In East Germany in the 1980s, Benjamin and Maksymilian Nawka were identical twins with identical dreams. From the time they were six years old, the boys would spend their days sketching cars in their hometown of Bautzen, about 50 km east of Dresden. 

“It was a journey together,” says Maksymilian, or Maks for short. 

“It was always cars, trucks, and sometimes aircraft,” Ben adds. 

It’s a freezing night in Munich, and the guys had traveled from their respective homes near Ingolstadt and Stuttgart to meet during one of this winter’s coldest spells. Tall and lanky with fair complexions and sandy hair, the ethnic Sorbs sit hip-to-hip in a leather chair in the brightly lit library of the Roomers hotel. Ben wears his hair short and nearly side-swept, while Maks’ longer locks are pulled back into a bun. We’ve barely arrived, and they’re already finishing each other’s sentences. Back and forth, they weave their story with a seamless prosody, making it hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. 

“Being born behind the Iron Curtain, you don’t see a lot of different cars,” Ben explains. “You have some Skodas if you’re lucky, maybe you have some Russian brands like Moskvitch…”