Silver90Quattro

I read somewhere that black leather was a rare option in the Ur with any color other than Mars Red. Is this at all true?
The car in question is either an 82 build date or 83 (I cannot remember) Silver (not sure what silver) over Black Leather. Looking at purchasing the car. T-belt went, OUCH does not run (we all know why). If I get it should I restore it factory original, or time to do an engine swap?? I would love to have it be original and worth a lot years from now. Will it be?
How many Urs are left in the US do you guys think?

snoogins

These cars are never going to be worth scads of money. Go ahead and start looking for a motor.

85urq

I was just reading one of the upscale English classic cars magazines (I forget which one, they are all so nice)
They mentioned that the quattro is one of the cars to hold onto for a decent investment.
Prices can't drop down anymore than the are now. They reccomended that now's the time to buy, since the price is still on the floor.
The US has no idea how important these cars are to the motoring history..Elsewhere it's different, with much more support from Audi.
The parts monkeys at the dealer argue the fact that my car was even imported here.
I mentioned this to AOA, that they use a quattro rally car in it's adverts, yet the dealer here denies that they were in the US.
They STILL reccomended that the dealer was the best outlet for quattro parts.
Sorry for the rant......

urq20vt

In '82/'83 your choice was Dark Brown (VJ) or Sierra (Beige - VM). The beige interior is much less common than the dark brown. If it is an '83 with black interior, it likely has a CGT interior, dye job, etc.

If you buy it as an investment, you will likely be disappointed unless you are a VERY patient person and not looking for a big return.

cuatrokoop

Zermatt Silver was an option, but black leather was NOT available in the US (or RoW). You could get Mocha (brown) or Sierra (beige) leather or Mocha cloth. Later cars had Brazil (brown) or Mocha leather.

USA optional seating upholstry (according to the fishy):
Leather:
Graphite
Platinum
Quartz
Mocha
Brazil

Cloth:
Mocha
Graphite

Kidquattro

...I Agree with 85urq. No one knows the significant history behind the car except for us, european gear heads, and europe. We started UPG (Urquattro Preservation Group) to begin promotting the Urq's value to Automobile history. I didn't buy mine to make money, I bought it becasue it's fun, rare and turns alot of heads. I suggest buy it, fix it, drive it and you'll notice in the end that it was worth the money.

85urq

You couldn't say it better Kid!

Kidquattro

...the most important thing needs to be demand. I turn to the Muscle Car craze in the early 80's as an example. I was in the market for a 68-72 Olds 442 back in 82. I looked at a super clean 1969 Hurst/Olds (914 production units) with 66k on the clock. The only imprefection on the car was a cracked windsheild and a bumper sticker on the nice and shiny chrome bumper. Other than that Super clean. The sign on the window said "$2500 o.b.o". Than was cheap for that car back in 82.

Then American car manufacturers decide to put the muscle back into muscle cars i.e. Mustang 5.0lt, Monte SS, Grand National, etc. But the middle class couldn't afford the $16k-$20k price tag on a new Muscle car so people hit the Want ads for a used Muscle car. Prices went up 3 fold by 1990. That same Hurst Olds is now going for $39,000. I'm not sure on the math but I think even with inflation that's still a good return.

For this to happen to the Urq, Audi needs to build the A4 coupe quattro as it was going to when they introduced the B6 platform. I think European Car had the different A4 configurations that Audi intended on building with quattro. They are the sedan, Avant, S4V8, Cabbie, and COUPE. Looks like this won't happen since Audi may import the A3 to cash in on VW Golf sales. However if they market the A3 as a Coupe and cash in on the coupe's history, you could possibly seen a demand for the older ones.

Of course there are other factors that need to happen for the Urq to attain higher prices. I think it's an interesting topic and we have a controling part in the price if these cars, somewhat. Mods won't due it. There are many examples of heavily modified cars out there that command nothing in reguards to price. For example, I saw a 1971.5 Camaro with $30k of mods built into it. 502 Chevy, built and blown with a high-rise Eldebrock Mainfold with dualing 850 cfm Holley carbs on top. Crazy paint job, tubbed out rear wheel wells, custom interior, $12K. With this in mind, the more Urqs modded the more they will drive up the price of a unmolested one.

I do believe that the Urq will maintain or even demand a decent price in the future. Maybe not 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO price tags but 1978 Corvette Price tags might be possible. I think Corvette and 911s are the only cars built with production units over 1000 a year that still command close-to, even or higher prices then when they were new. Again, I think later down the line, the Urq could maintain the same command as the vette and 911.

Another problem is the parts issue. Some parts on the Urq are "Urq only" and NLA which can drive a buyer to a different car. Let's face it, I think I would own 3 Urqs if parts were readily avaliable. People claim that a person can start with nothing and build a brand new 1957 Chevy Bel-Air from aftermarket parts. Try that with Audi.
It's an interesting topic.

cuatrokoop

Not a bad deal, as we'd get the 3.2L 24v matched with the DSG 6spd, nothing quite like fore-aft snick-snicks of a gear shift lever ;-)

Kidquattro

...the only one not out and on hold is the coupe. And I haven't read anymore on the A3/S3 deal.