Junkyard Find: 1990 Audi V8
Audi has been building cars with V8s for decades now, but the very first Audi V8 came installed in a car named, appropriately enough, the Audi V8. These cars cost plenty when the buyer signed on the line that is dotted, and they continued to cost plenty over the life of the car. I used to see quite a few of these cars in self-serve wrecking yards about five years ago, but now we’re seeing the long-term survivors whose owners took a look at the most recent repair estimate and, finally, barked GENUG! Here’s a high-mileage example that I spotted yesterday in my favorite Denver wrecking yard.
247 screaming German horsepower, fed to all four wheels and providing a good living for Audi mechanics.
Remember factory car phones? Do any phone companies still provide the analog connections they need?
250,525 miles! Who needs a Camry? Note the fuel gauge calibrated in gallons.
After the “unintended acceleration” debacle of 1986, Audi printed up vast quantities of these stickers and applied them on the shifter bezels of most of their automatic-equipped cars until, what, sometime in the mid-90s? They also recalled older cars and slapped stickers on them as well. Did these stickers prevent elderly drivers from mixing up the gas and brake pedals? Let’s hope so!
Now that Audis are packaged as carefully as any Apple product, we can assume that the company would rather sell itself to FAW-Hongqi for 11 bucks than slap a sticker this hideous on a door panel.
Not satisfied with the ECON/PWR transmission-mode choice available in the Lexus LS400 (and most other slushboxed Toyotas of the era), Audi V8 drivers could choose between “Sport,” “Economy,” and “Manual” modes, courtesy of this switch.
Here’s a nice German-market mini-movie advertisement for der Audi V8.
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.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
I'll bet it had that weird smell that all German leather interiors of the era seem to have. You'd think the Germans of all people could come up with a more pleasant leather aroma in their cars.
I had one of these, and it was a great car. Outstanding build quality, fast, and fun in any weather-a wonderful long distance driver. A rare and desirable real ass-kicker it was! Still, I don't think I would trade my A7 for one...