Audi 80 - In search of the right thing

L last autumn it briefly flickered on the Internet. For 1,000 euros, only 67,000 km, third hand, timing belt and tires new. Provider from Frankfurt, no doubt possible. Name and telephone number are identical to the information on the attached sales contract. It's my copper-colored Audi 80 GLS, built in 1979, nursed back to health from the accident damage of the elderly previous owner, driven for three years and heartlessly repulsed in 2005 as a result of a large-capacity Mercedes short-circuit.

Audi 80 two-door as a consolation

Just as impulsively I decide to get the Audi 80 back. It is supposed to happen that particularly tough car spinners buy back their former car. Sometimes even for a hefty premium. My numerous calls end up in an impersonal mailbox. After two weeks I give up. Out of luck, too late - sold to someone else. Then I comfort myself with the copper Audi 80 two-door that I saw at Erkrath's creme21.

An Audi 80 has to go into the garage again. But there is time. It's been standing for a long time, nobody can snatch it away from me. In addition, the two-door model does not have such a beautiful line - the third side window is missing, that small, nifty ingredient in the soberly clear lines that Giugiaro from Ital Design led to angular perfection. Technically and stylistically, the Audi 80 is actually the little, shy brother of the original quattro, let's see it that way.

Audi 80 - a stuffy average car

Front axle, interior, front section - all the same. The engine is extended by a cylinder unit, the rear axle is an inverted front axle. Advantage through ingeniously simple technology. How can you mourn an old Audi 80 of the second series when massive S-Classes, a 6-series and a 7-series BMW cross the path?

Audi 80, the epitome of the bourgeois average car, frugal reason on wheels, the German-style middle class as a logical precursor to the Mercedes 200 D. In contrast, a Ford Taunus is a cool muscle car. For me the Audi 80 is a piece of home, even the line 'Audi NSU Auto Union' in the letter lures with pure nostalgia. I found it on my first car, an NSU 1200 C.

Three 100 LS and now it has to be an Audi 80 again

After that, I stayed true to the brand for a long time, drove K 70, which only accidentally became a VW, and three Audi 100 LS from the very first series up to 1972.So let's go - see what the market has to offer in the usual snapshot. After all, it will soon be 30, the Audi 80. I want one again, now! The first Audi 80, internal Type 82, is too small, too narrow-chested for me. Its successor from 1978 is clearly more mature, its feeling of space is reminiscent of the moderate compactness of the first 100.

Audi 80 incorrectly advertised

Especially older people bought the 81 eight years later, after all big enough. Gladly as GLS, because it has more chrome and is almost as comfortable on the inside as the velvety and wooden original hundreds. First candidate: type of abandoned riot project. This is what happened with our first candidate: Audi 80 GLS, 85 PS, sunroof, automatic. Year of construction 1980, Inari silver, 128,000 km, 600 euros.

Behind the flap of the glove compartment not only the bulging blue folder of the V.A.G. service system comes to light, but also an operating manual for the 71 Audi 100.Bilal Ntemertzi accidentally advertised it as a 75 hp model. The rev counter would be an indication, the engine, code letter VP, is the proof. TÜV is in place until June 2009.

Audi 80 should be a show car

The poor Audi 80 is lowered at the front. 'The original springs are in the back of the trunk,' says Bilal. 'Lowering it is like a sunroof,' I mumble to myself and shake my head. It just looks sad, with the matt paint on the bonnet and the rust on the edges, it looks like a shaggy dog ​​from the shelter. Bilal wanted to make a spectacular show car out of him - with the 20 V five-cylinder from the Audi 200 and eight-inch OZ wheels, but the budget wasn't enough. The rust on the rear wheel arches and on the doors of the Audi 80 is not that bad.

The moss-green Audi 80 upholstery is like new, in combination with the light green paint and the dark green hard plastic parts it creates a calming effect contemporary symphony in green. Only the windows are tinted bronze. Before I roll up the Golde roof and do a test drive, I slide the original Emden radio into the empty shaft. That looks much more homely. Bilal gives a jump start, lets us drive.

70s revival at the photo shoot

After a brief hesitation, the Audi 80 starts, the bucket tappet motor whines and whines when it is cold. Bucket tappets like a racing engine. The fuel needle is hidden deep under the red reserve field, 68 liters go in, that's a lot for the car class. 'Do not park when refueling!' Bilal calls after us. The Audi 80 steers stubbornly and hardly bounces at the front, the brakes could be more snappy. But the engine starts up vigorously and the automatic shifts correctly.

Quickly filled super for 20 euros calms the nerves. Photographer Dino Eisele enjoys our 70s revival in the bright green Audi 80. We are turning high-spirited circles in the large, deserted industrial area of ​​Ehingen /Danube. The Audi 80 feelsincredibly light-footed and spirited. We are as happy as children on the swings. Such a cheap, simple old car with a bit of power and a bit of comfort appeals to the child in the man, it feels like a toy.

