🏎️ Max Uncovers an Audi that Disappeared for Years

Gm. Welcome once again to MaxFindsCars: the only newsletter on the internet.

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Today’s edition is a DOOZY.

It’s…

A cornerstone of motorsport history.

A maker of some glorious turbo sounds (stay tuned).

And it was so good back in the day its name is plastered on basically every Audi in production!

HERE IT IS: A 1983 Audi Quattro

What Makes The X So Cool?

• ⚔️ It REVOLUTIONIZED the all-terrain vehicle market

• 🏎️ It DOMINATED rally racing for years

• 🕵️ And this one DISAPPEARED FOR YEARS after being stolen from a dealership??

Today’s Edition is brought to you by eBay Motors

But First, the Highlights…

This Quattro touts a unique spec with that funky paint (Port Rose Metallic) and brown patterned (called ‘Zebra Cloth’ from the factory) interior, while having an even more unique history (that we will delve into in a sec)!

I think it’s going to sell near the top of its estimated range of $59k-67k.

• 🌏️ Driven around the world: 0.4x

• 🏇 Can beat 197 horses in a fight

• 💰️ Predicted Price: $64,444

• 📆 Auction Ends: Saturday, July 1st, 2023

Let’s dive in to what makes this Quattro so special!

It Revolutionized the All-Terrain Vehicle Market

Back in the late 1970s, the automotive industry was a lot more black and white.

Cars were cars; they were meant for the street, driving on tarmac, etc.

Trucks, you MIGHT guess (if you’re particularly clever), were trucks. They were utility vehicles, designed for off-road capability and haulin’ shit.

But, just like the origins of the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup…

Someone was bound to have that lightbulb moment and combine the two!

An engineer by the name of Jörg Bessinger was testing what was effectively the German’s version of the Jeep Willys military vehicle, the Volkswagen Iltis.

The Iltis was smaller and less powerful than a lot of its counterparts (a departure of the normal thinking of the time), but performed much better in the snow.

It gave Jörg a lightbulb moment:

If a vehicle doesn’t need to be big, powerful, and high off the ground to perform well off-road, perhaps it was possible to build a consumer car that could perform well on ALL terrains.

A car that was small but robust, sporty but practical, a car that had a full time four-wheel-drive system.

They prototyped this idea car in snowy Austria, confirming it performed WAY better than every other car on the market in rough conditions before it was approved for production.

It was A HIT.

The Quattro became so popular with consumers, it spawned a TON of different competitor cars over the years - variations of all-wheel and four-wheel drive systems are available on many cars today…

Including basically EVERY Audi. If you look closely at one, you’ll probably see a tiny Quattro badge indicating the car has an iteration of this now famous 4WD system that started with this first generation Quattro on auction.

But… There was another piece of this puzzle that contributed to the Quattro’s fame and success.

Around the same time the Quattro was being developed, the World Rally Championship changed some rules…

Perhaps at the behest of some palms greased by the Germans over at Audi…

So now, FOUR WHEEL DRIVE WAS LEGAL in rally racing.

And for a little German automaker that just so happened to have developed a revolutionary 4WD sports car, that meant…

The Quattro Dominated Rally Racing For Years

I highly HIGHLY recommend watching this video of the Audi Quattro Group B rally car… it’s just insane:

Audi’s Group B Quattro went from 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds ON GRAVEL.

A BUGATTI CHIRON SUPER SPORT ($4mil hypercar) CAN BARELY GO THAT FAST ON PAVEMENT AND A SET OF $40k TIRES

And for the uninitiated, that little tweeting/fluttering sound when the car goes off-throttle is the cars’ turbo. There are very few sounds in this world better than a turbo flutter.

Through the early and mid-1980s, the Quattro was a total force of nature in the rally scene.

In 1981, Michele Mouton became the first woman to win a world rally event (and she was driving a Quattro).

In 1982 the Audi team won the Manufacturer’s World Rally Title.

They won TWO MORE driver’s championships in 1983 and ‘84, and another manufacturer’s title in ‘84 as well. INSANE.

These days, the Quattro is seeing NEW LIFE as a Modification Muse (a great term I just came up with myself) - with folks like Ken Block & Youtube channels like Cars with Luke building rally inspired street cars out of old Quattro’s (and making over 500 horsepower doing it).

These resto-modded Sport Quattro’s, the more I learn about them, are quickly moving up the ranks of my automotive bucket list.

Pls refer your friends so I can actually afford one.

But… what was that I mentioned about this Quattro being stolen?

This Quattro DISAPPEARED After Being Stolen from a Dealership

YEAH… SO according to the auction house this particular Quattro was stolen from a dealership in Austria 10 years ago. Ironically, the same country in which the cars prototype was originally developed.

They found it a few years later in Italy.

Doing what? I don’t know.

I can only assume drinking wine and eating pasta like the rest of us would be doing.

Now its back, however.

And you can buy it with the peace of mind that the odds that it’s stolen twice in its lifetime are REALLY LOW.

And remember…

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That's a wrap for today. New Editions come out every Monday & Friday! While you wait, go out and drive! And if you want more, be sure to follow Max’s Twitter (@maxjzin)

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