Audi Sport Quattro

1984 Audi Sport Quattro

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 2024

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Audi’s two-door Quattro went on sale in 1980 and arrived in North America in 1983. It is not the same car as the similarly-styled Audi Coupe. It was powered by an inline-five that varied in capacity depending on model year. But the Quattro hung around until 1991. Audi also used it as their Group B rally car.

Group B was an insane time in rallying, where manufacturers were pulling out the stops to try and win, producing some truly ludicrous cars in the process. So Audi developed the Sport Quattro, a four-wheel-drive monster powered by a turbocharged 2.1-liter inline-five that, in road car form, was rated at 302 horsepower.

Yes, they made about 214 road versions in order to homologate the car for Group B competition, where it won two championships. This one has less than 6,000 miles and was sold new in Japan. The pre-sale estimate here is $575,000-$700,000. Click here for more info.

Audi Front UW

1933 Audi Front UW Prototype by Glaser

Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot, U.K. | May 15, 2021

Photo – Historics Auctioneers

The Audi Front was the first front-wheel-drive European car with a six-cylinder engine. The “UW” part was a sort of German abbreviation denoting that this Audi used a Wanderer engine that was flipped 180 degrees to drive the front wheels. The cars were also built in a Horch plant, making it a real Auto Union effort. Two different engines were offered during a production run that lasted from 1933 to 1938.

This car was in Russia during WWII, and it’s owner kept it hidden in his basement to avoid it be confiscated by Soviet authorities. It was purchased by the current owner in 1984 and relocated to Armenia, where it sat in storage until a restoration began in 2012.

Of the two Wanderer engines offered in the Audi Front (220 or 225), this car has neither. It has a 3.0-liter inline-six and some one-off features that have led people to believe it was some kind of prototype fitted with a four-seat, two-door convertible body by Glaser. Historics hypothesize that it was ordered by a high-ranking German military official. The pre-sale estimate is $480,000-$520,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Not sold, Historics Auctioneers, July 2021.

August 2017 Auction Results

We start off August with a leftover from July, Silverstone Auctions’ Silverstone Classic Sale. The top sale was a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona that previously belonged to Elton John. It sold for $723,956.

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

Both of our feature cars sold with the low-mileage Lotus Carlton selling for $94,557 and the Renault 5 Turbo $97,512. More results can be found here.

Brightwells held a Modern Classic sale in August on the eve of everything that happened half a world away in California. The Marlin Makaira failed to sell but this 2013 Audi RS6 Avant was the top sale at $61,540. Click here for everything else.

Photo – Brightwells

Moving to California we have Mecum’s Monterey sale. We’ll start by saying that this previously-featured Duesenberg failed to sell. The overall top seller of this auction was this 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari for $3,450,000. The Koenigsegg we featured still brought a lot, but not quite as much, at $2,600,000. And the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse was third at $2,350,000. The regular Veyron failed to sell.

Photo – Mecum

The Maserati MC12 Corsa (like a previously-featured Aston Martin Vulcan) could’ve been a million dollar sale, but it failed to meet its reserve. To round out our feature cars, the Shelby Series II Prototype also failed to sell. You can see Mecum’s complete result list here.

Now on to Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach sale. The Porsche 917K we featured sold for $14,080,000 – and, remarkably, it just missed being the top sale, which went to this 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C that brought $14,520,000.

Photo – Gooding & Company

There were a couple of no-sales among our feature cars, including the Ferrari wagon, the Arnott-Climax, the Mercedes-Benz S-Type and the Alfa 33 TT 12. The Maserati A6G/54 sold for $4,400,000. A previously-featured Fiat 8V Elaborata sold here for $1,485,000.

Other sales included the Gardner Roadster for $132,000, the OSCA 1600 GT for $341,000, the Wolfe Touring for $49,500. You can see more results here.

We’ll have more Pebble Beach results in a few weeks, but for now we’ll wrap it up with RM Sotheby’s sale in Monterey. The top sale here was the Aston Martin DBR1 for a record $22,550,000. Two other Astons that we’ve featured sold here as well, a DB4GT (for $6,765,000) and a Group C AMR1 (for $616,000).

Just like at Gooding’s sale, a Mercedes S-Type failed to sell, as did the Voisin C28. For Most Interesting, we’re going with this mean looking 1930 Bentley 6½-Litre Speed Six Sportsman’s Saloon by Corsica that brought $3,410,000.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Other million dollar sales included the Maserati 5000 GT by Michelotti for $1,017,500 (the other Maserati, the 3500 GT, brought $605,000). There were at least four million-dollar Ferraris: the 121 LM sold for $5,720,000, the 342 America $2,255,000, the 500/735 Mondial $3,850,000, and the 212 Export $4,500,000.

Other big money Italian cars included the Lamborghini Concept S ($1,320,000) and the Abarth 1100 Sport ($891,000).

There were three previously-featured cars that sold here, including this Duesenberg for $1,430,000, this Oldsmobile Autocrat for $605,000, and this four-door Rolls-Royce convertible $385,000. Whew. Check out everything else here.

Audi Quattro A1

1982 Audi Quattro A1 Group B Rally Car

Offered by Bonhams | Chichester, England | March 21, 2015

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Nobody did rally cars in the 1980s quite like Audi. They brought 4WD to the sport and revolutionized it. Their cars were boxy, powerful, and scary fast. The Quattro was a production car that was also sold as the Audi Coupe and they were introduced in 1980. The rally variant debuted that year as well.

This car was an Audi factory rally car that competed in Group 4 and Group B rally – the most famous (and awesome) period of rallying in history. It is powered by a turbocharged 2.1-liter straight-five making 300 horsepower in race trim.

Initially, it was built as a Group 5 rally car and it finished 2nd in the 1982 Monte Carlo rally with Hannu Mikkola at the wheel. He would go on to win the World Driver’s Championship that year. In 1983, Audi converted the car to the Group B spec you see here. It spent the next 12 years or so in Finland on the rally circuit and in a museum.

The current owner acquired it in 1995 and had it thoroughly gone over. It’s a pretty awesome example of the most intense years of rallying. You can buy it for between $370,000-$430,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this example.

Update: Sold $368,210.

September Results II

Our second post covering auctions for September starts with RM’s big London sale. They had a huge collection of Mercedes-Benzes cross the block, but the top sale actually went to our featured Maserati 250S for $3,340,000. Our featured Jaguar D-Type failed to sell. As did our featured Mercedes 500K Cabriolet C. The top-selling Benz was this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet B for $1,287,400.

1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet B

Our featured 1932 Mercedes-Benz 370 S sold for $1,208,900. On top of the “interesting cars pile” was the Lotus Esprit Submarine from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. It sold for $967,000.

1977 Lotus Esprit Submarine

Another cool car was this 1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12 which brought $527,000.

1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12

Our featured Mercedes 290 Cabriolet A brought $435,000. And our featured Benz Doctor’s Cabriolet sold for $83,500. Other interesting cars include this 1948 Austin VM 30 Cabriolet for only $12,300.

1948 Austin VM 30 Cabriolet

I can’t pick just two or three cool Mercedes’ from this sale to highlight because so many of them are the more mundane road cars that you just don’t see anymore (which I find fascinating). These are restored examples of cars that they built a ton of, but it would probably be easier to find a 540K today. You really have to check out the full results here, but I’ll tease you with this 1952 Mercedes-Benz 170 Da Pick Up. It sold for $77,300.

1952 Mercedes-Benz 170 Da Pick Up

Bonhams held a sale during the Goodwood Revival. The top sale here was our featured Alfa Romeo 8C-35 Grand Prix car for $9,511,542. It was kind of a no-brainer that this would be the top sale, as Bonhams has been killing it lately with competition cars bringing huge sums. Apparently they currently hold world records for 11 different marques at auction, which is pretty impressive (they probably hold more, but don’t want to look up all of the smaller marques over the years).

Cool cars start with this 1936 Invicta 4.5-Litre S-Type Low-Chassis Tourer which sold for $307,413. Our featured Invicta did not sell.

1936 Invicta 4.5-Litre S-Type 'Low Chassis' Tourer

Our featured Connaught did not sell either. But this 1934 Singer 1.5-Litre Le Mans did. It actually raced in the 1934 24 Hours of Le Mans. It sold for $136,966.

1934 Singer 1.5-Litre Le Mans

Two other interesting cars: first this 1951 Jaguar XK120 Competition Roadster which brought a big $228,277.

1951 Jaguar XK120 3.8-Litre Competition Roadster

And this super-cool 1985 Audi Quattro SWB Coupe. A very rare rally car for the road, it brought $185,409.

1985 Audi Quattro Sport SWB Coupe

And finally, let’s go to our featured Jaguar XJR-8 race car. It sold – but that’s all the information that was provided. Bonhams didn’t provide a final amount – but I will refer to it as a “mysterious sum in the neighborhood of $1.4 million.” Anyway, you can check out the full results here.

Pure Dominance: Audi R8

2001 Audi R8

Offered by RM Auctions | Monterey, California | August 17, 2012

The Audi R8 is, quite simply, one of the most dominant race cars ever conceived. It never lost at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when it was entered with official factory backing (it won in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005). Factory support switched, unofficially, to its sister car in 2003, the Bentley Speed 8. And for last race in 2006, Audi had entered the replacement car, the R10. If it weren’t for rules concerning the number of years a car could compete, this car would likely still be competitive today. It was lightning quick and it was designed to be serviced and have major components replaced in a very short period of time.

And the drivers that drove these things is a lineup that is second to none. Drivers included: Tom Kristensen, Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro, Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello, Marco Werner, JJ Lehto, and Michele Alboreto (who was tragically killed in an R8 testing accident). They won races and championships just about everywhere they were entered. It was an unbelievable run. The drivers and competition history of this ex-Team Joest car is as follows:

  • 2001 ELMS Race at Jarama – 1st (with Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello)
  • 2001 X-Factor Grand Prix of Sonoma – 2nd (with Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro)
  • 2001 Grand Prix of Portland – 2nd (with Biela and Pirro)
  • 2001 Gran Turismo 3 Grand Prix of Mosport – 24th, DNF (with Kristensen and Capello)
  • 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans – 7th (with Hiroki Katoh, Yannick Dalmas and Seiji Ara)
  • 2002 Suzuka 1000km – 27th, DNF (with Katoh and Ara)

The car itself was developed from the semi-competitive R8R and R8C cars that were used in 1999. The engine is a 610 horsepower 3.6-liter twin-turbo V8. There were 16 built in total, and five are in private hands today, making this a rare opportunity – especially because it is a race-winning factory Team Joest car. The pre-sale estimate is $1,000,000-$1,500,000. For the complete lot description, click here. And for more from RM in Monterey, click here.

Update: Sold $1,034,000.

Bonhams Monaco 2012 Highlights

Bonham’s May 11, 2012 auction held in Monaco saw some of their premier cars fail to sell. However, there were still a number of nice cars that went across the block that did sell. The top seller among them was this 1965 Ferrari 330GT/250 GTO Re-creation.

It’s not a true GTO (as evidenced by the sale price of “only” $364,000 – a true GTO could bring in excess of $20 million). This is a 330GT with a re-body made to look the part. It’s a true Ferrari – and a gorgeous one at that – that you can enjoy as if it were the real thing, without the, relatively, hefty price tag.

The second biggest sale was a 1962 Facel Vega II. This is the perfect car in which to cruise around Monte Carlo. It sold for $326,000.

Among our feature cars, the ex-Scuderia Ferrari 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS did not sell. Nor did the 1980 Ferrari sedan. Nor did the 1938 Bugatti 57C. And to round out our feature cars, the Citroen SM Prototype also failed to sell. Not a good day for our feature cars.

But, other interesting cars that did sell include this 1935 Audi UW 220 Cabriolet.

You don’t see pre-war Audis all that often – especially not in similar numbers to cars from other German marques like, say, Mercedes-Benz. But this cabriolet, with coachwork by Gläser, is one of about 1,800 made and one of much fewer that survive. It sold for about $110,000.

Iso Rivolta built some awesome cars in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most of them were sporty coupes – but they also built a sedan. The Iso Fidia, the one seen here a 1973 model, was produced in limited numbers from 1967 until 1975. Only 192 were made. This one has a 5.8-liter Ford V8 and it’s good-lookin’ too. It sold for about $67,000.

And finally, this 1957 Fiat-OSCA 1500 S Coupe by Viotti sold for about $44,500. It’s a solid looking car built by Fiat with a body by Carrozzeria Viotti and powered by an OSCA four-cylinder engine.

For complete results, click here.