Numbers two to four are getting more and more expensive

The Audi 80 engine hums happily to itself - it gradually creates that deep familiarity that the driver strangely has with this type connects. It's a kind of homesickness that gets by without the heavy luxury of an eight-cylinder, and that this stray disheveled mutt gratefully returns. Before my eyes finally get wet, I say with a heavy heart to Bilal. Despite all the pity, the coupe chassis is the decisive factor, and the seller does not want to accept my bid of 300 euros for the Audi 80.

Our next Audi 80 candidate is waiting 60 kilometers further east in Burgau on the A 8. Two well-preserved old Audi cars are parked on the finely graveled, accurately sorted sales area of ​​Oral used cars in the Röfingen district. A five-cylinder 100 Type 44 and that inconspicuous Lido-green 80 LS, which should cost 3,000 euros - according to information from the binding but also devious Önder Oral, a lover's requirement is.

Well-kept Audi 80 in dreary Color

The Audi 80 makes a clean, perfect impression - built in 1981, first-hand, 75 hp and only 94,000 kilometers run. The protective covers on the front seats, the Aral Atlas from 88/89 on the parcel shelf and a weathered sticker from the Marx sailing school in Utting am Ammersee indicate that pensioners are cautious.

Unfortunately, beyond the deeply shiny paintwork and the spotlessly clean interior of the Audi 80, there are clear signs of rust in the area of ​​the sills, trunk floor and end tips. In addition, an LS is somehow too lean for me and the dreary color is not necessarily my cup of tea. Come on, Dino, let's go on.

A gem for a proud 5,000 euros

Horgau is a village near Augsburg in the Western Forests Nature Park. A disused old train station and the weathered forest café diagonally opposite greet the guest with a homely dreariness. However, it flies a few hundred meters further in the sparkling clean, high-gloss showroom of the Feistle & Vogel car dealership. There, next to a Ferrari 400i and a Jaguar E-Type Coupé, there is a splendid Audi 80 in Inari silver for a proud 5,000 euros.

It is the sporty 85 HP version with fog lights, radio cassette 'Puebla' , the splendid front opening windows and the even flashier patterned velor seat covers from August 1980. Their psychedelic aura is almost as pop art as the legendary Pascha from Porsche. Martin Feistle welcomes us warmly and with a firm handshake. 'That is of course also a deterrent price because of the many talkers I want to keep away from my neck. But the Audi 80 isreally great. You will see, it comes in a few years, 'explains Feistle. He willingly invites us to take a test drive.' It runs like a charm, 'he beams.

Except for a few tiny traces of rust and one Harmless Teroson painting in the area of ​​both end tips, there is nothing to complain about on the Audi 80. At first, the Audi 80 looks tied up due to the longer idle time, but when carefully warmed up, it purrs with a sonorous humming. Last but not least, this engine sound determines the pronounced feel-good aroma in the Audi 80 of the second generation. Add to that the fluffy upholstery, the generous but not lost feeling of space and the typical, subtle scent of old furniture. Only 98,039 kilometers are on the counter, the Audi 80 engine compartment looks like new. A car with which My heart opens up, so modest and lovable, but the price scares me off. Even if it ends up being 4,000 euros, I'll buy a Jaguar XJ 6 and not an Audi 80.

A revelation g for only 3,550 euros

Because somehow such nostalgic youngtimers are flea market cars. You don't need it, but it still stands like an old folding camera. And drives it every now and then because it makes your heart feel as warm as leafing through the family album. Hörl & Hofmann in the very north of Munich in the Feldmoching district has now become a youngtimer enclave.

In addition to the dominant Audi and VW young cars, owner Alfred Hörl and managing director Michael Riederer have committed themselves to rarities from the healthy V.A.G. world. At Hörl & Hofmann I am treated like an old friend. Just because I once drove a VW K 70 for a test drive there, they give me a couple of keys to maneuver the Monaco blue Audi 80 out of the hall. Strangely enough, it is parked behind its two-door, reseda-green predecessor.

I'm not badly amazed, this Audi 80 is a revelation for 3,555 euros. 85 hp, only 55,000 kilometers on the clock, fog lights, headrests in the rear, radio cassette 'Puebla', sunroof. Even the original sales brochure and the new car invoice for 19,148 marks are included, not to mention the completely filled out V.A.G service system. Of course, the film with the drive-in regulations is still stuck to the bottom left of the windshield.

We don't hesitate and start an extensive test drive to Oberschleißheim and back. The Audi 80 drives, brakes, steers and accelerates like a young used car. Only this weird swimming pool blue is a bit strange, I would prefer metallic. I consciously look into large shop windows when I drive by. All of a sudden, the harmonious shape of this Audi 80 is striking, the many narrow chrome strips glisten in the sun.

The saving call comes at the end

Only little things reduce the enthusiasm, for example the paint on the sheet metal parts of the engine. He looks so uglyshriveled up. After all, a catalytic converter was retrofitted - 'low-emission E, key number 03'. Michael Riederer sees the shine in my eyes when I return in the Audi 80 after a full hour. 'Well, this will be a restless weekend,' he says smugly. 'Do you also take something in payment?' I reply meekly, 'I have too many cars.' A few days later, Nils Hofmann calls from Frankfurt. The power plant engineer worked abroad for a long time. Would I still be interested in my copper Audi 80? He'd just stand around with him.