Trabi, Wartburg & Co: This is how much GDR cars are worth today

When the Wall came down, they rolled across the border in droves: Trabant, Wartburg & Co. After that, many East Germans couldn't get rid of the plainly designed GDR cars with their smelly two-stroke engines fast enough. The longing for modern automobiles from the West was too great. But 35 years after the GDR disappeared, the vehicles are now back in high demand as classic cars.

Collectors are paying up to €7,000 for a Trabant 601 in pristine original condition - more than twice as much as in 2018, according to market observation data from Classic Data. The Bochum-based company specializes in value analyses on the classic car market. Today, the Wartburg 353 saloon costs almost 10,000 euros in top condition. It has also at least doubled in value in seven years - depending on its condition.

Specially rare models traded for over 100,000 euros

The value of the Wartburg 311 in the usual four-door saloon design has also doubled. According to the analysis, just under 16,600 euros are possible for a model in top condition. The extremely rare coupé can even fetch almost 35,000 euros.

It gets even more expensive for those interested in the EMW 327. The convertibles and coupés, which were only built in small numbers, are practically identical in construction to the BMW model of the same name, which was produced in Eisenach until 1941. According to Classic Data, collectors pay over 100,000 euros for examples in the best condition.

It is a development that surprises even proven experts such as the Thuringian classic car specialist Veit Kohl. According to the expert for historic vehicles, there are hardly any comparable vehicles that have increased in value to this extent. Most GDR cars are still "turned over" in the east of the country, according to Kohl. For many collectors, they have now achieved cult status. A great deal of value is placed on the condition of the vehicles. According to Kohl, they need to be as original as possible and have a history that is as fully documented as possible.

However, Kohl does not believe that the increase in value will continue. The expert believes that individual very rare models will always be traded at a high price. For all others, he says: "It is probably foreseeable that we have reached the peak, because who else wants to buy it?"

Thousands of GDR vehicles still registered

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), around 8,900 vehicles from VEB Automobilwerke Eisenach (mostly Wartburg) were still registered last year - around half of their owners are over 60 years old.

"Trabants" are even more common: according to the KBA, around 40,800 VEB Sachsenring vehicles were still on Germany's roads at the same time. They are apparently still very popular among all age groups. More than every second Trabi owner is under the age of 60. Around 2,800 of them are even under 30, meaning they were only born after the last Trabant rolled off the production line in Zwickau in 1991.

Special classic car meetings

Several classic car meetings specialize in GDR vehicles - including the Zwickau Trabant and East German vehicle meeting, the International Eastern Bloc Vehicle Meeting in Pütnitz on the Baltic Sea, the Trabant meeting in Anklam and the Ostmobile meeting in Thale in the Harz Mountains. Whether Trabant, Wartburg, Simson moped or IFA truck: the lovingly polished vehicles also attract many spectators. Some "GDR" country license plates can also still be seen on the classic cars.