Topic: Car in Switzerland

[pcelias]

When I first saw this car (in Zürich, Switzerland, a couple hundred feet from the main train station) in the early 1980's, it was kind of deja vu.

I walked around the car, and it seemed familiar, despite no badging or logos telling me what it was. 

Yes, I did eventually figure what this car was, just not a version available in the USA.   So for me, this would be a bucket-list collectible car to own.  To my knowledge, only 4 of these exist in the USA, brought over privately (ie: gray market).   They're scarce even in Europe.

It shouldn't be too hard to guess what this is.  No, it's not Italian, although I believe that an Italian designer was involved.   I wonder if this particular car is still on the road, it's been over 30 years since I took this picture, making this car approx. 41 years old.

[sixtee5cuda]

You might want to move this to a puzzle forum (currently in "Features, Stories and Photos"), before someone comes along and tells everyone what it is.

Nice car.

[Wendax]

Welcome to AutoPuzzles, pcelias!

In order to post puzzles, you must obtain Expert status, i.e. you have to gain 20 points by solving existing puzzles. Have a try and enjoy the world of rare automobiles!

[Ultra]

It's a beautiful car.  Thanks for sharing it. 

If you wish it posted as a puzzle, I'm sure you could get an editor to do so for you.  Just ask.

Thanks for joining the site and sharing the pic.  As Wendax said, be sure to try out some of the puzzles.  I know you will enjoy them. 

[pcelias]

I probably won't have time to spend on completing 20 car puzzles... and couldn't find any other place where I could "post" this for now...

The car in the picture had me baffled when I first saw it, but then I looked at the interior, it was very familiar.   Really too bad that they never officially imported these here into the USA ...   The car does look very similar to some Fiat Coupes of the late 60's/early 70's (because that's what I thought it was at first), but it's definitely NOT a Fiat.

[Tom_I]

It's an Audi 100 Coupé S, isn't it?

[pcelias]

Oui!  (oder auch Ja!)

Unfortunately the Audi Coupe S was never imported into the USA; it's definitely one of the nicest designs of theirs in the late 1960's to early 1970's.   Whether in Germany or USA, these cars suffered from extreme rusting (I've owned both a 1972 Audi 100LS and a 1973 Audi 100GL, so I know all about this!).

Apparently 3 or 4 of these cars do exist in the USA, privately imported and supposedly in excellent condition.    Not always fun to work, especially the front brakes, since in-board front brakes might have a better center of gravity but also forces you to take the entire suspension apart just to change out pads and rotors...

[Paul Jaray]

There is a white one rotting away in a field few hundreds of meters from where I live...so sad.
I'll take a pic next time I pass by.

[pcelias]

A white Coupe S?  Here in the USA?   I thought that the only ones known (about 4 ?) were privately imported and in excellent condition... so that would make it #5 ...   Having had old Audi's myself, and given the unibody construction, trying to restore one would probably be a nightmare.   Not to mention the parts have that aura of "unobtainium" (well, perhaps in Germany, but they won't easily let us buy those parts...).

[Paul Jaray]

Here in Italy

[pcelias]

No wonder!   There should not be any Coupe S rusting away here in the USA since we never had any to begin with (except for the privately imported ones...).    Since there are so few of these left, is the one near you even restorable?

[Paul Jaray]

It's in the middle of a field, you can see it from far away and it took me a while to recognize it. It seems in a poor, poor status. I'll upload a picture when I'll pass by next time.

[Carnut]

My Dad used to have one.  It must have been a late 1973/early 1974 model and was one of the last of the first series, with the more rounded nose rather than the later angular one.  It really did used to get plenty of admiring looks, and my Dad used to lend me it sometimes to impress the girls!

It looked like a sort of pumped-up version of a Maserati Ghibli, although didn't have anything like that car's beauty, being much taller, shorter and differently proportioned.  Anyway it was a beautiful car but had a pretty-well standard Audi 100 interior, which was something of a let-down after you'd seen the exterior.

[Carnut]

Here are some front views of the earlier and later models.
The early car pictured is exactly like my Dad's - same colour, standard wheels etc!