1985 WR Audi Quattro

[Fatrat]

I have seen one of these (literally in a barn!) but it has not been taxed for more than a decade. Are parts hard to source for this?

They are lovely cars but if it was last taxed in 2002 I'm thinking it might just be a money pit

[phumy]

I owned an MB Quattro for ten years and loved it, yes they can be money pits and even a car that runs well can take all your time and effort to keep it on the road, let alone one that has sat in a barn for a few years. They are fantastic cars when running correct, certain parts are getting almost impossible to source but if you do bite the bullet then I recommend that you join the forums and get as much info on where to get the difficult to find bits or where you can get parts made up.

[Dr G]

There's very little that is *impossible* to buy but rarer parts are valued accordingly.

Good community around them but it's one of those cars that's never really 100% finished...

[jshell]

Fatrat said:

I have seen one of these (literally in a barn!) but it has not been taxed for more than a decade. Are parts hard to source for this?

They are lovely cars but if it was last taxed in 2002 I'm thinking it might just be a money pit

Having run a WR back in the mid-90's, I suspect there is a reason it hasn't been taxed. Not as complex as most would have you believe, but there are a few parts - especially body panels that are very, very hard to source. I can imagine the diff-locks are seized, boot struts fecked, brake pressure bomb fecked, non cooled turbo, oil cooler pipes may be shot and if the inner wings are corroded, it may be a complete restoration job.

Think there was a facelift from the twin-headlights to single unit lights during the WR run around 82/83. Which have you seen?

Guy in Aberdeen stored his in a barn and the mice ate every hose and wire insulation too. That was an absolute Fortune to fix!!

[Fatrat]

Thanks all but I have bailed on this one.

I spoke to the guy who said he had been offered and turned down £5K for it

For £1K or so I might have taken a punt but I suspect that it will need a lot of expensive work

Shame

[phumy]

Fatrat said:

Thanks all but I have bailed on this one.

I spoke to the guy who said he had been offered and turned down £5K for it

For £1K or so I might have taken a punt but I suspect that it will need a lot of expensive work

Shame

If its too far gone to restore then its possibly worth the 5k in spares, for the bits that are now unavailable.

[jshell]

phumy said:

If its too far gone to restore then its possibly worth the 5k in spares, for the bits that are now unavailable.

[Fatrat]

jshell said:

phumy said:

If its too far gone to restore then its possibly worth the 5k in spares, for the bits that are now unavailable.

I agree and it did cross my mind but that is a £5K gamble I'm not prepared to take!

[Dr G]

My boss went through this a few years ago and spent about 8k on a car with an MOT but actually needing a fair bit more work than it initially appeared. Got almost all the money back selling it on, fortunately.

Then bought a very original car that had been garaged for all of its life but driven very little in the last 10 years. Even that ended up costing a lot getting brakes, suspension, fuel lines, brake lines etc. recommissioned properly. The old boy that owned it only ever drove it as far as a show and shine then back home again, it was a floppy, rattly old boat!

[phumy]

They are a car that needs to be used and maintained at the same time, if you cannot do one of these then they will almost certainly fail, one way or another. So just because one may look to be in fantastic condition it could still be a money pit in the fact that it hasn't been used properly for sometime.

[jshell]

I got so sick of paying for wishbone bush replacements that I had a fab shop make me a puller so I could just do it myself.

Also, the mysterious 3.5k rpm misfire that was down to poor soldering of the inlet temp sensor. That drove Audi insane trying to find it on the first car to exhibit that problem..