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1991 Audi 100

1991 Audi 100

Published May 11, 2018 by Carter

Today’s car is going to start a bit of a series of big-body Audis from the 1990s for me. Why start here? Well, the 1991 Audi 100 was a end of an era for Ingolstadt’s products in the U.S. For a little over a decade the big-body cars had been powered by inline-5 motors, and the NG 2.3 liter unit under the hood of this 1991 was at the end of its life span. 1991 would see the introduction of the new V6 motor that would become the staple of Audi for the nearly decade and a half. Late 1991 also saw the introduction of the Type 44/C3’s replacement – the all-new C4 chassis. Well, I saw “all new”, but inside it didn’t really look like it changed much. Outside, though…

There were other changes to the new 100 that I’ll go through in the next post. But let’s talk about today’s 100, which was really just a dressed up 5000. Like all the Type 44s, it received a revised interior with the nomenclature swap in late 1988. Dynamically, though, there were basically no changes from 1987. In fact, the ’87 5000 front-drive shared more in common with the Turbo than the later model which shared many components with the small chassis cars.

The front-drive 100 soundly outsold its more expensive 100 quattro and 200 brethren. Somewhere around 5,000 1991 100 front-drive sedans and Avants were sold here, but finding them today can be a bit of a trick:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Audi 100 on eBay

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Deja Vu All Over Again: 1986 Audi Coupe GT

Deja Vu All Over Again: 1986 Audi Coupe GT

Published August 11, 2017 by Carter

Edit 10/8/2017 – This car is back up again on a new auction with the vinyl removed and/or replaced. The seller removed their ~$5,000 asking price but the car has gone through several reserve auctions and not cleared $3,000.

Do you ever see a car and think it looks awfully familiar? Probably like a lot of you, I scan listings nearly every day, and every day provides a wealth of new examples of rare cars that encourages a lot of what we do here at GCFSB. But, once in a while, one pops up that sticks out like a sore thumb.

Now, being the chief (and only) Audi Coupe GT enthusiast in the world at GCFSB, I’m obviously prone to remembering these cars. Sure enough, with so few hitting the market these days I tend to remember every single example I’ve written up – meaning, basically every single example which comes to market – sorry about that.

But this one is particularly interesting. I immediately recognized the Team Dynamics wheels that this 1986 was wearing, but the two-tone paint color was off. Not many Oceanic Blue Metallic Coupe GTs are still kicking around, but at least the sides of this one were the neat and oh-so-80s-electric hue. But closer investigation of some of the details in the description revealed what I thought; this was the same GT I knew from the early 2000s. Originally, the car was Graphite Metallic with black leather – a rare combination on an infrequently seen car – and had been upgraded to participate in track events in Pennsylvania with a cage, a hotter NG motor, rear discs and upgraded suspension, those great looking Team Dynamics wheels and a few other odds and ends. Later it turned up on the West Coast with a notorious flipper of Audis; now with European H1/H4 lights and little else but failing paint, the flipper was looking to make a profit claiming it was one of the best GTs in the country. In 2015 it turned up on eBay with a Missouri dealer who had wrapped the car in matte blue vinyl to cover up the failing paint; otherwise, there were no changes. The car sold for $3,250 and was gone.

Well, it’s back again. Now apparently in Indiana with a repainted top section in what appears to be matte black and with what appears to be much brighter blue sides, the H1/H4 lights are gone replaced by standard 9004 U.S. spec lights and strangely the black leather late B2 interior has been swapped for a brown leather Quattro stripped interior. Otherwise, few miles have been accrued. The seller is looking now for $7,450 – some $4,200 more than they (or someone before them) paid a few years ago. While the Quattro interior is worth a pretty penny in good shape alone, the removal of the Euro lights and no other additions have me scratching my head as to where the value came from. Nevertheless, I enjoy a mystery from time to time, so here you can look back at what I wrote in 2015, including links to the original build of the car, and decide if it’s worth it for yourself.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Audi Coupe GT on eBay

The original post below appeared on our site in June, 2015

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1988 Audi 80 quattro

1988 Audi 80 quattro

Published April 15, 2017 by Carter

The Audi 80 quattro was a great replacement for the 4000 quattro in many ways. And, in many ways, it was a complete let down. It was more quiet with better interior materials and better technology. It also had more power with the 2.3 liter inline-5, but additional sound deadening and more technology all meant more weight, so the new 80 quattro felt slower than the 4000 had. That technology meant it wasn’t quite as “cool” as the 4000 had been, either – you could only lock one differential thanks to a new center Torsen unit, and then at 15 m.p.h. the rear diff would unlock electronically. BOOOO, Audi, BOOOO! How am I supposed to channel Hannu Mikkola if your electronic nannies are undoing my sick slide?

