A Record-Setting Audi 5000 CS Quattro Heads to Auction
A record-setting Audi is set to go up for grabs early in early February.
A 1986 5000 CS Quattro prototype is scheduled to cross the block at Bonhams upcoming Paris sale. The car is a one-off built with the specific intent of impressing American car buyers by setting speed records.
The 5000, or 100 as it was called outside the U.S., had become something of a hit in Europe by the mid-1980s due to the Quattro Coupe’s success in international rally racing. But the all-wheel-drive vehicle was struggling to gain traction in the U.S., thanks in part to the country’s historic disinterest in rally racing and several recalls for a sudden unintended acceleration issue.
1986 Audi 5000 CS Quattro Speed Record Prototype
Bonhams
So, Audi decided to win over Americans another way—by setting some speed records. The automaker took a 5000 CS Quattro saloon and modified it by throwing out everything everything that wasn’t essential to reduce weight, revising the vehicle’s aerodynamics, and overhauling its 2.2-liter turbocharged five-cylinder mill. The company also employed three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser to drive the cars on the ambitious runs. The strategy wasn’t enough to rescue the 5000’s reputation, but it did establish some new marks, the most notable of which was set in March of 1986 when the four-door lapped the Talladega Superspeedway in 46 seconds at a top speed of a then-world record 206.3 mph.
Shortly after that record-setting run, the car was acquired by the current seller, who had first spied it when their father picked up a then-new Audi V8 from the factory. The car appears to have been kept in stellar condition in the nearly four decades since then. The car’s boxy body is finished in glossy black, has Quattro racing graphics running along the bottom, and rides on a set of gold-colored multi-spoke wheels. The interior is just as spartan as you’d expect, though the bright blue racing harnesses make for a nice pop of color. But its best feature is the upgraded inline-five sitting in the engine bay, which makes 640 hp, which is nearly 500 horses more than the standard version.
Inside the 5000 CS Quattro Speed Record Prototype
Bonhams
The 1986 5000 CS Quattro speed record prototype will go up for bid as part of Bonhams’s Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris, which will be held on Thursday, February 6, in the French capital. The car is being sold without reserve, but the auction house expects it to still fetch between $100,000 and $220,000.
Click here for more photos of the one-off 1986 Audi 5000 CS Quattro prototype.
