Amazing barn-find Audi quattro for sale

Ready to be woken

Classic Car Auctions’ 18-19 September sale has lots of eye-catching lots, but none more so than this 1985 Audi quattro 10v that has spent around the last quarter of a century in storage.

That’s over half this car’s life.

Now it’s hoped it will finally be able to come out into the sunlight and, eventually, back on the road with a new owner.

What a find. Here’s its story.

Behind closed doors

The COVID-19 pandemic means we’re now very used to the term ‘behind closed doors’ – indeed CCA’s live online auction in which this Audi will be sold will be just that.

But it is behind these doors and in this barn that this car has sat, untouched, for the best part of a decade.

History lesson

The current owner bought the car in 1993, when it was eight years old, and he enjoyed driving it for three or four years.

He used it for business, which is how he racked up quite a lot of miles – indeed today its odometer reads around 178,000 miles.

Times are a-changing

However, he then changed job and no longer needed the car – but he didn’t want to sell it, either.

Which rather sealed this Audi’s fate.

All by myself

At first, the car was simply garaged. But then its owner moved to a farm and took his quattro with him.

And, with a spare barn, the car had a new home and was put on axle stands, which is how it has been for the last nine years, meaning it’s been in storage for around 25 years.

A fresh start

Now, finally, its owner feels the car deserves a second chance at life.

It has been standing about way too long, so he’s consigned it to CCA’s September sale so someone else can get it back on the road.

Want to get in the driving seat?

And when this quattro goes under the hammer on 19 September, the second day of this online sale, how much can the winning bidder expect to pay?

Classic Car Auctions has given it a pre-sale estimate of £8-10,000. Remember that figure…

Under the bonnet

Here’s this first-generation quattro’s 2.2-litre, five-cylinder, 10-valve engine, with both a turbocharger and an intercooler.

What mechanical health is the car in? No one knows. But when it was laid up, it wasn’t due to mechanical malady, the Audi ran just fine.

In need of TLC

Of course, it last ran quite some years ago and it last received attention in the early ’90s, courtesy of BR Motorsport in Leamington Spa.

Who knows what will happen when the key is turned…

Time to shine

Still, despite the layers and layers (and layers!) of dust and cobwebs, its Tornado Red paint doesn’t appear to be in too bad a state.

But, of course, whoever buys this has a substantial restoration project on their hands.

No looking back

Unsurprisingly, CCA’s vendor condition report rates this quattro as a lowly 40 out of 135 – in other words, a single-star ranking.

Of course, some of this can be accounted for by the fact that the condition of its engine and manual transmission can’t be verified. But it has bags of potential.

Push and pull

And, as you can see from this evocative photograph, there is a slight dent in the driver’s-side door.

We’re told this will push out easily.

A moment in history

Of course, the story of the Audi quattro is very well known and embedded into the psyche of many a car enthusiast.

And, yes, that’s ‘quattro’ with a lower-case ‘q’ when applied to the car, rather than the transmission.

The game changer

The quattro wasn’t the first fast four-wheel-drive coupé – remember the four-wheel-drive Jensen FF? That got there almost 15 years earlier.

But that was a low-volume model. It was the Audi that used the concept to conquer its two-wheel-drive rivals on the rally stages, changing the face of rallying – and the sports car – for ever.

Under the skin

Look at how far forward beyond the axle line the five-cylinder engine lies.

And then, hidden, is that clever centre differential bolted to the back of the gearbox featuring two shafts, one turning within the other to deliver drive to all four wheels, without the need for a bulky transfer box.

Happy birthday!

And, of course, 2020 is the Audi quattro’s 40th birthday.

It is also 37 years since Flying Finn Hannu Mikkola claimed the World Rally Championship drivers’ title in a quattro, Swede Stig Blomqvist doing the same for the marque the following year. Audi scooped the constructors’ crown in ’82 and ’84.

