Is your Trabant’s starter not working? Or did the alternator get lost along the way and now you need a new one? In cases like these, the newly founded Trabi Competence Center will be there to help. “We’re a handful of people spread out across Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Saxony-Anhalt,” says Rolf Becker, who is better known beyond the city limits of his hometown of Halle as “D-Rolf” or “Barrel Organ Rolf.” Similar centers already exist for the weather or wolves, he says. “But who’s more important? The Trabis or the wolves? Even little kids love Trabis. It’s something that thrills the masses,” says the globetrotter with a grin on his face.
The idea came to him one evening—after his fourth shot of schnapps, “D-Rolf” reports. His goal is to create an archive of true enthusiasts, based on their own experiences—in other words, on knowledge that can’t simply be gleaned from books.
