I'm having trouble imagining Americans being allowed to live in East Germany (especially East Berlin) before mid-November 1989. Reportage seems more likely to have come from the West Berlin AP bureau (why would they have 2 bureaus literally 10 miles apart, especially when one of them came with a lot of bureaucratic red tape?) with the reporters crossing the border when necessary.
Mostly they didn't, which is probably why you're not getting very far! (Even by the fall of the wall, less than 25% of the East German population owned a car).
Also, if he was living in an old apartment building (not impossible - try Prenzlauer Berg), I doubt very much whether it would have been refurbished. He certainly wouldn't have been parking in the courtyard, though, because you can't - the typical old Berlin block of flats doesn't have vehicular access to the courtyard - you can get a bike in, but that's it.
Does your journalist actually need a car? Public transport was reliable, pretty frequent and cheap. If he absolutely has to have one for plot reasons, my best guess is he'd park it on the street.
A quick addendum to this: If he does absolutely need a car and parks it on the street, and if he chooses to import a Western car, he will have trouble with the size of the parking spaces. The other cars will be Trabants (with a few Wartburgs and a very few others, like Skodas), and they will need a *lot* less space than his; any public parking spaces will be designed for cars considerably smaller than his.
Plus he may have trouble getting suitable fuel for a Western car, but this I'm not sure about. Still, Trabbis had two-stroke engines, and trying to run a Western car on that fuel would lead to engine damage.
All in all he'd be better advised to get a Trabant, though that too will not be easy - you couldn't just walk into a dealership and buy one. There was a waiting list (and you would wait for many years). No idea how one might go about buying a used Trabbi, but I'm pretty sure he'd need connections for that, too.
Americans can't imagine life without a car. (I say this as an American who has lived abroad and can imagine life without a car quite well and would prefer it, actually. $650 for new brakes yesterday!)
Small cars that were available in Germany in the late 80s: those Citroens that look like VW Bugs, VW Bugs, Skodas. I once had a link to a blog that listed the most popular cars within Germany in various years, but I can't find it right now, much to my dismay.
Yeah, I realize. :-) If the character must have a Western car, something like a Mini Cooper might work best. However, the problem with the fuel remains.
I think he'd be best served by obtaining a used Trabbi. I am unsure of whether this would have been easy or next to impossible for an American, however. On the one hand: he can pay in actual hard currency like DM. On the other hand: he is possibly dangerous to sell something to for Stasi reasons. Maybe some mid-level Stasi bureaucrat would want the currency and be confident they could safely do it. Or maybe some US embassy employee can sell him their Trabbi.
ETA: Forgot about the timeline. Yeah, at this point he should be able to buy a used Trabbi by asking around a bit. Some neighbor will know someone who knows someone.
Don't forget that East Berlin had, and still has, an excellent tram network while the West dismantled theirs. This has an effect on whether one drives, what it's like to drive, and what the roads are like to park on.
My school friend lived in EB from 1985 to 90something, and IIRC the family had a Trabant that was shiny and new, but generally used public transport. Until the Wall came down when a BMW could be driven over. In 1990 when I visited, everyone parked on the street and there was still loads of space despite around 1/3 the cars being Western models, which immediately became a status symbol.
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the street works for me. thank you!
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(The comment has been removed)
Also, if he was living in an old apartment building (not impossible - try Prenzlauer Berg), I doubt very much whether it would have been refurbished. He certainly wouldn't have been parking in the courtyard, though, because you can't - the typical old Berlin block of flats doesn't have vehicular access to the courtyard - you can get a bike in, but that's it.
Does your journalist actually need a car? Public transport was reliable, pretty frequent and cheap. If he absolutely has to have one for plot reasons, my best guess is he'd park it on the street.
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Plus he may have trouble getting suitable fuel for a Western car, but this I'm not sure about. Still, Trabbis had two-stroke engines, and trying to run a Western car on that fuel would lead to engine damage.
All in all he'd be better advised to get a Trabant, though that too will not be easy - you couldn't just walk into a dealership and buy one. There was a waiting list (and you would wait for many years). No idea how one might go about buying a used Trabbi, but I'm pretty sure he'd need connections for that, too.
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Small cars that were available in Germany in the late 80s: those Citroens that look like VW Bugs, VW Bugs, Skodas. I once had a link to a blog that listed the most popular cars within Germany in various years, but I can't find it right now, much to my dismay.
Reply
Yeah, I realize. :-) If the character must have a Western car, something like a Mini Cooper might work best. However, the problem with the fuel remains.
I think he'd be best served by obtaining a used Trabbi. I am unsure of whether this would have been easy or next to impossible for an American, however. On the one hand: he can pay in actual hard currency like DM. On the other hand: he is possibly dangerous to sell something to for Stasi reasons. Maybe some mid-level Stasi bureaucrat would want the currency and be confident they could safely do it. Or maybe some US embassy employee can sell him their Trabbi.
ETA: Forgot about the timeline. Yeah, at this point he should be able to buy a used Trabbi by asking around a bit. Some neighbor will know someone who knows someone.
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thank you!!
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