Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
If the Coupe Quattro John sent in earlier wasn’t really the Audi I’d choose to build or buy, the S6 he found certainly was the opposite. Last week I wrote up a clean S6 6-speed converted car. It was lovely in just about every detail, but there were a few niggles that I would have done differently. Enter today’s S6; in 2003-only Aqua Blue Pearl with the optional Alcantara seats, this stunning S6 is just about perfect in my book and just like the silver car features a 6-speed swap:
A few weeks ago, our reader John sent me a listing on Craigslist for this car. I immediately laughed. It’s not that the car was modified to look like an RS2 in the front and resprayed. On the surface, that’s pretty common and overall it looks reasonably done. It’s not that the car didn’t get a matching engine transplant; the unappreciated 20 valve normally aspirated 7A inline-5 is still there. It’s not that they didn’t do a 5-bolt conversion with larger brakes. No, what made me laugh was the color – Sprint Blue Pearl. That’s a B7-spec color, and while to non-Audi nerds it may not matter, it’s the wrong color. Nogaro Blue, technically, would also be the wrong color, since the RS2 was oft-anointed in the special shade of RS Blue. Now, technically that color seems to be the same color as the later B5-chassis shade, but nevertheless the person who repainted this car in the spirit of the RS managed to be 3 generations off in color. It’s that kind of attention to detail that always worries me about modified cars:
The good week for Audis continues with another car that’s frankly rare to find in reasonable condition anymore; the B4 Audi 90 quattro. The 90 was a bit long in the tooth in 1995 and slated for replacement by the updated A4. However, squint a bit and you realize that outside of the reshaped bumper covers the A4 shared many design cues with the B4 Audi. It’s a handsome car, and like the ’95 A6 I wrote up the other day it’s extremely competent. The V6 was coupled to the venerable but updated quattro all-wheel drive via a 5-speed manual transmission. While not the fastest car out there, the B4 focused on more luxury at a time when all of the major manufacturers seems to be backing away from sport just a bit. You won’t confuse this car with an M3, but that said it’s a fair bit more quiet, refined and quicker than a 4000 quattro. However, the car was a veritable sales flop compared to the 4000 – Audi only sold about 3,330 of the B4 90 quattros in the U.S. in total, compared to the nearly 16,000 4000 quattros sold. Rare? You bet:
While low mileage, pristine condition Porsches almost seem cliche, finding an Audi with not much distance covered just doesn’t happen very often. When it does, it seems to inevitably be a model that no one is particularly excited about. That’s unfortunate, because often those models are quite competent performers, indeed. Growing off of the Audi Space Frame Concept from 1993, the A8 was the replacement for the short lived V8 quattro. Although the V8 had only been in production for a few years when the ASF was built, the Type 44 chassis was already quite old so a replacement was fitting. And Audi really outdid itself, with a modern, clean design based around lightweight aluminum technology. Underneath, the initial A8 didn’t offer revolution but instead built on the technology incorporated into the advanced for the time V8 quattro. Over its life, though, the A8 became a world-class leading sedan with steadily increasing technology and power output. For the most part, though, what most people remember are the post 2001 changes; introduction for the U.S. market of the long-wheel base A8L and sporty S8. That’s unfair to the often unloved and seldom seen early models which were very similar and quite competent in their own right. Running across a 1999 A8 with only 50,000 miles is rare enough that you might not see it again in the U.S. and offers you the opportunity to get into a nearly new top flight executive sedan:
A 1934 Mercedes-Benz W25 lines up to race in front of a several Bugattis looking decidedly more aerodynamic and modern.
It seems fitting that a day after the Formula 1 season commenced in Australia with a resounding sweep of the top spots by the Mercedes-Benz W06s of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. It was not particularly a surprise given the Mercedes-Benz domination of last year’s competition, yet it was a poignant reminder in light of the major difficulties faced by other successful racing manufacturers over the past few years with the new F1 regulations. While storied teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull have struggled to even finish at times, Mercedes-Benz has looked virtually unchallenged with wins only really contested between the two teammates. The same could be said of the original Silver Arrows between 1935 and 1939; however, in 1934 it was quite a different story when success was anything but a given:
TWO : NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND THE REVOLUTION OF AUTOMOBILE RACING
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