1987.5 vs. Special Build

[passat TS]

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Dave,

I finally discovered what happened back in 87.

This is a conspiracy created by a member of the Audi USA IT staff to promote
confusion among audophiles in a distant future. This person hacked in the file
containing the sticker descriptions and randomly added "Special Builds" to
some of
them. No one discovered this fact until you raised the question.

LOL...

Have fun with your "Special Build", and cancel that appointment to check
sanity.

Cheers,

Carlos.

>From:
>To: ,
>CC:
>Subject: RE: 1987.5 vs. Special Build
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 07:42:42 -0400
>
>Thank-you Wayne! I knew I wasn't going crazy. So it is a Coupe GT Special
Build. In the owners manual it only mentions Coupe GT and Coupe GT 2.3, no
mention of the term Special Build, but I had a feeling it wasn't just a
legend. But in all reality, it's just an engine & tranie upgrade plus a trim
level change. Either way, these things are hard to find, it took me over 2
years to find one locally and I love it more every day that I own it. I know
it is "pound foolish" to put the kind of money into her that I have, but there
just isn't anything on the market that catches my eye like a CGT. I'd bet that
by the time I'm done with her, I'll have close to $10,000 tied up in a car
"worth" $2,000-$2,500, but she'll be in like new condition...
>
>Dave
>
>Too Many Toys:
>2002 VW Jetta GLS 1.8T Tiptronic
>1993 RX-7 R1
>1987 Audi Coupe GT Special Build
>1985 Chevy Impala Interceptor
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Wayne Reser [mailto:wreser at siscom.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 3:57 AM
>To: human747 at attbi.com; David Ullrich - 0018 HQ
>Cc: quattro at audifans.com
>Subject: Re: 1987.5 vs. Special Build
>
>
>Huw makes a good point, trying to differentiate between lingo and actual
>nomenclature can be nearly impossible sometimes. And, in this case Audi DID
>have nomenclature called "Special Build". When I bought my Coupe back in
>'88...yes,14 years, one owner :-)...there was a printed notation on the
>window sticker identifying the car as a 1987 Coupe GT Special Build. I kept
>the sticker in a filing cabinet with the 1987 promotional brochure, but I
>have had no success locating it for scanning. Maybe it will turn up, unless
>of course, it fell victim to one of my wife's famous file cabinet purges!
>In any event the term "Special Build" is not a legend; unless it was just a
>clever hoax by some poor, demented window sticker typist to cause endless
>discussions among future Audifiles about what was actually meant by the
>magic words..."Special Build"!
>
>Wayne Reser
>'87.5 Coupe GT Special Build (or whatever)
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Huw Powell"
>To:
>Cc:
>Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 2:36 PM
>Subject: Re: 1987.5 vs. Special Build
>
>
>
> > Really? Special Build is what I had always heard it was called.
> > It's even called that on some pretty nice web pages:
> > Mike Tipton's web page: http://igdc.com/ejfluhr/audi/Coupes.html ;
> > Grand Touring Audi: http://www.metrocomputing.net/gtworld/cars/coupegt.htm
>;
> > a Motor Cities web page:
>http://www.motorcities.com/contents/00HSD251835985.html;
> > Fellow lister Wayne Reser calls his a Special Build:
>http://www.audifans.com/registry/view.php?action=viewCar&carid=783
> > When I brought it in the first time, the service writer ran over to a
>co-worker and said something like: "Hey, have you ever seen a Special Build
>before, there's one in Bay 2." He didn't even call it a Coupe GT Special
>Build, just a Special Build. So it appears I'm not the ONLY person who calls
>it a Special Build, heck even my dealer calls it that. But I DO want to call
>it by the correct name. I always thought that "Special Build" was what Audi
>called it in the USA. Is that wrong? Where did all these other people get
>the idea
> > to call it that? They all couldn't have made it up and come up with the
>same thing, could they?
>
>Well...
>
>First, some of these pages pre-date my having a clue about all this, so
>I would defer to them on a casual level. The trouble is, we are all
>reading each other and picking up "lingo" as we go, to try to ID things
>clearly to each other. Witness the several often completely different
>phrase used to describe some parts of the cars.
>
>here's a quote from the second web site above:
>
>"Then, in "Late 87" (july and on) Audi produced what came to be known as
>the "Special Build Coupe GT."
>
>I think that is a telling phrase - "came to be known" says to me that it
>is what we out here in the world started calling the car to separate it
>from the 2.2 liter version. And while I may be happy with "1987.5",
>that is a rather USA-specific distinction, judging by some of the other
>feedback on this thread.
>
>So it is certainly a harmless description, and used enough to be useful.
>
>The only question lingering in my mind is... did Audi ever have
>nomenclature for this version of the Coupe GT? Internal codes or
>external sales names for it? Is it mentioned in owners manuals or
>advertising material? It would be nice to get to the bottom of this,
>wouldn't it?
>
>(Example: the description "Ur Quattro" or "UrQ" is an after the fact
>designation that has taken hold and is pretty well defined and useful.
>No point in arguing with it just because Audi didn't call the car by
>that name)
>
>You'd expect it to be - it may be, as someone said, just "a few extra
>horsepower," but in a small hp platform like this, that engine change is
>good for about 15% more power and 20% more torque.
>
>--
>Huw Powell
>
>http://www.humanspeakers.com/
>
>http://www.humanthoughts.org/

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