Audi News

Four of the Most Expensive Audis Sold at Auction

Audi-badged cars haven’t show up frequently at classic car auctions. Occasionally, you’ll see examples of the rare and very pretty 100 Coupé but older collectors still see pre-war Horchs and Auto Unions as the definitive collectible Audis. This is changing as the kids who were thirteen or so in the early 80s—and worshipped at the altar of the all-conquering Sport Quattro— are starting to hit their stride in terms of time and disposable income.  It all bodes extremely well for the collectability of rare and high performance Audis from the 1980s on.  Here are some of the biggest Audi sales at auction recently (and we note that in includes only one pre-war car):

2001 Audi R8 Le Mans Spyder

audi-r8-lms

£626,443/$1,038,517 at RM Auctions Monterey, California, USA August 2012

Le  Mans prototypes from this era are rarely seen on the market. This particular car was the Joest Racing car that placed first at Jarama in 2001 driven by the legendary Tom Kristensen and  co-driver Rinaldo Capello. It placed seventh at Le Mans in 2002. This twin-turbo 610 hp V8 monster would be just the thing at the next Festival of Speed.

Link: http://www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?lot_id=1052935

1937 Audi 225 Spezial Cabriolet

1937 Audi 225 Spezial Cabriolet

£137,500/$227,947.50 at RM London, September, 2008

This was a nice example of the rarely seen 225 Front series. Interesting and technically advanced cars with front wheel-drive, they were quite pretty and with a 2.2 litre straight six, nearly capably of maintaining motorway speeds today.  Few comparable cars have sold since this one, but the number today is undoubtedly in excess of what it was in 2008.

Link: http://www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?lot_id=311938

1985 Audi Quattro Sport SWB Coupé

1985 AUDI QUATTRO SPORT SWB COUPÉ

£115,740/$191,873 at Bonhams Goodwood, Chichester, September 2013

The Sport Quattro SWB coupé is likely the iconic post-war Audi.  The lightweight, short wheelbase version of the legendary Ur Quattro developed a reported 306 hp and was a shatteringly fast and sure-footed weapons-grade rallye car.  Most of what you need to know about the Quattro Sport can be summed up  as follows: Michèle Mouton, Walter Röhl and Pikes Peak. This was a hefty price paid to be sure, but as the children of the 1980s inherit the classic car hobby, cars like this will become the D-types of the era. This will seem like a comically cheap price one day in the relatively near future.  If six figures isn’t in the picture for you, scoop up a regular LWB Ur Quattro now while you still can.

Link: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20931/lot/269/

2009 Audi R8

2009 Audi R8 Coupe

£63,355/$105,029.92 at Gooding and Company Scottsdale, Arizona, USA January, 2011

It’s not often that a car still in production shows up for sale at a posh American catalog sale. But the continued desirability and difficulty obtaining what Jacky Ickx has called the best-handling road car on the planet meant that this Walter de Silva designed beauty didn’t look at all out of place among the Maserati Ghiblis and Ferrari California Spiders at this sale. The R8 is one of those special cars that is destined to depreciate little and will likely be recognized as an instant classic the day the last one leaves Neckarsulm.

Image above copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photo by Alejandro Rodriguez.

Link: http://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/2009-audi-r8-coupe/

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

2 Comments

  1. Ni Nick,

    Thanks for including Gooding & Company in your post.

    Would you please add the following image credit to the Audi R8 from our Scottsdale Auctions in 2011: “Images copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photo by Alejandro Rodriguez.”

    Many thanks,
    Jannelle Grigsby
    Publicist, Gooding & Company

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