How much is a clean running Trabant worth? (Page 1 of 2)

In Germany you can still find them for next to nothing for one that's not so great looking and a few hundred Euros for a better one. Pristine models are getting expensive too. From what I've seen they are worth a few thousand bucks if you import them, due to rarity and import cost.
If you get it, please please please let me know and I'll help you get it running. My first car was a Trabant and I have literally touched every single component of it during the years my friends and I owned some of them. It would make me extremely happy to see one running and make little blue smoke clouds again.
I also have connections and can get you parts for cheap directly from Germany. All I ask in return is to drive it for a little bit, for good old time's sake.

The newest addition to Scuderia Duffbirra:

I can't see those; it wants me to log in.

or for the Rally:

In fact, since there are still only 3 races for the East in 2018 (bummer), I'ma kinda thinking of doing the Chicago to California Rally in the end of Oct. 2018....and I would be happy to join you in the Trabant Stretch Limo....!

That's an interesting picture. After measuring some stuff, a modern compact FWD powertrain (90's Civic/Golf/Sentra) would fit under the hood, and the track would be about 6" wider than the stock Trabant track. I was thinking that a set of 3" fender flares would cover that up. I'd just have to build a carrier frame for the newer powertrain and attach it to the same mounting points as the Trabant powertrain frame. A Golf or Sentra (or other strut-based unit) would be easiest, but I was going to build a tube-frame carrier for a Civic (upper/lower-arms) powertrain for my Opel Kadett rear-engine project anyway, and I've got a welder and a bunch of leftover cage tubing from putting a roll bar in my track beater, so maybe I'll play with that. I do want to get it running in stock trim first so I get the full Trabi experience before I start thinking about Frankensteining it.

You said it was clean?!?! It looks rather original though. Good stuff.
If you want to keep it real, there are people that tune the tiny 2 cylinder, 2 stroke, 600cc engine to produce about 80-85 HP. That's up from 26. No fancy stuff, just good old porting and lightening and optimization of internals. They raced these in Germany for over 40 years now and even at that power level, the engines are quite reliable.
Top speed is about 100 mph with that setup. There are brake upgrades with period correct parts available too (bigger drum brakes) but I would go with a disk swap. Here is what it looks like in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCDJngP9Sdc

don't want to rain on your parade, but they did on my midget because it has less than 82 inch wheelbase...

There is a softer tune, 35-40 HP which was intended for street use and officially sanctioned by the GDR government. It's mostly mild porting and exhaust work. I had that in my Trabant and I could easily get it to about 130 kph with 3 people in the car on a straight. And it accelerated quite well too. That was in stock trim, so in race trim you would easily shave about 200 - 300 lbs from the car and only have one person in it. Even this should be faster than the 240D or the Knox Vegas Lincoln. So on the grounds of speed alone you should not be denied an entry.
There is also not much suspension work necessary. Some new lower springs and maybe dampers would be necessary. A conversion kit from 4x160 to 4x100mm bolt circle (can be combined with a front disk brake upgrade) to mount  some regular 13x7 wheels and 175/50-R13 tires and you have go cart like handling.
I wonder if they would allow the original fuel tank location in the Trabant though? I wouldn't want it there, sitting right next to the engine, for self preservation purposes.

Since this is a '73, it's 6V. But to be sure, pull a bulb somewhere and check. They started shipping them with 12V on 10/3/83.
And yes, I could see the year just from the pictures and Roger didn't tell me earlier. I'm that good with Trabants

To be honest, Sparky and Smokey are tanks. The Trabant is a crusty towel - literally!, the body is made from cotton. With a cage, you'd be safer from a roll or collision, but the body won't provide much protection from anything. In it's stock form, I'm surprised people weren't dying every day driving them. The natural speed limit might've helped here.

Get it to be less of a collection of tractor parts, and respectable "class c" speed, and it should be a viable Lemons race car. Bring it to CMP and run it during the test day so they can see it's not total trash. I've measured it; there's room to make it an EV. *clarkson grin* (using model S packs; the volt packs are too bulky)

Our C cars have both struggled in those areas. We knew well ahead of time Sparky Mk.I would be insanely slow; so I put 6 6' bike flags on it. Smokey was a lot slower than any of us expected -- the extra weight of the cage didn't help, and NCM's up-hill-exit-hairpin was pure murder. It was only "slow" if you gave up momentum -- we went into T1 45mph+, full throttle, no brakes. (I never saw anyone else do that.)

Congratulations! What a magnificently awesome purchase!

So I read on the Internet that you can pull the engine by hand in 20 minutes using nothing but five wrenches. The prior owner said that it needed a clutch, and I had 20 minutes, so what the hell.

It didn't take 20 minutes, and that was my first time. The more I muck about with this thing, the more I am convinced that it is awesome: