Re: In search of some assistance.

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message   <980911.133837.EDT.CLG97004@UConnVM.UConn.Edu> Corrin Grieco writes:

> A friend of mine is the owner of a 1986 Audi Treser and has asked me to look
> into finding the value of his car. He believes to have insufficient insurance
> on his vehicle being that he cannot find any reference to its worth.
>
> The car has 51,000 original miles, has only been driven in the summer months,
> and is in MINT condition.

We've now had two or three of these turn up - cars with Treser mods that
have passed down the food chain until no one knows what they actually
are.  Here's my standard reply:

     Tough one.  An "Audi Treser" is not of itself very meaningful.

     Treser was mainly a tuner of Audi ur-quattros.  He produced a
     series of performance kits - "Treser Stage 1", "Treser Stage
     2", etc., building on a fairly stock Audi WR engine with some
     fairly straightforward mods.

     These cars are referred to as "Tresers" over here.  They're
     generally much of a price with the ur-quattros they are
     derived from - there's no real exclusivity and the downsides
     outweigh the performance.  Tuned engines need care and
     maintenance that second owners rarely give them, and Treser is
     now out of business.  I know of two owners in the UK who have
     removed the Treser modifications.  I also know of one person
     who bought one unknowingly and is somewhat peeved.

     Treser did other things, though.  One of his ideas was an Audi
     ur-quattro Cabriolet, in which the roof swings down into a bay
     behind the seats.  IMO it's an abortion - the rear seats are
     lost and the A-pillar is almost vertical (it's from an Audi
     80), plus the glue used to fix the flush glass is ugly and
     ages badly.  There is one example knocking around in the UK -
     as far as I'm aware, it's been up for sale now for over three
     years.  It looks like a cross between a Lotus Europa and a
     pickup truck.

The problems are legion.  Parts are hard enough to come by for standard
ur-quattros, let alone Tresers.  By and large we (the UK quattro Club)
advise people to stay away from them unless they know _EXACTLY_ what
they're doing.  If someone offered me one for the price of a pint in
a pub car park, I would probably walk away from it.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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