Did it matter that the second generation of quattro was probably better in most conditions for the majority of drivers? Not really. It didn’t matter that fundamentally the 80 was a better car, either. The 80 had three strikes against it before it even went on sale here. First was the price; at around $24,000 out the door with a few options, it was considerably more expensive than even the expensive 4000 quattro had been. Second was that it was no longer top fiddle; the 90 quattro was the upscale model, meaning that if you wanted body-color bumpers, for example, you needed to pony up even more for the “nicer” model. Heck the 4000 had body-color bumpers in 1985 for less money. What was Audi thinking? And to top it off, there was the whole 60 minutes fiasco.

Those factors combined to doom the B3 here, no matter how good it was. In 1988, with the release of a fresh model, Audi barely managed to outsell the antiquated 4000 quattro. The 80 and 90 quattro combined to sell just 94 more examples than the 1987 4000CS quattro had (3,023 v. 2,929). And, that was their best year here, to boot; each successive year, sales fell – 1,947 in 1989, 1,680 in 1990, 655 in 1991 and only 640 in the last year of the B3, 1992. It’s made finding clean B3s very difficult. Despite that, they often don’t hold much value in the marketplace:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Audi 80 quattro on eBay

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Roll the Dice? 1987 Audi Coupe GT Special Build

Published January 26, 2017 by Carter

If you pop on to the Audi USA configuration site, it’s easy to shake your head at how expensive it seems the range has gotten. The A3 is the cheapest product you can buy, but at $31,200 without options it’s hard to see how this gussied up Golf is affordable.

Yet, relative to where Audis used to sticker, that price is downright cheap.

Take this 1987.5 Audi Coupe GT Special Build. At the end of the run, Audi sold approximately 850 of these B2/B3 hybrid Coupes to the U.S. market. While things like the suspension and basic body were unchanged, the Special Build got the NG-code 2.3 inline-5 that was seen in the later Type 44/C3 and B3 chassis cars with 130 horsepower. The gearbox was also unique to the Special Build, having beefed up drive shafts (for some unknown reason, as the existing ones were already overbuilt). The Special Build was also the only front drive B2 to carry 4-wheel disc brakes – again, shared with the B3 instead. Inside, the Special Build got a special digital dashboard in a slightly different hue than the ’86 Coupe GTs with digital boards had. The interior fabric was updated to the Savoy Velour (also from the B3) instead of the B2’s Kensington Velour – this was signified by a triple stripe instead of a dual stripe. To help distinguish the limited cars, the exteriors featured a “dipped” look; window surrounds were body color as were mirrors and spoiler, and if you opted for Alpine White (L90E) the Ronal R8s were also painted body color. As with most later GTs, the Special Build came relatively loaded with few options, though most don’t seem to have the rear wiper selected for some reason. Sunroof, leather steering wheel, power windows, power defogging mirrors, cassette stereo and power antenna, cruise control and a trip computer were all standard. Only heated seats, a rear wiper, leather interior and an automatic transmission could be optioned.

The price for this “heavily optioned” exclusivity was $20,600, and you’d be hard pressed to leave a dealer for much under $21,000 after delivery charges. Inflation corrected from 1987 dollars to 2016 dollars, that’s about $44,500. The brand new, 2017 Audi A5 Sport with the 2.0 TSFI motor, quattro all-wheel drive and a 6-speed manual starts at $41,200 and has many more amenities standard. Is it any surprise that we see so many more luxury vehicles today than what we saw in the 1980s?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Audi Coupe GT Special Build on Knoxville Craigslist

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1992 Audi 80 quattro

1992 Audi 80 quattro

Published December 15, 2016 by Carter

Just a few weeks ago, I spent a fair amount of time documenting the substantial changes to Audi’s small chassis lineup which accompanied the launch of new nomenclature in the B3 80/90 twins. But while early models like the 1988 90 quattro I wrote up for that article were mechanically identical to the “entry level” 80, changes were on the horizon. In 1990, the 7A-motored, dual-overhead cam 90 quattro 20V and Coupe Quattro replaced the 10V NG powered 90s, which were no longer available in the U.S. market. To accompany their upgraded 165 horsepower mill, the 90s featured an optional sport package which included 15″ Speedline wheels and upgraded brakes (standard, albeit in slightly different offset, on the Coupe).

Soldiering on with the 130 horsepower NG and slightly less flair was the 80. In fact, the 80 outlived the 20V motor in the U.S. into 1992, and was ultimately the last small chassis offering the 5-cylinder until the recent reintroduction in transverse layout in the MQB platform. While power and running gear was unchanged, the 80 received some of the 90’s signature bits from earlier on, including the BBS alloys and painted bumper covers. Like all B3 quattros, they’re exceedingly rare to come across; in the case of the 1992 80 quattro like the one here, a scant 640 made their way to our market.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Audi 80 quattro on eBay

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