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Heap(s) of the Week 2: Tres Audi Quattros with DTM dreams

Ahhhh, the Audi V8 quattro. It’s like that friend that comes over, crashes on your couch, eats all of your food and smears his greasy hands on your furniture, insults your wife and leaves the toilet seat up, burps and farts in a business meeting, forgets your birthday, and asks to borrow a hundred bucks (or several thousand) that you know you’ll never get back. But he’s your friend, and it would take a lot more than just those indiscretions to make him otherwise. Every once in a while, your friend really dresses up and looks great, but most times that you see him he’s disheveled, unshowered and hacking up some fairly disgusting looking phlegm – which, incidentally, he spits out on your carpet. Sound awesome? My experience with the V8 quattro was pretty similar, and yet it’s a car that I just look at and daydream about. Few are in good shape and serviceable today; many more appear as these do; discarded, forgotten, permanent projects. And much like your college bum friends, they seem to congregate in groups, because of course you need a parts car for your parts car. So what are they doing here? Well, one of this particular lot happens to be the best of the bunch brought to the U.S. – the coveted 1991 Audi V8 quattro 5-speed:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985, 1990 and 1991 Audi package on Craigslist


Year: 1991
Model: V8 quattro
Engine: 3.6 liter V8
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage: mi
Price: $3,000

Have 3 complete Audi cars for sale. All have been sitting for 5 years or so.
[1] Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro; 1985; 5 speed; gazillion miles. Looks pretty ratty. Bumper missing. A ton of spares, incl NEW gearbox
[2] Audi V-8 3.7, 1990; auto, black; approx. 140k miles, less than 15k miles on timing belt and related parts. Also has summer and winter tires mounted on alloys, decent interior; clearcoat has peeled on exterior.
3] Audi V-8 3.7 1991 5 speed black, minor rust in lower rear doors edges. Also summer and winter tires

FOLLOW-UP for all of those who responded. I’VE HAD A FAMILY EMERGENCY THAT TOOK ME OUT OF TOWN, AND WILL DO SO AGAIN, NEXT WEEK.
There were SERIOUS INACCURACIES in this posting….my fault..I wrote the orig. posting.
These cars are my sons’..he is NOT a mechanic…I am and I have just had a chance to go look at the cars for myself.
NONE can or should be driven..all have been sitting, in the open for 5 years; brakes appear to be rusty as heck
NONE will start easily, they ALL have had bad gas so I have topped the tanks off and put in some fuel conditioner ( Techron) The 5K with a smidgeon of ether, starts and runs fine, good oil pressure and no odd noises. The 5k also seems to be missing front bumper and grill.
The V-8 stick shift will start after quite a bit of ether and will stay running for a time, although quite roughly…also shows good oil pressure. The V-8 auto hasn’t (yet) started at all. I will try to get pics taken tomorrow (Thurs) and get them posted

Okay, so what do you do? Well, there’s a lot to like here. I’d probably just go ahead and get rid of the parts cars, minus some key (and expensive) relays, and perhaps the doors and front fenders depending on their state. Because, in all honesty, I probably wouldn’t spend a lot of money trying to return this car to showroom condition. Rather, this could be a really great track car; I’d keep the wood dash and everything else would go; carefully parting out these cars could get you a decent portion of your money back over time, but the only part I’d keep would be those Ronal-made Bolero wheels. Otherwise, that 5 speed would get a vinyl wrap with the 92 DTM colors, some BBS race wheels, a full coil-over suspension setup, Porsche brakes, and an S8 motor. It wouldn’t be cheap, but amazingly in DTM spec these cars weighed in at only around 2,700 lbs – it’d be tough to get it there without the factory budget, but certainly sub-3K is possible. What then? Well, I’d b-line for the nearest BMW club event and kick the butt of every E30 M3 I could find, of course. Sure, it’s a bit of a dream, but why not? You could easily get that work done for less than the price of a budget E30 M3, and what I’ve always really appreciated about the V8 is that it was different than what everyone else had. The work I listed would likely set you back around $10,000, so for sub-$15,000, you could have a 360hp, 2900 lb track weapon that would let you relive the heady days of the DTM before cars were spec-tube frame and ridiculous. That’s a big win in my book!

Thanks for another great spot by our reader John!

-Carter

4 Comments

  1. UrSDriver
    UrSDriver May 1, 2014

    The cars are dragging down the value of those Bolero’s! Black V8 5-speed with sport seats is a rare bird, if only it was cherry and not a basket case.

  2. Bob
    Bob July 1, 2014

    So how do you get in contact with this guy? I have 2 Audi V8 quattro 5 speeds, and have been enjoying them as daily drivers and lending one out to my brother’s family when they need a backup car. We have had over a dozen positive comments about the quattros. People say things like, “i love old Audis” or, “That’s a nice little Audi”, and “I see you got a nice hot rod here” , so it’s fun to hear positive comments about them and people seem to enjoy seeing them on the road. I just had one of my V8 quattros appraised and it came out at $5000, it’s in very good condition. But I bought it from the original owner, a 747 cargo jet pilot, in Aurora, CO for $4000. The other V8 quattro I bought in Perma, OH for $2800 and it was in great shape except for blue smoke coming from the exhaust, needed valve stem seals.

  3. Carter
    Carter July 1, 2014

    Hi Bob,

    Clicking on the link should bring you to the advertisement if it’s still available; I’m not sure that it is anymore. Best of luck, and if you want to sell one of those 5-speeds let me know!

  4. Bob
    Bob July 1, 2014

    The link loops back here again, so the ad must be dead. Thanks Hope the new owner gets that one fixed up, because it’s unusual to find a 5 speed, black/ black with sport seats and those optional wheels. Nearly all of the 5 speeds I’ve seen are Pearl White, including both of mine.

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