemble is an authentic blaskapelle wind band that performs music of the alpine village bands.
In 1995, the "Alte Kamaraden" became the first American band to be selected for membership in the Musikbund von Ober-und Niederbayern (MON) -- Bavaria's regional band association. Two years later, the "Alte Kamaraden" was inducted into the Deutsche Gesellschaftfur Militarmusik, Germany's honor society for military band music. The Fairfax band was presented with the Federal Republic of Germany's German-American Friendship Award in 1990, and recently the ensemble was honored with with [sic] a Certificate of Merit by the United German-American Committee of the USA.
The "Alte Kamaraden" make over 50 appearances each year, for community events, German-American clubs, and octoberfests. They have entertained spectators at World Cup soccer matches at RFK Stadium and FedEx Field in the Washington area, and performed aboard the Gorch Fock, Germany's tall ship, in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
TRABAN_101106_671.JPG: Exhaust fumes.
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2017_08_19A_Topol: International Spy Museum -- Allan Topol ("Washington Power Play") (6 photos from 08/19/2017)
2016_DC_Trabant_161105: International Spy Museum -- 10th Annual Parade of Trabants (36 photos from 2016)
2014_DC_Trabant_141108: International Spy Museum -- 8th Annual Parade of Trabants (67 photos from 2014)
2013_DC_Trabant_131109: International Spy Museum -- 7th Annual Parade of Trabants (67 photos from 2013)
2012_DC_Trabant_121110: International Spy Museum -- 6th Annual Parade of Trabants (47 photos from 2012)
2011_DC_Tories_110105: International Spy Museum -- Thomas Allen ("Tories: Fighting for King") (29 photos from 2011)
2011_DC_Spies_110208: Natl Archives & International Spy Museum -- Panel -- Spies and Conspiracies (50 photos from 2011)
2010_DC_TrabantP_101106: International Spy Museum -- 4th Annual Parade of Trabants -- Painting project (109 photos from 2010)
2010_DC_Brugioni_100715: International Spy Museum -- Dino Brugioni ("Eyes in the Sky") (62 photos from 2010)
Generally-Related Subject Pages: Other pages here that have content somewhat related to this one:
2010_DC_MI6_101001: Politics & Prose and International Spy Museum -- Keith Jeffrey ("Secret History of MI6") w/Sir John Scarlett (51 photos from 2010)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject:
[Events]
2010 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs until the third one broke and I started sending them back for repairs. Then I used either the Fuji S200EHX or the Nikon D90 until I got the S100fs ones repaired. At the end of the year I bought a Nikon D5000 but I returned it pretty quickly.
Trips this year: I've got so many local commitments that I'm having trouble getting away. I drove out to Lexington, Kentucky to cover the Civil War Preservation Trust's annual conference in June. I flew out to California and Nevada for two weeks in July for the San Diego Comic-Con. I flew to Nashville to cover the Civil War Preservation Trust's Grand Review conference in September.
My office at the main Commerce Department building closed in October and I was shifted out to the Bureau of the Census in Suitland Maryland. It's good to have a job of course but that killed being able to see basically any cultural events during the day. There's basically nothing of interest that you can see around the Census building.
Number of photos taken this year: about 395,000..