2-stroke engines from the GDR – an investment with an excellent return

The average price of a Wartburg 353 has increased by as much as 75% over the last six year piese auto online.

2-stroke engines from the GDR – an investment with an excellent return

By the beginning of the millennium, every second courtyard in the villages had a Trabant worth a case of beer. Wartburg models were a little more expensive – as long as they weren’t the more exotic and rarer versions. Today, however, the prices of the 2-stroke legends are no longer low – and continue to rise. And although the East German machines never managed to catch up with their Western competitors in terms of technology, they managed to do so in terms of prices… albeit a few decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall!

Classic Data analyzed the changes in the value of old-timers from the socialist camp - by comparing data from 2019 and 2025. The champion in growth is the exotic Tatra T613 - of which just over 11 thousand units were produced. In the case of the Czechoslovakian limousine with a 3.5-liter "eight" engine, the average price has risen from 14,900 to 27,100 euros. However, in second place in terms of price increase is the Wartburg 353 as a sedan - its average value of 5,500 euros in 2019 has jumped to 6,000 today (+75%). The Tourist station wagon (5th place) changed hands six years ago for amounts in the region of 6,600 euros - while today they are traded for an average of 10,100 (+53%). The third and fourth places in the ranking are occupied respectively by the Trabant 601 Universal (2019 – 4500 euros, 2025 – 7700 euros, +71%) – i.e. the station wagon, and the standard 601 (2019 – 4100 euros, 2025 – 6900 euros, +68%). The Tatra 603-2 is ranked sixth, followed by the Moskvich 412, the Lada 1200, the Skoda Felicia Cabrio and the Skoda 120.

Car parts AutoPower
Car parts AutoPower

By the beginning of the millennium, every second courtyard in the villages had a Trabant worth a case of beer

Classic Data analyzed the changes in the value of old-timers from the socialist camp - by comparing data from 2019 and 2025