1971 Audi 100 Coupé de Grace for $15,000

The reserve has not been met for today's rare Audi Coupé. But Nice Price or Crack Pipe wants to know if you have reservations about its $15,000 starting point.

Yesterday, a high price and a peek under the skirt that resulted in some disappointment resulted in the Prince becoming a pauper as 62% of you told us twenty large was too much for a single-cam wannabe. Today's contender is the real deal, and it has but a single cam as well, however it keeps it on the down-low.

Upon the transfer of ownership of Auto Union from Mercedes Benz to Volkswagen, development of new Audi cars was halted. But much like a German Unibomber, Ludwig Kraus continued in secret to advance the progress of the C1 platform- to be known as the 100. VW leadership gave the car a green light for production having been impressed by a fully realized prototype, as well as some unflattering photos of them that Kraus claimed to possess. Well, that last part may or may not be true.

The 100ls arrived in 1968 and came to the U.S. the following year as a four-door sedan and two-door coupe. Handsome and conservative, the 100 looked like the form a front-drive Mercedes might take, and with good reason as the car is filled with elements of MB ownership. The 1.8-litre four cylinder is similar to the Benz fours of the time- although the Audi four is canted over at 40 degrees. Even its numerical nomenclature is Benz-ish.

The 100 did reasonably well here in the U.S., paired in dealerships with the much pricier Porsches, but durability issues and unfavorable exchange rates eventually drove down sales. That's unfortunate, because, had it been more popular, perhaps Audi could have been persuaded to bring over the lovely fastback version- the coupé S, an example of which is our subject today.

The Coupé S received a bored 1.9-litre version of the 100's four, bumping power to 113-bhp from the 1.8's 100 and making for acceleration that still belied the car's bodystyle as a fastback. The seller of this clean 1971 edition claims it to be one of only two in the States, and that may be the case as I've never seen one here, and I've lived here all my life. Also noted is the replacement of the Solex carbs with more modern Webers, but that the originals will come with the purchase. Unspoken, but obvious in the pictures, is that the seller is not an ace photographer. Still, he does have a taste for obscure and interesting cars, of which the Coupé S is in spades. In the car's favor is that, while extremely rare, parts shouldn't be, other than internals for the 1.9.

There's no Buy It Now option, so rabid Audi fanatics (you know who you are) will need to do the bid-wait two step on this auction, and while the starting point is $15,000, that doesn't meet the reserve, which remains a mystery. But lets use fifteen large as our baseline today, because this is too interesting a car to leave un-ruminated upon.

So, what do you say, are you willing to plunk down $15,000, plus whatever, for as rare an Audi as you are likely to find here in the states? Or, does that price make this an Auto Union that'll have to be without you?

You decide!

eBay or go here if the ad disappears. This week we are thankful for camp6ell for the tip

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