Ah yes, the good old communist Mercedes W123.
this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2026
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I guess they were looking for a photo of a broken down lada but didn't find one π€£
Smh just found another communist Mercedes.
Donβt ask Mercedes what they were doing between 1934 and 1945.
well you can, they're forced by law to acknowledge it.
And BMW, and Krupp, Hugo, Bayer, blah, blahβ¦. Yeah. Any industry that could industry produced for the Reich.
Iβm not saying that to be βeveryone was doing it,β but wondering why the need to point out what historically is well known and definitely not a secret.
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Or IBM
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Was it actually a communist car? Trying to sift through info online it looks like it was made by west Germany, which I associate with the western postwar powers, but I really dont know much about any of this
Anyone know if it was a particularly good car?
It's a Mercedes, which is pretty much a symbol of German capitalism. I was trying to point out the irony of using this as a talking point to support communism.
The deisel one is well known for being quite reliable and easy to keep running for a very long time. Also known for being very well built.
They were built like tanks. But they drove like tanks too.
I lost the gas cap for one. The guy at the parts store laughed at me when I asked for a gas cap for a Mercedes, then he looked through the book said "Oh" and grabbed one from the shelf that had five of them on it. It's the same cap as tractors use.
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Communism or Capitalism don't make things better or worse. Corruption makes things worse and regulations and oversight make them better.
Endless stories about garbage made on both sides leads to some greedy fucker rigging the system.
I mean we never had communism in the UK, but we built solid reliable council housing from the 60s to the 80s.
Turns out if the government is going to be on the hook for a bad job, they tend to do it right. No point cheaping out on materials if you're going to be the one coming back to replace the roof in ten years time when it starts to leak.
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Neither capitalism or communism gives you reliable cars. What helps is good regulation for minimum warranty periods, mandatory maintenance and spare parts availability for 15+ years, interdictions of dark patterns (e.g: end user should be able to replace the headlamps, oil filter and such easily with basic tools). And also, industry standards, ODB2 for diagnostics for instance. And now, Cybersecurity and data privacy is super relevant, you don't want OEMs or bad actors to be able to disable your car remotely.
I need respectable 90s Japanese cars that are competing to destroy the American automotive industry. But with electronic vehicles.
Yeah. Electric vehicles with no computers (beyond microcontrollers for batter chargers and stuff).
There was a period about 15 years ago where you going get a not stupidly expensive electric refit kit for a bunch of cars - someone I know did it with a 90s Rav4 for like $10k. Unfortunately they seem to be stupid expensive now.
Conversions for most cars are pretty lame. Battery placement is rough and mechanical losses from attaching an electric motor to a transmission for an ICE are significant. Conversions are cool but mostly a novelty.
I'd rather see some real bare-bones electrics, like the first Leafs, with the best battery tech we can toss in them.
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In Europe we have Renault offering something in this segment with their new Twingo. Barebone simple EV for city driving and daily commute. It's priced around 13k⬠new.
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Eastern Block cars definitely didn't have the reputation of working well. They were more known to be easy to repair, but they had to be since shit broke constantly lol
Skoda still has that reputation amount older people now, despite them probably being really good.
Meanwhile Alfa Romeo coasting under the radar despite being among the most unreliable pieces of shit out there.
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This comparison is just head-up-ass silly without statistics.
There are 75+ year-old Ford F-1s running around, with their original engine blocks:
https://classiccars.com/listings/view/2115325/1948-ford-f1-for-sale-in-prescott-arizona-86305
https://classiccars.com/listings/find/all-years/ford/f1
brought to you by capitalism!
Even without that, any old car can be made to work if you throw parts and labor at it. This idea that "communism made a car that ran for 30 years" is completely worthless with a single example. What matters is how many were manufactured and how many of those are still functional at 5, 10, 15, 20+ years. One sample is bad statistics.
Capitalism also produced the world's most reliable and repairable pickup truck - the Toyota Hilux. If you were going to make a comparison just on lifetime operating hours vs. maintenance cost, Toyota would win globally no problem. If you were going to make a comparison based on operating hours in harsh conditions, Toyota would also win that.
That's a capitalist car btw. Mercedes from West Germany
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TVs made to soviet design famously caught fire, this was before this all printed circuit board deal was perfected. they just used cardboard-like material for that, it was flammable, absorbed water over time, and there were too closely spaced traces with high voltage on them
People just don't remember shit that broke down quickly
TVs were hugely dangerous in the early days. People used to get electrocuted all the time. They had hugely high voltage and exploded sometimes.
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The Lada Riva. That symbol of communism.
Was just a rebadged Fiat 124.
It was originally a capitalist invention that the commies took credit for.
If you haven't seen already most if not all of USSR technology was stolen, and I wouldn't be surprised if tradition continued to Russia
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Rights to repair hurts the bottom line of shareholders, its evil, communistic and socialistic!!!
Trabants were shit.
And you had to wait ten years to get one.
In .ml terms that means you got 40 years of enjoyment out of your communist car!
Plus going 0-60 in five minutes gave you more time to bask in awe at all the slate gray brutalist architecture!
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They were kind of ok when they were launched in 1964. The thing is that east germany totally was not able to keep up with western tech and the politburo even forbid the manufacturer from improving the car. So they were still producing a 1964 car in 1989 with totally outdated tech. And they were not able to produce enough for the demand, leading to decades long waiting times
They were very outdated even in the 1960s. After the German reunification, people were simply abandoning them by the side of the road behause they literally had zero value.
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There's a reason why soviet era technology was infamous for its use of ~~plywood~~ stalinium.
There's also a reason why post industrial american technology is infamous for its use of ~~chinesium~~ totally legit made in USA stickers.
People are gonna hate this answer but the best products are made in a properly competitive market.
The USSR had state owned OEMS that ultimately relied on deals with foreign manufacturers to jump start their success significantly later than their international counterparts.
The big 3 US OEMs lobbied congress to block foreign imports to protect their inferior product in the home market (multiple times, notably against Japan and recently China).
You can have a competitive market under socialism! The main difference is the profits don't get hoovered off by a parasitic investor class that don't actually provide any meaningful labour.
Yeah, exactly. People think capitalism means competition, but that's not a great definition of it. It means capital gets to call the shots and keep the profits, even when they're not doing any meaningful work.
You could have any number of companies competing that are worker owned.
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Small correction, the left is a capitalist-made vehicle. This fine sample is a communist one. These are still in active use in many places 40+ years after production. Cheap and simple to maintain.
Yeah, a communist Mercedes Benz W123. Even an AI slop meme would be better than this.
I love the communist side of the picture - western car, but with bonnet up and no available spares
Thats a W123 Mercedes-Benz.
Is the Tesla a spectacle for fools? Yes, but:
The first vehicle I ever owned is a truck older than I am. It still runs, and does work.(Built in USA)
American tractors older than any of their operators are still being bought and sold. I grew up with one, still fucking runs.
You been to Cuba? Why is this they repair American cars older than anyone driving them, instead of importing and fixing Ruuskicars?
Dumb-ass comparison XD
I'm confused, there are no 30 year old cars under capitalism?
I get what you're trying to say, but I don't think this is a great example to use.
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I hate hypercapitalism as much as anyone, but let's not pretend capitalism does not produce excellent cars when the real issue is the cost (global cost, not monetary) of producing them.
Have you done any research in communest cars? I like shitting on capitalism as much as the next guy but cumunist cars were unreliable as fuck.
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