'New' Audi

[Tom Nas]

Hi all,

Got my 'new' Audi Saturday, it's a 1987 (type 89) 80 1.8N FWD 5-speed. I 
paid Dfl 150, which is something like $60 at current exchange rates. It's a 
blue-greyish metallic colour, really don't know the code. Paper sticker in 
the trunklid's missing. The only luxury feature on this car is an OE steel 
sunroof. It was imported as a used car from Germany in '96.
Now it may not be a thing of great beauty, and with 252k km (158k miles) 
it's not exactly showroom fresh. But $60 is kinda low- these cars fetch 
about $1400 here in good shape. The reason for this asking price is that it 
needs some repairs which the owner was not prepared to pay for, and 
couldn't do himself. He wanted to get rid of it quickly, and this was his 
solution.
The first sign of problems was a flashing 'brake' light and the engine 
canted over to the passenger side a little too far. A closer inspection 
revealed that the bolts holding the engine mount to the engine were 
missing, allowing the engine to hit the subframe and probably damaging the 
front brake line. The severe tilting of the engine also loosened the joint 
between downpipe and exhaust.
This meant that I drove the short trip home in a car that would only brake 
properly by pulling the handbrake and that sounded like a farm tractor, 
which made for an interesting drive. It also leaks a lot of oil as the 
valve cover gasket has disintegrated. That's the bad news so far. The good 
news is that apart from one small ding in the passenger front door it's 
undamaged and that so far it seems to run fine (starts great!), everything 
works and clutch, transmission, steering and struts all appear to be in 
excellent shape.

The previous owner was a pig, using the car as his private skip. So far, 
I've cleaned out several decaying food remains (French bread, anyone?) and 
the very full ashtray. In the past, something very furry seems to have shed 
its coat all over the interior and the otherwise undamaged(!) blue 'crayon' 
upholstery is pretty dirty. Tomorrow I'll put my vacuum cleaner to good use 
to find out what's under the fur, and I'll give it a badly-needed wash.

It's intended to serve as a daily driver while the 90q is under the knife- 
kinda takes the stress out of the repairs when you have at least one car to 
use. It'll also donate some of its parts to the 90, to replace those 
getting a little less than fresh. When I'm done fixing the 90, the 80'll be 
up for sale. Looks like I've got quite a bargain.

That is- when the inspection session next Tuesday doesn't turn up more 
horrors. Looks like the current crop is easily repairable (let's hope the 
engine mount bolts have just gone missing, not broken off inside the 
block...). Anyway, it's a pretty good deal- even if I drive it to the 
scrapyard next week, I'll get more for it than I paid. If it's deemed 
repairable, I'll start looking for a cheap stereo (OE stuff? Naaah, I'll 
never find one here...) and spruce it up.

Sorry for the long post, but it's not easy to find a cheap Audi here- I'm 
pretty pleased with it.

Regards, Tom
87 90 quattro, NG engine Titian red metallic, 172k km (it's not dead, it's 
resting)
87 80 fwd, RU engine, unknown greyish metallic, 252k km
88 80 fwd, SF engine, Titian red metallic, 348k km (gone, but not forgotten)
Zeist, The Netherlands