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Trying to convince people that the Quattro was the most influential and important car developed in the 1980s is akin to attempting to argue that Scottie Pippin was the all-around best player on the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s. Sure, you could back up your premise with plenty of facts, testimonials and opinion pieces that “Pip” was a better all-arounder than some other more famous players. But in the mind of nearly all enthusiasts and most non-enthusiasts alike, the image of Michael Jordan winning everything trump any argument a Pippin fan can generate. It’s therefore up to the small group of enthusiasts who understand the significance of the Quattro to support the dwindling supply of road-worthy examples – not an easy thing to do these days, given the even more scarce amount of spare parts:
Obviously I’m the big Quattro fan here at GCFSB, and I’ve carefully tried to track nearly every example that comes to market in the U.S.. I was frankly a bit surprised to see this one pop up, as it comes from a fellow enthusiast who has really enjoyed using the car as a collectable show car over the past few years. A staple at European events like S-Fest and Carlise, this Quattro has been seen and admired by many, who now have the opportunity to own their own rally legend:
Despite my general love of all-things-Audi, even I have a hard time coming up with good condition examples of the marque from the early 1980s. For U.S. fans, there just isn’t a plethora to choose from. For example, when you search eBay for Mercedes-Benz, Porsche or BMW models and sort by age, you’ll find usually several pages of examples before you get to the 1980s, where inevitably there will be a flood of models. When you switch to Audi, you’ll find three cars – and this is a good week. Fortunately for Audi fans, one of those three cars is the daddy – an original Audi Quattro. Few of these quite expensive turbocharged all-wheel drive Coupes made it to the U.S., and even fewer remain today; as I mentioned in the Coupe Week 1983 Quattro post. There was an excellent example of a low mile Quattro that had been repatriated to Europe, a trend which seems increasingly popular for the model which has more respect in the Fatherland than amongst U.S. enthusiasts. In fact, recently on our Facebook page one of the Quattros I posted prompted an enthusiasts to remark that the boxflared-fenders were reminiscent of the E30 M3 – without any acknowledgement that the Audi came on the scene well before the DTM star. So here’s your opportunity, Audi faithful, to keep one of the better examples of the limited-run Quattro on U.S. shores with this excellent 1983 Mars Red example:
There’s a saying that goes something along the lines of “To make a small fortune in racing, you have to start with a large one”. While it’s true that any track-related activities are generally a one-way flow of cash – out – from your bank account, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be a millionaire to go have a lot of fun. One of the more affordable platforms that budget weekend racers took to in the early 1980s was the then-new Volkswagen GTi; with solid aftermarket support, a light and nimble chassis and and crash it, walk away ability, the inexpensive Volkswagen was a natural track candidate. It’s become rare to see either of the first two generations showing up at the track these days, no surprise as many are 30 years old at this point. But once in a while, one that has undergone development and is a tidy package pops up, and today’s 1985 GTi is just one such example:
Maybe you looked at Monday’s 1985 Quattro and thought “That’s for me, but I’m short on money and want more power.” We here at GCFSB.com…
