The 601 was unveiled in March 1964. The bodywork was still made of Duroplast fibre and its lines were largely an evolution of the P60 model, launched two years earlier.
The engine used is a two-cylinder in-line two-stroke engine that does not have a fuel pump, thanks to the placement of the tank in a higher position in relation to the engine, oil pump, valves, or radiator.
These characteristics are not technical options, but rather the result of the shortage of raw materials that was felt in East Germany.
The Trabant was, in a way, the Volkswagen of the Federal Republic of Germany, the popular car par excellence. However, few Germans in the then GDR could afford a Trabant, as the price was too high for their purchasing power.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the beginning of a new era, and the Trabant, with its archaic design, could not withstand the new times. Volkswagen still tried to help by using the Polo’s 1.1 four-cylinder engine, but nothing could prevent the end of the Trabant, which was too closely associated with the overthrown regime. This car was donated to the Museu do Caramulo by Daniel Hehn Pinto da Silva.