Last week we took a look at a 1973 Audi 100 Coupe S. It was a bit of a gamble, with photos from 1990 and a not particularly detailed description. It was also a 3-speed automatic, and though the 100 isn’t really known as a driver’s car I’d still wager that most enthusiasts would prefer the manual option for these vintage Audis. As if to rectify all of the faults with that listing, around the same time another 100 Coupe S popped up. Now, to say that these cars are rare in the U.S. is an understatement, so it was pretty cool to see a second and more detailed listing appear. With current photos, a fresh restoration, super low miles and a much more detailed description, it certainly looked like the one to choose between the two – except for two not so minor things…
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We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.Tag: 100
Were it not for the four rings on the front, it would be pretty easy to mistake the Audi 100 Coupe S for any number of other late 1960s – early 1970s GT cars. There’s a loose resemblance to the the second generation Mustang, for example, but a much stronger link to cars like the Datsun B210 and original Toyota Celica. Too pedestrian for you? How about the Fiat Dino, Jensen Interceptor, Ferrari 365 GTB/4 and Aston Martin DBS? Indeed, there were many coupes that shared the relative same profile in this era, though truth be told it’s not likely that you’ll mistake the Audi for a Ferrari once the curves beckon. Underneath, the Coupe S was – after all – a C1 Audi, not known to be the best drivers out there but good cars on the highway. With 113 horsepower fed in this case through a 3-speed automatic, you won’t win any drag races. However, it’s a sharp looking and rarely seen classic, with only a handful in the Western Hemisphere (there are 5 known in the U.S., for example). That makes this Audi even more rare to see on these shores than a Sport Quattro, for argument’s sake. Though it’s not as desirable, there is nonetheless a fanbase that love these very pretty early Coupes:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1973 Audi 100 Coupe S on Kijiji
1 CommentI’m going to say something that’s probably somewhat shocking to many Audi faithful; the original Audi 100 was actually a sales success. Audi produced nearly a million of its new-style sedan, taking the company of a trajectory of innovative and aerodynamic family cars throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Of course, you’ll say, even if the C1 was a success in Europe, it wasn’t so much here in the U.S., right? After all, you see very close to zero of these handsome 1970s designs kicking around today. That would be a misstatement of the truth, since Audi original sold an astonishing 146,583 Audi 100s here. But since Toyota sells that many Camrys every hour, let’s put that into perspective. Some really rare Audis in the U.S.? How about a few of my favorites – 22,356 Coupe GTs sold here in total, and only 3868 V8 quattros made it to the States. Okay, neither the Coupe GT nor the V8 quattro was a particularly popular model for various reasons. How about a wildly popular model, then? Audi’s sales success with the 100 was on par with the company’s more recent star model, the A4 – Audi shifted 98,393 95-99 A4 models, and those are pretty common to see even if the newest of the B5 generation is 14 years old. A bigger perspective? Audi sold more 100LSs than it sold total cars (135598 total) between 1988-1995. I remember the 1980s, and even then – when these cars were newer than the current B5 generation – you just didn’t see them. That makes it especially neat to see one today, especially in the condition of today’s example:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1972 Audi 100LS on eBay
4 CommentsOne of the benefits to U.S. automobile enthusiasts of the recent global economic slowdown is the raise in value of the dollar relative to the Euro. For some time, the Euro was nearly a two to one ratio – it made contemplating importing vintage cars hard to stomach, because you needed to double the price and then deal with the headache and cost of importing the car. With it much closer to one to one as it is today, perusing the halls of German eBay suddenly becomes less of a pipe dream and more of a potential reality. Of course, if you’re going to be going through the difficulty of importing something, it better be worth it! For me, there are a plethora of rare Audis that I’d love to import. However, it does seem silly to import a S4 or S6, for example, since they were available here as well and you could get a pretty nice example. No, it seems to make more sense to look for something that you just don’t see on a regular basis – like this 1973 Audi 100 Coupe S, for example: