Some enthusiasts have very targeted, niche car collections. Perhaps you know a person who's way into the Amphicar. There's a chance someone is grabbing as many examples of the BMW Isetta as they can find. Someone perhaps even has a love for the Yugo. Collector Tim Cunningham is looking for Trabants.
The idea of collecting Trabants isn't the oddly specific part. Cunningham is hunting down very specific cars. He's looking to acquire all of the cars that were used by U2 during its Zoo TV tour.
According to Hemmings, which chatted with Cunningham, U2 found the East German-built Trabant a source of inspiration while recording its "Acthung Baby" album. The divided Germany became whole again, and those on the East side discarded their horrible Trabants as they journeyed West. The cars worked their way onto the album cover.
Soon they wound up becoming art installations for the Zoo TV tour. Stripped of running gear and painted, they were hung in the air, turned into a DJ booth, and given many lights. These were Trabants as art, which is a phrase not said prior and not often said since.
Now, as the band nears its 40th anniversary, Tim Cunningham is on a mission to track down and acquire as many of the cars as possible. He owns one, and he knows where a bunch more are. We can only wish him luck, as he tries to create a truly targeted Trabant collection.
He'll have climbed the highest mountains.
He'll have run through the fields.
He has run.
He has crawled.
Only to be with them...only to be with them.
