[V8] The end of the Type 44?

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, I hate this part.  I guess I have lived long enough to see the end of
practicality of something that I never wanted to see go away.  But I guess
it is time to face the possibility that the interesting Type 44 Audi may be
nearing the end of its practicality as a daily driver.

Oh, I guess not ALL Type 44's.  Just the interesting ones, beginning with
the 200 20Valve Avant, and extending obviously, to the V8 cars that were
related in terms of age in the market and, gasp!, availability of certain
parts.  

Yesterday I got an interesting piece of news regarding the Black Mariah, my
'91 200 20 Valve Avant.  We are finishing up this project, and the final
part is to fix a coolant leak that seemed to be the waterpump.  We didn't
"do" the water pump originally, because it all looked new, so we just didn't
bother with it.  Service records showed that it was replaced, with all the
other "stuff" short miles before I bought the car, so we didn't fix what
shouldn't have been broken to begin with.  

Soooo, the leak started in the fall, and isn't terrible, but we feared that
the leak might be contaminating the timing belt, and we needed to go "in
there" and fix it.  

And, while we are there, what do we discover, but lower coolant hoses from
the Intercooler (I guess:  I haven't seen them yet), and the extra cooling
for the 20 valve engine.  No big deal, right?  I mean, hoses aren't in the
same class as bent valves are they?  No.  Well, maybe.

The problem is that apparently the hoses are no longer available.  No longer
made.  No longer supported by Audi.  No longer, no longer, period.

Well, it's not hopeless. We can fabricate the hoses, and make it work. But
the point is that because of the relative rareness of the 20 Valve cars,
there may come a time soon where a relatively small failure will tie the car
up for a considerable amount of time.  Thus the dependability of what is
otherwise a pretty rock solid machine, is compromised, at least as a daily
driver is concerned in severe conditions.  Having the car stop for some
stupid little piece of rubber 175 miles from home in rural Maine, with the
temperature at minus twenty is one of those "severe conditions".

But the Mariah will be back on the road tomorrow, and it will take me to
Canada next week on business.  That will be interesting in itself.  

But I confess:  I have been rereading road test reports for the 2002 S6
again, and I have a continual flirtation with the All Road V8.  

Or maybe I'll just buy a couple of 20-Valve cars to use for parts.  And
while I am at it, maybe a bunch of V8s, too, so I can have another one of
those.  And then ten acres and a big barn to keep all of the cars and all of
the parts in.  

Hey, wait a minute:  I think that is called a "business".

Anybody wanna buy some taillights?

Roger