Wartburg 353 (1966)Carsten Luetkebohle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wartburg 353

1966 — East Germany

Muscle Era (1960-1974)GermanCommunist Era CarsSwinging Sixties
Engine992 cc
DrivetrainRWD

Wartburg 353

The Wartburg 353 represented East Germany's automotive industry with distinctive styling and advanced front-wheel drive layout. Its three-cylinder two-stroke engine was outdated but provided adequate performance and was simple to maintain. Wartburgs were exported throughout the Eastern Bloc and even to Western markets where their low price attracted budget-conscious buyers. The characteristic blue exhaust smoke from the two-stroke engine made Wartburgs instantly recognizable on European roads.