[urq] Maintaining an old Urq

Tue Jun 22 10:35:58 PDT 2010

Todd is spot on. If you watch the auctions with any regularity from TV to periodicals such as Hemmings, the pristine cars bringing the big bucks are "almost" ALL restored. Or over-restored by some assessments. Totally original untouched and perfect is _extremely_ rare, and usually heralded as such, and priced accordingly. There is a recent resurgence in value for un-restored "survivor" cars, but only the high end really rare stuff.
I have been watching a recent cable show called "What's My Car Worth". They have 2 "experts" appraise a car and then take it to the auction block to see what it is _really_ worth. Very interesting process. In their appraisal process they ding a cars value for every little flaw. Barely noticeable swirl marks in the paint knock it down to a 2 on a 1-6 scale requiring a "$15-20k restoration". Even excellent condition original cars need to be "restored" to get the money. With that in mind modify away anything you want that is reversible to stock.
I also agree with Brandon that these will not be collectibles in my life time. However, I thought the same about the Healey 3000s I drove for years. Now a perfect restored car is $60-70k. Never thought I'd see the day when my old stock '64 SS Impala in "restored" condition will bring over $20k. Not even a convertible!
Shiny and "restored", or "restored to original" is the order of the day for collectable's. 

Dennis 
Denver

-----Original Message-----
From: Todd Phenneger <tquattroguy at yahoo.com>
To: 'JP Chaplen' <quattrodude at comcast.net>; Brandon Rogers <brogers at terrix.com>
Cc: urq at audifans.com; 'Eric J. Fluhr' <efluhr at austin.rr.com>
Sent: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 10:44 am
Subject: Re: [urq] Maintaining an old Urq

I agree almost fully with what Brandon said.  However, recently there has been 
n increased value in older classic cars that are restored with more modern 
quipment so its possible this "100% Original" thing may be changing slowly.  
00% original will still bring the most dollars in a classic car, but a well 
one, OE Style car that has some nice thoughtful upgrades can still bring good 
oney.  
As for an urq, I'd say, do a 3B conversion if you want, upgrade the brakes, put 
 newer head unit in, keep the body mostly original (Euro bumper maybe)  But 
ONT cut the door panels, do any irreversible body or interior mods, etc.  
To "Maintain" your value in a modified car, thats what I would do.  
--- On Tue, 6/22/10, Brandon Rogers <brogers at terrix.com> wrote:
> From: Brandon Rogers <brogers at terrix.com>
 Subject: RE: [urq] Maintaining an old Urq
 To: "'JP Chaplen'" <quattrodude at comcast.net>, "'Todd Phenneger'" 
tquattroguy at yahoo.com>
 Cc: urq at audifans.com, "'Eric J. Fluhr'" <efluhr at austin.rr.com>, "'20v list'" 
20v at audifans.com>
 Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 9:47 AM
 It's been re-hashed in different ways
 over the years - but here's my take on
 it.  I personally, unfortunately, don't feel these
 cars will ever achieve
 "collectible" status.  But if they ever do - it will
 be the pristine bone
 stock 100% original cars that will be sought after. 
 Problem is those cars
 will be less reliable and quite a bit less fun to own (IMO)
 - if your idea
 of owning is actually driving the car with
 regularity.  

 Having a reliable (tranny swap aside :-), quick car that
 starts every time
 is valuable to me - and makes me happy.  So that is
 the goal for my car.  Do
 what makes you happy.

 Brandon
 '84 ur

 -----Original Message-----
 From: urq-bounces at audifans.com
 [mailto:urq-bounces at audifans.com]
 On Behalf
 Of JP Chaplen
 Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 6:02 PM
 To: Todd Phenneger
 Cc: urq at audifans.com;
 Eric J. Fluhr; 20v list
 Subject: Re: [urq] Maintaining an old Urq

 So following in your question on maintaining... 

 I have been pondering this over the past year or so...I
 have done MANY
 upgrades in various ways over the past years I have owned
 my 83 URQ,
 replacing with new parts when ever possible, upgrading
 lights (i have quad
 HID's hi/lows), all the lights are LED even the dash
 lights. On and on...but
 the question i have and many be impossible to answer,
 should one keep the
 car stock, or are upgrades if of course done right better
 or devalue the
 car? 

 I'm not looking for a 400hp+ screamer or anything like
 that, I just want a
 good looking/functional/(gulp) reliable URQ to drive that
 maybe turns a few
 heads here and there. Couple of examples i'm looking at are
 say the
 interior, the leather i have is in great shape for being
 what 28+ years
 old..i only have ONE small wear spot, but its not nice new
 anymore...cost
 who knows but im sure i could easly spend $5K plus or more
 I think to have
 it redone... 

 I would like to further the Stereo system too, but do i
 hack up the Original
 panels even if they are professionally done and look better
 than they did
 before? 

 Just wondering what people are also doing to preserve or
 maintain their cars
 or make them better than before? 

 Sorry I know this is an open ended question... 

 JP 

 Also let me know if you want any specifics one LEDs all my
 brake/side/marker/interiors are all LEDs...I can Photo if
 you wanna see what
 they look like. 

 ----- Original Message ----- 
 From: "Todd Phenneger" <tquattroguy at yahoo.com>

 To: urq at audifans.com,
 "Eric J. Fluhr" <efluhr at austin.rr.com>

 Cc: "20v list" <20v at audifans.com>

 Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 10:12:12 AM GMT -08:00
 US/Canada Pacific 
 Subject: Re: [urq] Maintaining an old Urq 

 I'm CCing the 20v list because I thought they might find
 this good info too.

 Did some more looking around. 
 For 91' CQ it looks like the #24 is a drop in for the 1.2w
 dash bulbs. 
 http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2
 Disp=/mini-wedge.html 

 I may pick some of those up in Red to see what they look
 like.   
 As for the C4-A6.  I dont see anything but OTOH that dash
 is pretty good
 from the factory.  I guess I can keep it the same. 

 What did you use for the urq Dash lights?  You'd need
 something with a
 360degree pattern I believe to be captured by the
 (Distribution tubes??) in
 the dash. 

 Thanks 

 --- On Sat, 6/19/10, Eric J. Fluhr <efluhr at austin.rr.com>
 wrote: 

 > From: Eric J. Fluhr <efluhr at austin.rr.com>

 > Subject: [urq] Maintaining an old Urq 
 > To: urq at audifans.com

 > Date: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 3:30 PM 
 > Urq-folks, 
 > 
 > FYI, I've been converting my Urq to various LED lights
 a la 
 > 
 > superbrightleds.com  (I have no affiliation 
 > with this site, I've just been happy with their 
 > products).  My rear driving 
 > and brake lights are terrific now! 
 > They have these "tower" style led bulbs that provide
 great 
 > lumens, 
 > instant-on response, and low current 
 > draw to help compensate for the aging wiring in our 
 > cars.  My buddies all 
 > like the result on my Urq. 
 > 
 > I've also swapped my blinkers over, but this takes a
 little 
 > more work than 
 > just replacing the bulbs because 
 > of the way Audi wired the dash light (ever noticed
 that the 
 > dash hazards 
 > behave differently with ignition on 
 > versus ignition off...now I know why). 
 > 
 > I'm now working on replacing other bulbs in the car
 (like 
 > the instrument 
 > cluster) with some of their other 
 > specialty LEDs, and so far I have been very happy with
 the 
 > results. 
 > 
 > Later, 
 > Eric 
 > '82 urq 
 > 
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 > 
 > 
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