[urq] The revolt is revolting?

[QSHIPQ at aol.com]

Steve
I don't think Audi is just out only to preserve and IP, and it's not  only 
them that's really *out* in cyberspace.  The way many of these  infringement 
suits work is from a non-Audi lawyer trolling, and taking a cut of  what goes to 
Audi.  Again, wrt Audi's 'involvement' it looks like  the grasp of the facts 
here isn't complete nor really accurate to Andrews  letter.  The best bottom 
line Summary:  Try to use 'quattro' referring  to any audi on any website 
exposes you to blatent risk. Period.  The only  reason Shick can use it, is because 
it references four blades, not four wheel  drive.  
 
The point has to be taken that there aren't *enough* buyers willing to pony  
up proper prices for parts.  If there is money in it for a vendor, the part  
will find a builder.  The Porsche aftermarket is full of these NLA parts,  even 
for the rare cars.  
 
Your point is well taken on the comparo of the day.  There is no doubt  that 
the urq is in the leagues of Supercar status, the rags of the day and the  
matchbox/Tamiya/Radio shack/scalextric mini versions for the young fanatics  
support that thinking.  As a grand touring coupe, in my experience, it  still 
holds it's own quite well to this day.  With bolt-on tweeks to a  stock WX motor 
and k24 turbo, my 83 can put down a sub 6 seconds to 60.  At  Steamboat there 
wasn't a newer audi that could get close, a good tribute to  lockers and a 
solid race bred chassis over electronics and massive  power.  And my 83 rivals my 
toyota Landcruiser in reliable daily  transportation.
 
I remember too when 360 and 440 six pack challengers, cudas, dusters and  
Mustang cobrajets with matching numbers could be had for a grand.  They  found 
their way to the guys looking for a good basic machine that gave great  
performance and a very reasonable cost.  Eventually, the collectors found  them, and 
now examples I could find dozens of in my high school parking lot (ok  carbon 
dating myself here), are fetching 10's of thousands.  Will the urq  ever get 
there?  Possibly already the mint unmolested examples.  But I  don't own any of 
those, because it's potential is so much higher than what was  delivered by 
the factory.
 
I fell in love with the urq, the very first time I scrutineered Buffum's  
first quattro ProRally car.  Some 25 years later, I'm still happy to  celebrate 
my years chasing, restoring, competing, servicing and tweeking such  fine GT's. 
 I have never shared the beef over what Audi chooses to do with  it, in parts 
supply or marketing.  Give it too much attention, I propose  many here will 
find they can't afford to keep it. 
 
I guess I read too much negativity lately on this board.  I've  advocated 
she's the mistress we call quattro, er, urq.  She's a great romp,  ages well, and 
she can handle 4 grown adults in the cabin...  Her mom  abandoned her long 
ago.  That hardly means there is no enjoyment in  ownership.  If urq25 is going 
to take on some sort of finger wag to Audi, I  have little interest in joining 
the crowd.  If urq25 is going to celebrate  enthusiastic owners sharing 
creative interpretations of the urq, I can't think  of a better way to spend a few 
days....
 
I dare say lads, I also have a few CGT's in my stable.  Driving them  back to 
back vs the urq yesterday, I really find is one of the best comparo's  any 
owner of either car could make.   Don't forget C&D put the cgt  on the 10 best 
list every year, and even a year after they weren't  imported.  Why?  Because 
the basics of the chassis are that darn  good.  And it's living the viva loca.  
Thinkking, hey this FWD coupe  with a turbo and 4wd would be awesome!  Er, 
yes it is....  Too!
 
I advocate more child support of our mistress isn't what we need to bitch  to 
Audi about.
 
My .02
 
Scott J
 
 
 
In a message dated 5/16/2008 1:33:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
urq at pacbell.net writes:

...  somewhat reasonable arguments ... not clear to me that the root cause of
my  disgust is the parts situation or the fact that the cars were so
lackluster  from the get go ... 

The thing that bugs me the most is the fact that  all Audi wants to do is to
make sure their IP is preserved.  Hell, a  selfish motivation for them to get
behind urq25 is that they could score  some marketing fodder by participating
... at the very least you'd wish  that they'd want to get a feeling about
what was being planned before  making a call on whether or not they'd allow
or disallow it.   

I've got an idea, perhaps we can get a license from Schick ...  

http://www.schickquattro.com/sq_home_flash.cfm

... my other idea was to  make a set of 4 overlapping red chromed rings with
slashes through them ...  perhaps with the letters "A" "U" "D" "I" under each
ring ... I think I was  a bit angrier then ... or perhaps we can do something
with orttauq ...  

... my response to the "no urq fan will want to pony up Audi prices  for
parts" is, sure you're always going to have some contingent who will  only go
as far as duct tape and bailing wire to keep their cars going, but  there are
some folks who are now paying money to get proper parts for their  cars.  I
hear prices for urqs approaching the price I paid for mine  (not that I'm
expecting DA222 to ever reach that value).  The example  that comes to my
mind is some of the American muscle cars ... the factories  had long
abandoned these cars too, but enterprising fans went out on their  own to
make proper replacement parts, and eventually the manufacturers came  around.
The urq probably doesn't have the numbers for this sort of thing to  gel ...
but it is also true nowadays that it can be cheaper to manufacture  parts in
smaller quantities than it once was ... 

... my response to  "urqs were pretty lackluster cars when they were new"
sentiment ... I  didn't think so.  I bought my car in '86, and I did it after
testing  Mustang GTs and RX-7s.  Perhaps the early electronic controlled  I-5
turbos like the WX had some teething pains that were worked out by the  next
refinement of the engine ... but I wouldn't say there were that many  other
problems.  OK, the hydraulically assisted brakes with the bomb  that goes
flat.  Other than that my car ran a very long time and on  some pretty
stressing road trips without skipping a beat.  After  buying my car I learned
that it likely had a rough life before I got it,  but it didn't seem to
affect reliability.  People tend to compare the  25 year old model to more
current ones, and of course things have  improved.  In its day the urq
carried itself well in my book.   There's no question that updating them can
make them much better than they  were ... 

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)


 



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