4 Star Classics

One of Audi's rarest and most beautiful cars with a mere 26k on the clock 

MODEL HISTORY

In direct opposition and in secret to the Volkswagen board, the 1968 Audi 100 was born. An instant commercial success this Audi was the first in the series of front engine water-cooled cars from the Volkswagen group famous for its rear engine air-cooled models.

The story goes like this - In 1965 Volkswagen purchased Auto Union (Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) from Mercedes as demand for the Beetle had outstripped Volkswagen's production capacity - Auto Union had a nearly new production plant at Ingolstadt that was quickly converted for Beetle assembly.

With poor sales of the DKW F102 and the new Audi F103 failing to prove itself in the market the Volkswagen boss Heinrich Nordhoff in the belief that the rear engine air-cooled layout was the future gave orders that no further Auto Union models (incl Audi) be developed.

It was an engineer by the name of Ludwig Kraus that failed to share Nordhoffs view and set about in secret developing the Audi 100. The first Nordhoff learned about the the project was the presentation of a production ready prototype! Thankfully for Audi fans, Nordhoff gave it the thumbs up.

Shown to the press on 26th November 1968, the C1 platform Audi 100 was the company's largest car and spawned several variants, two and four door saloons and a fast back coupe. Named the 100 after the then engine output of 100ps it surpassed the sales expectations of Volkswagen to the extend additional production had to be set up at Volkswagen's own plant in Wolfsburg.

By 1971 the 500,000th Audi was produced making it the most successful model in the company's history at the time. The top of the range 100GL was introduced in 1972 and featured the 1.9L engine formerly used in only the Fastbback Coupe S.

Equipment

Steel sunroof, Cassette player, Wood trim, Chrome exhaust trims 

EXTERIOR

This Coupe S is finished in a metallic blue which looks absolutely stunning and really accentuates the cars lines. We are all in agreement that this is one of the most beautiful cars we have ever had the pleasure of photographing in the studio. The car has spent many of it 38 year life in storage so has had little exposure to the sun leaving all the chrome and rubber seals in good condition. The paint finish is excellent and the car looks ready to show.

INTERIOR

Its a great credit to the Audi design team that they managed to come up with such a beautifully shaped coupe that still sat four adults comfortably with all their luggage in the boot. The interior is quite similar to that of the 4 door saloon other than the bespoke steering wheel specially designed for the coupe. Due to the low mileage and careful storage the trim has lasted remarkably well, the chrome on the doors shows a little patina but the seats look hardly sat in, the wood is undamaged, carpets unworn and the dashboard shows no signs of the usual large cracks!

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION

The Mercedes designed 1.9 litre engine gives the car plenty of low down grunt and provides a sporty drive taking the car to 60mph in only 10.2 seconds, not bad for 1973! Having only covered minimal mileage over the last 38 years the engine still performs well and has just benefited from a full service at NBA Sports Cars in Dunsfold. The 4 speed gearbox is still in fine fettle and slots through the gears with no problems.

WHEELS, TYRES & BRAKES

The Coupe is still fitted with its 14" steel wheels that still have their original chrome hubcaps all of which are in excellent condition other than a couple of light curb marks on the N/S front wheel. The tyres are all matching Bridgestones that are within the legal limit. These Coupe's were fitted with an advanced stabilizing braking system which almost completely eliminated pulling to one side and skidding, well ahead of its time in the early 70's. The brakes to this day still work well pulling the car up quickly in a straight line.

HISTORY FILE

This Coupe was first registered in October 1973 as one of the 3,146 Audi 100 S Coupe's built for the UK market, it is believed that less than 50 are still in existence making this a very rare piece of Audi's history.

The current owner has had the car since 1993, there is a Vehicle Condition Report showing the car to be in first class condition back in 1991 with 13,461 miles on the clock. The current owner used the car for the first few years of ownership taking the mileage to 24,204 miles in 1993. The car than spent a considerable time stored away before being put back on the road in 2008. The current mileage is now 26,422 which must make it one of the lowest mileage 100 Coupes in existence.

The car also comes with its original owners manual and lots of owners club magazines and 100 Coupe S articles.