Trabant and Fiat in Monte Carlo

Let’s imagine this situation: An old Trabant, an automobile produced by the East German automaker in Zwickau and once the most common vehicle in East Germany, and another old vehicle, the Fiat 125p, are dashing up to the world’s most luxurious place – a casino in Monte Carlo. It would be for sure a big contrast.

At the beginning of October, it was only a dream of four lovers of old cars. Now it is already a fact. Four young people from Katowice have an unusual hobby: They crash old cars. They started by buying old Fiats 126p, which were no longer street-legal.

After tuning them up, they crashed the cars on off-road rides. Their dream was to organize a long trip in their old cars. They decided to connect it with a charity campaign supporting orphanages.

That is how the idea of the first Polish “Zlomobol” arose.
The name Zlomobol means a crazy excursion by old cars that have their origin in Communist countries and are worth no more than 1,000 złoty. The four traced a route from Katowice to Monte Carlo.

At the beginning there were 15 teams planning to take part in the ride, but most of them gave up because of a lack of time, leaving the four original zealots. They set off at the beginning of October.

The Fiat 125p and Trabant, “decorated” with colourful tags advertising the companies which supported their charity campaign, finished the tour on Oct. 30. There were mishaps. Near the Italian border, the Trabant turned belly up.

With the help of Italian petrol station workers, the adventurers managed to repair it. The next day they drove through northern Italy and reached Monaco late at night. They parked their clunkers in front of the casino, next to cars like Aston Martin, Bentley and Rolls Royce.

The reaction of the casino guests was exactly what they expected: astonishment. The four old-car zealots from Katowice were a sensation of the night. Their adventure gained widespread publicity and congratulations.

Some companies offered sponsorships, and other old-cars lovers declared their intentions to take part in the next Zlomobol. “Next year we will conquer Monte Carlo once more and in the following years we will go to places where nobody has seen Trabant or Fiat 126p before,” the travellers told the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. “We hope there will be much more interest and many more participants in next year’s edition of the ride.”