Here’s one to refresh the memory banks: The C1 Coupe S variant of the original Audi 100. Why it wasn’t imported to the US is a mystery, and I’m not sure I ever saw one in Europe either. But before we forget it ever existed, let’s savor its fine lines one more time.
In 1972 while visiting my relatives in Germany, my cousin’s husband Harald had one of these. It was a very good looking car in person. It was painted a very pale yellow with black seats.
I was able to ride in the back seat a few times and remember it to fit my then seven year old frame well but adults struggled to get comfortable in the rear seat.
Harald did then and always has driven his cars very hard and fast and this car was no exception. He had it until 1975 when after his first son was born and traded the 100 Coupe in on a new Renault 20 5 door hatchback, another car never imported to the US.
He has bought nothing but Renualts to this day.
I was told that previous to the Audi; Harald had an NSU Prinz TT!
And I know why!
My ex-officemate had a NSU Prinz from the early ’60s, that would be a good candidate for a curbside classic if you could ever find one….I think his Father bought it as a project just for the motor (not sure why you’d pick the motor out of an obscure car, getting replacement parts will probably be a nightmare for whatever you want to use it in)…but the motor transplant never happened. He offered to sell me the Prinz, knowing I have a VW (since VW owns Audi, the successor to NSU I guess)….but the Prinz is in another state, and I don’t really have a need for a micro car. He said if the Prinz got caught in a snowbank, they could just get out and move it (with his brothers in tow) to a place with better traction…I guess they actually could lift it up (not just push it out of the snow).
I remember the Ads for the Audi 100 in 1970 where they were comparing the car to a Mercedes, saying Audi was much less expensive (at that time) and was comparable to the Mercedes…I think the Audi was $3600 or so at that time, before the exchange rate and inflation took its toll and made them much more expensive. Was the Audi 100 front or rear wheel drive? Don’t remember myself….but since VWs NSU cars had started to be FWD, I would guess it was also FWD by that time. (The Prinz was rear engine rear wheel drive, but of course it was different class and time, a micro car from the early 60’s.
The picture of the pretty maiden and the yellow Audi makes me long for the 1970’s. A similar picture, a pretty girl standing next to a Pantera sticks in my mind from about 72 or so. I don’t remember what magazine it was from.
Sure… But look at her sharp knees.
The first Audi 100 I saw in the US was about that same color yellow. I had no idea how expensive those were. When my mother’s LeMans went to the Pontiac dealer’s body shop to repair my handiwork (an encounter with a fire hydrant) I was disappointed when we got a Honda Civic wagon as a loaner instead of one of the Audis also being sold by the dealer.
I had no idea that these ever existed. However, this promo photo shows that the trendy shots of new cars in and around fields of yellow weeds was not strictly a USA-only phenomenon.
Not weeds! Canola (formerly Rapeseed).
Good (though not necessarily useful) to know. As an Indiana boy, I am pretty good with corn and soybeans. Isn’t everything else a weed? 🙂
It’s a shame that the 100 coupe wasn’t imported, and is almost unknown in the U.S. I have a special fondness for it despite/because (?) my first car was a 100 four door.
Further information and some particularly good photos appeared in a recent Automotive Traveler article.
I presume those Audi 100 coupe wheels were alloys — but I’m laughing at how much they resemble the eBay wheel covers I’ve put on one of my cars’ steelies for a laugh …
I wonder if Nissan copied this design for the Datsun B-210 coupe? Even the hubcaps are a dead ringer for the Datsun’s. At any rate, I thought those Datsuns were rather ugly, even for the 70’s, but this Audi for some reason looks pretty nice. Maybe my automotive tastes are just evolving.
Quite likely, or perhaps the Aston Martin DBS, which came out at the same time as the Audi coupe and had a very similar roof-line, and the same vents in the C-Pillar.
Its all in the proportions, and the Audi’s are a lot better than the Datsun’s
Man, that immediately made me think of the first-gen VW Dasher (Passat for you international types).
B-pillar so thin it’s almost a “hardtop”
We got the coupe and the sedan new here in New Zealand. Still see the occasional sedan around, but haven’t seen a coupe for a couple of years. Sahme really, as the coupe is really rather pretty.
These are great looking, fun cars. I have owned two…will continue to own my current one for life (a red ’74 imported from South Africa). There are 5 here in the U.S….mine is the only right-hand-drive.
The stock wheels have bolt-on covers (I have vintage Wolfrace alloys on mine).
These cars cost more than the sedans….nearly twice as much by the end…I believe…I am sure that played a role in why they were not sold here.