Odds are that there are quite a few people who still don’t know that the narrow-body, non-turbocharged Type 85 Coupe Quattro existed at all. Move outside of the U.S. market, though, and the Coupe GT could be opted with the all-wheel drive underpinnings of the 90 (4000) quattro, resulting in the WRC-winning look without the Porsche 911 price tag. But while generally fans of the B2 chassis can’t be dissuaded that it might just be the best Audi product ever, the reality of owning one of these trustworthy steeds was that they were pretty slow. Dependable, tossable, still fun to drive – but slow. On top of that, the aftermarket industry for the inline-5 was pretty weak. There were some products out there; I had an original Abt header, for example, and you could buy a Schrick cam or briefly a neato Jamex air intake. But the real way to gain power was to swap in a turbocharged inline-5, right? Well, apparently no one told the folks at GTi Engineering in Brackley that:
Author: Carter
Race cars, by definition, don’t lead a pampered life. Often they’re tossed around, crashed, bashed, and driven hard when wet. They are infrequently all-original, as many go through multiple changes in rules (even within a single season) and need to evolve to remain current. Also infrequently do they stay with one owner, changing hands multiple times as the years pass more quickly than laps. Then, a generation on, they’re no longer competitive and shelved in favor of the newest, greatest and latest track weapon. In short, they’re pretty much a collector’s nightmare.
But over the past decade a growing appreciation for vintage motorsport means there is increasing attention focused on ex-factory race models. And, even though the air has cooled slightly on the Porsche market, it’s still at a pretty astronomic level. Put those two factors together with a low production period racer, and even though it’s far from original condition, it’s the recipe for enthusiast’s dreams and an asking price high enough to make small African nation dictator’s son feel jealous.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 911RS Carrera Cup/3.8 RSR on eBay
Comments closedAfter trying for a few months to shift this RS4 over $40,000 back in the Spring, this awesome original Avus Pearl Audi RS4 is back on the market at a discount. The seller’s highest auction bidding reached $26,000 but failed to hit the reserve. Now it’s back up for sale at $36,000. For our friends in the Great White North, this car offers a lot of future collectability but for U.S. fans, you’ll have to go through some Federalization work to get it here. The good news is that others have already done this, so it is possible to bring this Euro-only wunderwagon stateside. While $36,000 sounds like a lot, the hand-built, exclusive nature of the RS4 coupled with performance that is still not far from cutting edge the best part of two decades later seems like a deal. However, since no one has snapped this one up it would seem to indicate the lack of appreciation for the RS4 at this current time – surprising, since we’ve seen replica RS-inspired models in the U.S. come close to the asking price. Is it just that it hasn’t been brought to the U.S. yet?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Audi RS4 on eBay
The below post originally appeared on our site February 3, 2016:
5 CommentsThis past weekend I drove by the spot where I first encountered the M Coupe. The year was 1998, and to be honest the Z3 lineup had been pretty forgettable. In many ways, the car’s signature launch through the James Bond film Goldeneye summed up how most felt about the Z3:
“Hey, look, a new convertible BMW!” (moves on)
But that changed with the launch of the M-tuned models. The E36/7 and /8 suddenly had the performance to back up the hoopla associated with the launch when the S52 from the M3 found its way under the hood. Augmenting that were upgraded brakes, giant shadowline Roadstar wheels with massive (and awesome) lips, and wide flared fenders culminating in quad exahusts emerging from the rear middle of the car – what would become signature on the next round of BMW M models. It looked great, it drove great, and was available in some pretty wild colors. It was pretty much the instant recipe for a collectable, but values languished for some time before the Coupe models really started taking off a few years ago. But it’s still possible to get into a collector-condition Z M model for not an outrageous sum: