1982 Audi Quattro – UK’s first RHD Quattro Coupe – up for grabs

A pre-production Audi Quattro Coupe – thought to be the first RHD Quattro in the UK – goes under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions next week.

Those old enough will remember the the stir the Audi Quattro caused when it arrived, for the first time mating four wheel drive in a mainstream production car and, even at twice the price of a regular Audi Coupe, it was a runaway success.

Planned originally as a homologation special, Audi were bowled over by the public response to the coupe and ended up putting it in to production, but only in LHD.

But Audi’s UK importers convinced the powers above that what was really needed was a RHD version of the Quattro, and Audi kicked off that process by building 12 pre-production prototypes, of which just two are thought to survive.

Now one of those two remaining RHD pre-production Audi Quattros – almost certainly the first ever RHD Quattro – is going under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions next week (29 September 2018).

This early RHD prototpe was built with C” chassis features unique at the time, including quad headlights and tweaked suspension and brakes, with the following production cars launching in 1983 as ‘D’ chassis cars without these features.

This almost unique Audi Quattro – chassis number ending #1328 – built in June 1982 and finished in Diamond Silver, was stored for almost 20 years before the current vendor got hold of it in 2016.

Since then it’s had a major overhaul including a number of new parts and a fully stripped-back bare metal respray (fully documented) costing more than £11,600.

With 71k on the clock, this Quattro has been used, but looks to be in cracking condition and properly unique. Silverstone Auctions have placed a £50-60k pre-sale estimate and its goes under the hammer on 29 September.

Which, considering Sierra Cosworths are fetching over £100k and a 1991 Audi Quattro sold last year for over £70k, seems a bit of a ‘come and buy me’ estimate.