Jardine Motors Audi
Registered User
- Joined
- May 18, 2015
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 32
- Points
- 3
- Location
- UK
- Website
- www.jardinemotors.co.uk
Our team at Jardine Motors Audi have been tasked with the challenge of raising money for our charity Whizz-Kidz by restoring an old Audi to its former glory.
Whizz-Kidz work hard to transform the lives of disabled children by providing the vital equipment, support and life skills they need to reach their full potential; therefore we wanted to help them.
We began our journey by looking for our ideal car. The car we wanted to buy was an original UR quattro. Clearly as this is such an iconic car with immense demand, buying one proved more difficult than expected.
We were fairly open minded when deciding what to buy but two essential features were that the car was right hand drive and had the iconic Mars Red paintwork. After contacting multiple classic car dealers, owners clubs and spending hours and hours searching the web, we thought we’d hit the jackpot.
We came across the perfect looking car which wasn’t too far away. We decided to go and see it, however, we noticed that the chassis number didn’t match that of the V5. The search continued without much luck; several cars came along but all with a story, write-offs etc. At this point, we were close to giving up on the idea of restoring a car for the Audi Division.
Out of the blue, team member Phil came across a car and let us know straight away - it had only just been advertised, so we gave the seller a call immediately and secured it over the phone. It didn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, but at this point we were desperate.
Thinking back to it, we were really lucky as the man selling told us that his phone was ringing non-stop with people who wanted to buy the car. Thanks to his enthusiasm and interest in our project, we sealed the deal and will be sure to keep him updated on the vehicle’s restoration.
Our extensive search concluded that the car is both rare and special, therefore finding one that hadn’t already been restored or was far too damaged to salvage proved to be more difficult than expected.
The car:
A 1984 UR Quattro in original Mars Red, packing some punch from the classic and iconic 2 litre, 5 cylinder engine. The car looked stunning - it’s not something you often come across, but for a 30+ year old Audi it didn’t look too shabby.
The first drive was interesting to say the least, a combination of fairly good performance with very little braking power. It seemed the car had been idle for a while and had therefore seized up somewhat, but it didn’t take away the fact that it was still such a special car to drive.
Stripping down:
The car arrived back at Tamworth Audi and after initial inspection, we all knew we had a big job on our hands. We began stripping the car in the following order:
Wheels and brakes
Front and rear suspension
Rear sub-frame and differential
Front sub-frame
Interior
Wiring loom
Engine and gearbox
Remaining trims and door electrics
Initial complications:
Surprisingly, there weren’t many! Nearly all nuts and bolts came off trouble-free, so no need for cutting off rusted bolts. It was a huge relief as this particular part of the process could have been much more time consuming than it was.
Our main issues occurred when we attempted to remove the wiring loom and interior trims. As a result of them being over 30 years old, the plastic had become particularly brittle and embedded. At the moment, we’re not 100% sure of the extent of the damage to the wiring loom but we may need to source a new one.
As well as trying to get hold of a wiring loom, we’re currently finding it very difficult to source the smaller parts: interior trims, seat fabric, roof linings etc. If anyone could help by pointing us in the right direction for these, we’d be massively appreciative.
What’s next:
Engine strip and access damage – currently the engine looks to be in a good shape but further inspection will tell whether there is additional unseen damage.
Deep clean on all engine components – 30 years of dirt and grime to remove through steaming and sand blasting.
Body shop – paint and bodywork look relatively okay; small areas of rust may lead to further complications, but we won’t know until the car has been stripped back to the bare metal.
Sourcing parts – we are struggling to locate rare original parts for a reasonable price.
That’s it for now - we’ll be posting weekly to keep you updated on our progress. If you have any questions then please let us know, or if you know anyone who could help us (especially when it comes to sourcing parts!) that would be great.
Whizz-Kidz work hard to transform the lives of disabled children by providing the vital equipment, support and life skills they need to reach their full potential; therefore we wanted to help them.
We began our journey by looking for our ideal car. The car we wanted to buy was an original UR quattro. Clearly as this is such an iconic car with immense demand, buying one proved more difficult than expected.
We were fairly open minded when deciding what to buy but two essential features were that the car was right hand drive and had the iconic Mars Red paintwork. After contacting multiple classic car dealers, owners clubs and spending hours and hours searching the web, we thought we’d hit the jackpot.
We came across the perfect looking car which wasn’t too far away. We decided to go and see it, however, we noticed that the chassis number didn’t match that of the V5. The search continued without much luck; several cars came along but all with a story, write-offs etc. At this point, we were close to giving up on the idea of restoring a car for the Audi Division.
Out of the blue, team member Phil came across a car and let us know straight away - it had only just been advertised, so we gave the seller a call immediately and secured it over the phone. It didn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, but at this point we were desperate.
Thinking back to it, we were really lucky as the man selling told us that his phone was ringing non-stop with people who wanted to buy the car. Thanks to his enthusiasm and interest in our project, we sealed the deal and will be sure to keep him updated on the vehicle’s restoration.
Our extensive search concluded that the car is both rare and special, therefore finding one that hadn’t already been restored or was far too damaged to salvage proved to be more difficult than expected.
The car:
A 1984 UR Quattro in original Mars Red, packing some punch from the classic and iconic 2 litre, 5 cylinder engine. The car looked stunning - it’s not something you often come across, but for a 30+ year old Audi it didn’t look too shabby.
The first drive was interesting to say the least, a combination of fairly good performance with very little braking power. It seemed the car had been idle for a while and had therefore seized up somewhat, but it didn’t take away the fact that it was still such a special car to drive.
Stripping down:
The car arrived back at Tamworth Audi and after initial inspection, we all knew we had a big job on our hands. We began stripping the car in the following order:
Wheels and brakes
Front and rear suspension
Rear sub-frame and differential
Front sub-frame
Interior
Wiring loom
Engine and gearbox
Remaining trims and door electrics
Initial complications:
Surprisingly, there weren’t many! Nearly all nuts and bolts came off trouble-free, so no need for cutting off rusted bolts. It was a huge relief as this particular part of the process could have been much more time consuming than it was.
Our main issues occurred when we attempted to remove the wiring loom and interior trims. As a result of them being over 30 years old, the plastic had become particularly brittle and embedded. At the moment, we’re not 100% sure of the extent of the damage to the wiring loom but we may need to source a new one.
As well as trying to get hold of a wiring loom, we’re currently finding it very difficult to source the smaller parts: interior trims, seat fabric, roof linings etc. If anyone could help by pointing us in the right direction for these, we’d be massively appreciative.
What’s next:
Engine strip and access damage – currently the engine looks to be in a good shape but further inspection will tell whether there is additional unseen damage.
Deep clean on all engine components – 30 years of dirt and grime to remove through steaming and sand blasting.
Body shop – paint and bodywork look relatively okay; small areas of rust may lead to further complications, but we won’t know until the car has been stripped back to the bare metal.
Sourcing parts – we are struggling to locate rare original parts for a reasonable price.
That’s it for now - we’ll be posting weekly to keep you updated on our progress. If you have any questions then please let us know, or if you know anyone who could help us (especially when it comes to sourcing parts!) that would be great.