80/100 coupe pix, history?

[Fisher, Scott]

Wylie Bean (TheRingmeister at aol.com) points out:

> that'd no doubt be the 100 S coupe that Audi made in the 70's.
>
> see:   http://20v.org/pictures.htm
>
> about 3 or 4 down, you'll find one.

Gorgeous cars -- I saw one in person once in the LA area in the
mid-Seventies.  They remind me very much of the early Fiat/Ferrari Dino
coupes from some angles, and of the Alfa Romeo Montreal (if more restrained
than either) from others.  There are some pix and a lot of info on the
Montreal at http://www.geocities.com/alfamontreal/, including one from the
rear which highlights the resemblance in the tails here:
http://ttc.web.cern.ch/TTC/Montreal/MyCar3.jpg; the slightly earlier Fiat
Dino (which is probably not the one you're thinking of when you read that
name) can be seen here:
http://www.highway-one.com/Classifieds/Fiat/MASDino.html.

Which brings up my next question: 

Just behind the front wheel there's a small badge, barely visible in those
pictures on the 20v.org site but not legible.

Does anyone know whether that badge says what I suspect it does, which is
"Disegno di Bertone" like the little (now missing) badges in the same place
on my '67 105 series Alfa coupe?

There's SUCH a strong family resemblance to a number of Bertone-bodied cars
from just slightly earlier (1967 for the Fiat, early '70s for the Alfa),
especially from the A-pillars back (the rear-side window of the Fiat and the
Audi are almost identical).  It's not quite hard-edged enough to be
Italdesign, but it could almost have been drawn by Giugiaro before he left
Bertone to found Italdesign.  Giugiaro of course is the desginer who did the
4000 and the 80 Coupe, as well as the Lotus Esprit, the Alfetta GT, and the
original Rabbit/Golf and Scirocco.

(In my particular flavor of Automotive Heaven, the stylists are Italian, the
engineers are German, the perceived reliability is Japanese, the character
is British and the parts availability is American... we won't discuss Hell,
thankyouverymuch. :-)

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon