Junkyard Find: 1975 Audi Fox
No, this car isn’t this kind of Fox, though it is a sibling of the first Volkswagen Passat aka Dasher. The Fox was the name given to the Audi 80 for the United States market, and we can all be forgiven for not knowing this (as very few were sold). This completely used-up, not-so-quick brown Fox jumped over the lazy junkyard dog after a life spent almost entirely in the East Bay, and now it rests in a self-service wrecking yard about two miles from its owner’s longtime place of employment.
I know this because of the thick stack of Oakland Airport North Ramp employee-parking permit stickers on the bumper.
Looks like at least 30 stickers here, so we may be looking at a one-owner car.
I thought I might pull this Motometer clock for my car clock collection, but it turned out to be a case full of broken gears. Sadness.
The interior was completely cooked, which suggests that the car spent its entire life unprotected from the California sun.
According to Audi tradition, the timing belt should be located where it’s the first thing to get crushed in a minor crash.
Other than the usual California surface rust around the back window, this car is fairly solid in spite of all the bent metal.
I couldn’t find any US-market TV ads for the Fox, so we’ll go back to Germany.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My first recollection of the Audi brand was the Fox one of my counselors had when I went to summer camp in the summer of 1979. I don't know how old the car was, but it was brown (what other color is there for a Fox?) and 8 year-old me thought it would be a good place to get some engine grime so that I could dress up like a mechanic for costume day. He didn't think that was such a good idea. Or particularly funny.
In Canada they used the Fox name on 2 distinct cars. In the mid 70's an Audi. In the mid early 80's a rebadged VW (Polo?) sold as an entry level vehicle. Both had problems with oil leaks and self destructing exhaust systems. VW also sold Sciroccos and 'Dashers' in Canada in the 70's. We didn't own either of those but did own a 3 series and a 4 series as well as 2 Beetles. The 3 and 4 series were both what I believe are called 'flying brakes', 2 door station wagons. Not a great idea because most people buying a station wagon have kids so entrance to and from the back seat was compromised.