One (shite) picture per post.

[Austat]

[Austat]

[Austat]

[martc]

Lincoln, 1978.

[martc]

Leipzig.

[martc]

[martc]

Phun Phact Intertank petrol stations were the only ones Westerners were allowed to use in the DDR.

[martc]

Gera, DDR, 1975. MZ's!!

[martc]

[martc]

Truncated Transit. And a fine pair of Windy Millers.

[155V6]

[sheffcortinacentre]

1 minute ago, 155V6 said:

For Tefal drivers!

[High Jetter]

Non-stick?

[adw1977]

10 hours ago, martc said:

Phun Phact Intertank petrol stations were the only ones Westerners were allowed to use in the DDR.

I had never heard of Intertank before, but I know of the Intershops which sold luxury items in East Berlin and only accepted (West German) Deutschmarks, apparently West Germans could buy items cheaper than in West Berlin and the DDR got some hard currency.  I wonder if Intertank also only accepted Deutschmarks?

[martc]

10 hours ago, adw1977 said:

I had never heard of Intertank before, but I know of the Intershops which sold luxury items in East Berlin and only accepted (West German) Deutschmarks, apparently West Germans could buy items cheaper than in West Berlin and the DDR got some hard currency.  I wonder if Intertank also only accepted Deutschmarks?

When I was in the DDR, in 1989, on my Moto Guzzi, I was told by Intertourist, that I could only use Intertank fuel stations, but they accepted DDR marks. However there were also 'Minol' stations which the locals used and I used without a problem. The fuel station above, with the Trabbies queuing up, is a Minol station. There was no shortage or rationing of fuel (contrary to western propaganda), but as you can see in the picture the Minol stations were very small and the pumps close together; fuel was dispensed by an attendant. The queues were caused by congestion, slow delivering pumps and not enough attendants.  One thing I had to be careful with was over eager attendants who tried to fill the Guzzi up with pre-mixed two stroke petrol (obviously a big thing over there); I had to make it clear that I wanted 'viertakt, bitte'.

I was given a map by the Embassy with all the Intertank stations on it, and although they were widely distributed throughout the country it was often convenient to nip into a Minol and no-one was really bothered. My only concern was that you had to keep all your receipts to demonstrate at the border how you had spent your money and of course some were Intertank and others Minol. Of course no-one on the border asked to see them. You had to buy your DDR marks in advance and in theory any left over would be put in a state bank account for you to use (with interest) next time you visited the DDR. I only had a handful of marks left and again no-one asked about it at the border. The map also showed the other 'Inter'  facilities - camp sites, tourist offices/exchange bureaus, hotels etc. It's up in the loft I might dig it out for a bit of 'ostalgia'.

I was camping, and being a running dog of capitalism I could only use Intercamp camp sites. This was strictly adhered too as you had to pay for camping in advance, through the Intertourist office in London. Intercamp sites were a corner of a normal campsite, separated from the glorious workers by a fence with 6" posts with a rope draped between them, an ideal trip hazard.

 

[Richard_FM]

Most eastern bloc countries had shops similar to Intershops.  Most of them disappeared not long after Communism ended & normal shops could stock luxury items.

[martc]

[martc]

Brighton, 1984. Untaxed since 1/2/86.

[martc]

[martc]

St. Paul’s Carnival, Bristol, not Scotland,1985.

[Remspoor]

[Metal Guru]

On 16/03/2022 at 19:26, martc said:

Truncated Transit. And a fine pair of Windy Millers.

Nightmare!

[maxvon]

[martc]

Park Lane, W1, 1976.

[Remspoor]

[Dyslexic Viking]

[Richard_FM]

15 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Looks like Longbridge when they were making Nash Metropolitans.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Remspoor said:

Express Dairies?

[martc]

Hotel International, Magdeburg, DDR, 1964.

[martc]