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1986 Audi Quattro

1986 Audi Quattro

Published March 28, 2015 by Carter

One of our readers not so subtly pointed out to me that I mention a certain box-flared car from a certain manufacturer perhaps a bit too often when reviewing Audis, and perhaps he’s right. Isn’t the Quattro enough of a legend to stand on it’s own? The answer is that until quite recently, no – it wasn’t. In part that’s due to the experience of the diluted American market version and Audi’s near denial that it built any cars before the A4. 160 horsepower with the best part of 3,000 pounds to haul around isn’t even enough for most Subarus these days, so it should be no surprise that the Quattro’s performance suffered in U.S. spec. What also suffered was buyer’s pockets; at $40,000 in the early 1980s, this car was the equivalent of nearly $100,000 today. Though the driving dynamics were more than the sum of their parts, ultimately Quattro was dropped after a short run in the U.S. market with 664 sold. Despite the relative sales flop in the U.S., the Quattro had a greater impact in Europe, where its fresher and lighter face was paired with 40 more horsepower and steadily improving performance and technology coupled with its major rally successes. Indeed, the last of the RR Quattros continued on alongside the replacement S2 until the end of 1991. It was so stellar, there was a whole segment of forced induction, flared WRC candidates that copied its blueprint. Remember the Celica All-Trac Turbo? Sierra Cosworth? How about the 323GTX? Golf Rallye? Lancia Delta Integrale? Subaru Impreza 22B? All of them are legendary cars born from the Quattro. As there is more appreciation for Audi’s 80s halo car in Europe, we’ve seen a steady stream of nice examples head back to the homeland from U.S. shores. Perhaps it’s time to turn the tide?

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1987 Volkswagen Quantum Syncro Wagon

1987 Volkswagen Quantum Syncro Wagon

Published March 26, 2015 by Carter

The B2 Quantum has always been an interesting car to me. As my first car was an Audi 4000CS quattro, there were aspects of its Volkswagen sibling that I really liked. First, while I wouldn’t say that the Quantum was more handsome than the 4000, it was certainly more distinctive looking. There are some downright odd angles on the Quantum, but somehow the design pulls it off. It’s also more rare to see them, or at least it felt so when I was driving around in the 4000. Then there were more practical things; for example, unlike Audi who ran the odd 4×108 pattern for slightly larger brakes, the Quantum stuck to smaller stock and retained 4×100 mm wheels. That made upgrades a bit easier and gave the Quantum a signature look with the GTi-sourced snowflake wheels. You could also get the 5-cylinder in front drive sedan configuration with the GL5; it was something Audi offered early on but had dropped, instead having only the Coupe GT be the front drive 5-cylinder. But the real trump card for the Quantum was undoubtedly the Syncro Wagon, as there was no Audi B2 wagon available in any configuration:

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Squint-worthy Survivor: 1985 Audi 4000S quattro

Squint-worthy Survivor: 1985 Audi 4000S quattro

Published March 16, 2015 by Carter

I had a serious amount of nostalgia when I came across this listing; if finding 1980s Audis has become somewhat rare these days, finding ones in good nick has become even more so. But in this case the nostalgia stems from this particular model in this particular configuration; an Alpine White with Brazil Brown sport cloth 1985 4000S quattro. The reason why is that it’s about as close to the first car I owned as you can come. I had this car in this configuration, but a 1986 “CS” model. Outside of the “C” on the rear, the only other change was the addition of the third brake light at the base of the rear window. I didn’t start out looking for an Audi at all, and to be honest when I was 18 the B2 was virtually unknown to me. I tried – and failed – to buy a decent 2002 tii; an exercise that ultimately led a car-selling friend of my father’s to take me under his wing. He claimed he’d find the perfect car for me, and shortly thereafter I found myself paying for a 4000CS quattro without any real knowledge of it. It had about the same mileage as the car shown here, and generally was in good shape. Over the next few years, it would carry me on many adventures; long highway cruises to see friends, trips to the mountains to ski, my first track event, countless drives sideways through the snow – it became as much as friend as a vehicle. Despite that, the day came when I had to move on; owning both a Coupe GT and the 4000, I chose the former as the car to keep and the 4000CS quattro drove away. I’ve often dreamed of finding another in the shape mine left me in. And though it requires quite a bit of squinting due to the unreasonably small photos in this listing, I think this car just about fits the mold:

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1991 Audi 200 20V Quattro Avant

Published March 2, 2015 by Carter

Last week, I wrote up one of the nicest 1991 Audi 200 20V quattro Avants that has graced these pages. Lower miles, a complete rebuild and professional respray with some desirable upgrades meant it was no surprise to see the car sell immediately; the seller reported it took 4 hours to sell it at the full $10,000 asking price, and there was a line of bidders all hoping to get in on it. Has the time finally come for recognition of how great these cars were? Well, shortly after the last listing another 200 20V quattro Avant popped up for sale. The asking price was exactly half of the first one, at $5,000. So this one is a supreme deal, right? Let’s have a look:

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1982 Audi Coupe

Published February 23, 2015 by Carter

Just when you think you know everything about a car, one pops up to surprise you. In today’s case, it’s the color which this early U.S. bound Audi Coupe was delivered in – LA3Y Surinam Red Metallic. It’s seriously rare and the first time in my many years of Audi Coupe following that I’ve seen one. Now, off the bat many would be forgiven for believing that all 2-door Audis from this period were GTs; however, the Coupe didn’t become the “GT” until the late 1983/84 models. There are actually a host of changes that differentiate them from the early GTs. First off, the early cars carried the code WE 2.1 liter inline-5 instead of the later KX or NG equipped 2.2/2.3 Coupe GTs. It wasn’t much less power than the later cars, but was rated at 100 instead of the later 110/130 horsepower GTs. Gearing was longer, too – intended to give the GT better fuel economy, coupled with the lower power the early Coupes are a few seconds slower to 60 than the ’84 up cars. The early cars also ran 4×100 instead of 4×108 wheels with smaller brakes. Inside, there were no big changes to the Type 81 between 1981 and 1984, though some of the interiors are more rare to see. In this case, the build sticker tells us this car was equipped with interior “KC”, which thanks to the B2 Resource Guide tells us this was the Negro interior with Tweed Check. The car was also pretty heavily – and somewhat oddly – optioned. For example, the buyer selected sunroof, air conditioning and power mirrors, but oddly not power windows. Whatever their motivation, the buyer clearly coveted this expensive Coupe as witnessed by the condition:

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