various Audi-related remarks

[tnas@dtpdirect.nl (Tom Nas, DTP Direct bv)]

Hi all,

My car is reaching 200K km today (in good health, I might add)! I've never
seen a car do that. I've got a bottle of champagne and a camera ready for
the occasion- I'll photograph the odometer. No, I won't drink and drive,
just give the car a champagne washing.
I won't be celebrating the loss of value that comes with the reaching of
this mark. It seems that people still have a feeling that cars expire once
past 200K km. Not this one...

I went to Holland's biggest model car swapmeet on Saturday. Great show,
thousands of people attending. Even on this large industrial estate, I had
to park my car nearly a mile away.
I bought some nice stuff, like Schabak's brand new 1:43 S6 Plus in
wonderful blue, and a very nice 1:25 UrQ modelled after the '81
Mikkola/Herz Monte Carlo car. German traders were out in force, and
competing nicely. I picked up a beautiful Schabak 1:24 Audi 100 from a
German for only $9, which I regretted not buying last time when I saw it
for $25! (Usually the other way round). There were lots of bargains to be
had, and I spent a whopping four hours there!
Lots of 1:1 Audis outside, some very nice 100 wagons, new coupes and even
two '85 coupes! (these are quite rare here). Pity I'd forgotten my camera.

This morning on my way to work I passed a white 1979 Audi 100L, looking
like it had left the showroom last week. Last time I saw one of these was
at a club meet- they were scrapped by the Dutch importer to avoid getteing
Audi a bad rep here. The steel used was of such a poor quality, that they
rusted like Alfas.
A friend who worked for the Dutch VAG importer in those days recalls that
the cars were crushed with the beautiful leather interiors and radios still
intact. No-one was allowed to touch anything. The owners got a trade-in
offer they couldn't refuse. Shame...

I read in the Dutch auto press this week that Audi is currently building a
plant in Manila, Philippines. Hope they put it up on a hill, because floods
are very common in the Philippines.

Hope this is of interest to some of you. If not- sorry for the waste of BW.

Tom
1988 80 1.8S


 _______________________________________________________________________
   Tom W. Nas, graphic design                        tnas@dtpdirect.nl
   DTP Direct bv                              Voice +31 (55) 5 790 799
   Apeldoorn, the Netherlands                   Fax +31 (55) 5 790 125

       Life would be so much easier if everyone read the manual.