[s-cars] S-cars: 95 vs 95.5 vs 96 vs 97

[Dave Forgie]

Donald:  The S6's do have solid headrests.  The first S6's (95's) have "SN"
VIN numbers.  The factory had a few left over S4 parts (e.g. four spoke
steering wheel, five spoke wheels, etc.) that they used up early in the
model run, e.g. August and September 1994.  All the later S6's had the three
spoke sport steering wheel and the six-spoke "Avus" wheels.

The "95.5" cars are basically 96 spec cars.  We got them in Canada as "TN"
VIN numbered cars, i.e. as 1996 S6's.  In the States, they were introducing
OBD II diagnostic requirements and, since Audi knew that the S6 was going to
be phased out in the 1998 model year, they didn't want to bother with all
the cost to do this for a few cars for two years.  Instead, they issued the
US "96" S6's as "95.5"s with the 1995  "SN" VIN numbers.

However, this "trick" was only good for one year.  So when the 97's came
out, the US got none (officially).  Canada supposedly got something like 70
1997 "VN" VIN S6's. Some of these have "migrated" south (Igor) since then.
In contrast, we (Canada) never got any S6 Avants (nobody in North America
got any S4 Avants).  However, the tide is soon to turn (Darin), and "Ve vill
zoon be importink zees cars into Kanada.  Bwwhhaahhhahhhhaaa"

Dave F.