Audi's Quattro is a legend that re-wrote the form book in International Rallying, as well as causing rival manufacturers to rethink their offerings and was, quite literally, a trailblazer. The story began with Audi chassis engineer Jorg Bensinger, who spent a Finnish winter testing the Volkswagen Iltis - a 4-wheel drive West German military and forest service vehicle - and found it could outperform all other machines on snow, whatever their type or power output. He put the idea of a four-wheel-drive version of the Audi 80 Coupe to the company's hierarchy and, well, you know the rest. The resulting model was launched to great excitement at the 1980 Geneva Salon and then released to European customers later the same year, powered initially by the WR, 2,144cc in-line, five-cylinder, 10-valve SOHC unit with turbocharger and intercooler.

The 10V we have on offer here today is a very early, UK-supplied, right-hand drive example that’s been the lucky recipient of a £28,000 plus restoration over the past few years. It was found by our enthusiastic private vendor whilst buying some machinery a few years ago. The car had been stored for some 12 years following an MOT failure. Its owner at the time had intended to restore it in retirement, but ill-health forced its sale. Our vendor spotted it resting in a  corner where it had sat for all those years and bought the car there and then.'Right place-right time' he explains.

It was then stored for a further couple of years before being sent to Duke Street Motors, part of The Motor Company in Leicester for a professional restoration. All things mechanical were either replaced or reworked, with the body work repaired and/or replaced where necessary and repainted in its original colour. The interior was left in its original state as it was in good order. There is too much detail to list here but pleasingly, there was a restoration album created by the restorers which shows the rebuild journey of the car over the past three years, with dozens of photographs we encourage all interested parties to have a look for themselves.

The vendor informs us that he has spent over £28,000 on this rebuild and the results are clear to see. The restoration was finished at the start of 2022 and he has continued to fettle since then using marque specialists, Dailynx in Swindon, who have recently carried out a four-wheel alignment check plus an engine, turbo and fuel system set-up. Just prior to the fresh MOT being issued in recent weeks, Dailynx also carried out some work to the brakes by fitting a new brake accumulator, new vacuum bomb and new master cylinder.

The Audi is supplied with a good history file, old MOTs, lots of other general history including receipts, the recent Dailynx receipts, Haynes manuals, an original Audi UR Quattro 10V sales brochure, some previous ownership documents, a fresh MOT and the aforementioned restoration album. We welcome any inspection of this fabulous example of an 80s icon.