Return of the World's Worst Car

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How do you double the value of a Trabant? Fill it up. The East German-built Trabant, produced between 1957 and 1991, developed an international reputation as the worst, most polluting car in the world. It was a death trap that also smelled bad. A 1990 review in Car and Driver magazine put it this way: "The engine provides no braking effect at all. Nor do the brakes." Now a German consortium is proposing a new electric Trabant that would be ecologically friendly, even running the air conditioning by using solar panels on the roof. The model pictured here is the Trabant 601 limousine on display at the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France. (photo: ignis)