See it, want it

And the sight and sound of quattros tackling rally stages the world over, be it in clouds of dust, on sinuous Tarmac, kissing snowbanks or splashing through puddles, made them poster stars – and seriously desirable road cars.

Original and best?

The ‘Ur’ (German for ‘original’) quattros divide into three eras, known as WR, MB and RR.

WR cars had the 2144cc 10-valve in-line five-cylinder engine, which was superseded by the 2226cc MB for 1988, still making the same 197bhp but fitted with hydraulic valve lifters and more sophisticated fuel injection for cleaner running.

In 1989, the final, most desirable RR version arrived, its four-valve head helping lift power to 217bhp.

Wheely right

But the most important change for British buyers came in late 1982, a year after the UK introduction.

Why? Because this is when Audi began offering the quattro in right-hand drive.

Time to dust it off

When new, this car set its first owner back almost the same amount of money as a 911 Carrera!

So, perhaps you’d expect the switchgear to be a little less utilitarian? Well, maybe: some Porsche dash bits from this era weren’t anything to write home about, either.

Peeking beneath

Life first in a garage and then in a barn, after almost 180,000 miles pounding the roads, might’ve helped save this car from further deterioration.

But, it is still going to need a lot of work to bring it back to best.

Slowly does it

The Charcoal cloth interior will require serious attention, much more than just a quick once-over with some cleaning products.

Still, given this car was taken off the road due to circumstances not mechanical failure, hopefully that means it is complete.

Double vision?

The model was launched on 3 March 1980 at the Geneva Motor Show.

However, by the time this ’85 example was built, quattros had swapped the early quad headlights in favour of a pair of modern, flush-fitting rectangular lamps, as seen here.

One for the road

Let’s hope the winning bidder puts the work in to get those headlamps blazing and wheels on the road once again.

Even by today’s standards, four decades on from its launch, this is still a usefully quick car and very enjoyable to drive.

Do it yourself

Slick changes through the five-speed manual ’box are deeply satisfying.

What’s more, these cars have 0-60mph times under seven seconds – see, we said they were quick.

Four-ringed friend

And although time-consuming and not pocket-money cheap, restoring this quattro should’t be too difficult in terms of sourcing parts.

Owners report that you can get parts online from around the world.

The X factor

At least ‘C825 WRY’, being apparently intact, doesn’t need too much vision.

And, being an ’80s performance icon and rally hero, even in this sorry-looking state it still provokes ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaaahs’, and raises a smile.

Time to start the clean up?

When it goes under the hammer with CCA at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire on Saturday 19 September it will finally be time for its long-term keeper to bid farewell…

…and for its new custodian to take the reins before, presumably, getting stuck into this quattro’s restoration.

Not in vain

Inside and out, he or she will have to invest serious time and money on their new acquisition.

But, other than the undoubted sheer joy of driving the finished car, it will be more than worth it…

Best of breed

Just take a look at this! No, it is not the same car, although it is Tornado Red.

A few years younger, the 1991 20v RR quattro has also been consigned to the same CCA sale. Its pre-sale estimate? £60-70,000.

Remember, this barn-find car’s guide price is £8-10,000.

The Holy Grail?

This top-of-the-range, one-owner, right-hand-drive example is one of the last 50 built, it has done 75,000 miles and is being described by CCA as ‘the Holy Grail of Ur quattros’ and a type you may never see again.

And, of course, it is a sign of what this barn-find example could become.

Destiny awaits

So, will this Audi sell?

Speaking to CCA, the auction house has received queries about this quattro from around the world, even weeks and weeks before the sale, so it looks likely that it will find a new home – but at what price?

A new chapter

Up in the air for now, but on 19 September, this 1985 Audi quattro is going under the hammer in Classic Car Auctions’ two-day, live online sale.

And it’s not the only tempting-looking lot. Check out the full catalogue and find out how to view and bid, here.

Let’s hope it is a happy ending for this once-glorious rally car for the road.