Auto reviewer Doug DeMuro, who has driven and reviewed hundreds of cars, took a test drive of a Trabant, the car produced for decades by East Germany and the only car ordinary East Germans could buy from the state auto monopoly. “As I sat there in the driver’s seat, with smoke billowing out the tailpipe, staring at the gauge cluster — which contains no tachometer, no indication that you’ve turned on your headlights or turn signals, and no fuel gauge — I started to think that maybe, possibly, on some level, this is why Communism failed.” Per Wikipedia, “Best known for its dull color scheme and cramped, uncomfortable ride, the Trabant is an object of playful ridicule for many Germans and is regarded as symbolic of the fall of the Eastern Bloc.”