Ur Means Original: ’83 Audi Ur Quattro Coupe
These are among the rarest modern Audis of all time. From the listing – Ur-Quattros were built in Hall N2 at Audi’s Ingolstadt factory. But not on a production line – every car was hand built right to the end. Although Audi’s other production lines operated 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Hall N2 had a single shift of twenty working from 06:00 to 14:00, weekdays only. At its peak, including the janitor and the tea-lady, the whole team numbered 48. Each quattro took seven days and 40 hours of labour to build – with roughly three a day leaving Hall N2. Once completed, each vehicle went through a test program that is still the strictest Audi has ever used. The engine went through its own test cycle, and the suspension was electronically checked. Then it was run up to 160km/h on a test stand and driven for 60km on public roads around Ingolstadt – first on ordinary roads and then on the Autobahn, with a rev limit of 4000rpm or 185km/h. Then it went around an Audi test track to check the suspension. On each trip two stops were made to check fluid levels. Any test vehicle involved in an accident was immediately scrapped, with components being recycled into later production. Finally a rain test showered the car with 3500 litres of water for ten minutes – other Audi’s faced the same test for only 30 seconds. Until recently the only comparable program today is the construction of the Porsche Carrera GT in Leipzig, but Audi has now returned to the fray with the R8. The Audi Quattro became a legendary rally race car that would become a blue print for all future rally cars. Using an advanced all wheel drive system, Audi caught the motorsport world off guard and proved all wheel drive had various advantages over the traditional two wheel drive race cars. The Quattro was the first all wheel drive rally car. The seller appears to be an expert on these and undertook this as a project in 2006. He states it took a total of three Urs to make one good Ur. And it looks like a great one. It doesn’t have the original engine but the one it has was rebuilt to original specification. The interior shots are coming but we didn’t want to wait. We like to be first. If you are an Audi fan, you’ll understand why this one is important. Click here for the auction. BTW, the seller wants $20,000 and you couldn’t build one for that but it may be ahead of the market a bit. Click here for the eBay auction.