This Audi Quattro Still Looks Fresh After 28 Years In A Barn

Audi is quickly turning into one of the leading EV manufacturers around, but this German manufacturer has a dirty little secret: it created one of the most successful all-wheel-drive sports cars ever back in the 80s, and clean examples are starting to fetch crazy prices. The Audi Quattro is a road and rally racing icon, and can be considered the forefather of modern performance Audis such as the RS3 and even the RS6 Avant. First shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show, the Quattro would go on to become a Group B rally legend, but sometimes even legends are forgotten, and this rare 1982 right-hand-drive example has been waiting 32 years to be rediscovered.

Recently featured on The Late Brake Show, the car was discovered in a residential garage in the UK, where it had been sitting since 1994 (the year Bon Jovi released his all-time classic, Always). After 28 years of sitting in a damp British garage this Audi has seen better days. The exterior shows signs of rust, and the fact that it's standing on cinder blocks isn't too promising, but the original Fuchs wheels are lined up against the garage wall, and the car looks mostly complete. The interior looks especially impressive, mainly due to the fact that it slept in complete darkness all of these years; there's not a single crack in the dashboard, and the Brown Zebra velour seats still look fantastic.

Under the hood, the Quattro features a WR 2.1-liter inline-five cylinder turbocharged gas engine that produced 200 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque when new. Power is sent to all four wheels via Audi's famous quattro AWD system and a five-speed manual transmission. The 0-60 mph mark is reached in a claimed 7.1 seconds and the Quattro will top out at 138 mph. Not bad for a car shaped like a brick. The engine in this example looks a bit worse for wear, and is missing an engine cover, but records show that it had completed all of its MOTs. After some fiddling, it is discovered that the starter solenoid is faulty. Overall this car is an excellent barn find, and with a full body restoration and some mechanical love, this Audi legend will once again be tearing up European backroads. The car is currently being auctioned on the Car And Classic website, with the highest bid standing at £9,300 ($11,330). The auction ends later today.