30th Apr, 2025 18:00

The April 2025 Platinum Auction

1988 Audi Quattro MB

 Estimate
£47,000 - £53,000

 Lot details

Registration: F204JGS
Chassis: WAUZZZ85ZJA900752
Odometer: 167,000
Transmission: Manual

• Simply stunning
• Correct specification
• The one to have
• Huge amount of history

We are very pleased to bring to market this stunning Audi Quattro Coupe - not just a Quattro but an MB (please see below). This is the daddy as one of our customers put it. This beauty is finished in the best colour of Tornado red with grey tartan cloth, and is amazing in its condition and as it left the factory complete with its factory sunroof. This amazing example was bought new on 12/8/1988 by its first owner and supplied by Vernons of Watford Audi. We know this because we have the service book containing 9 stamps, but better still, we have the full book pack in the Audi pack along with the spare keys.

The paperwork file is also very good with a thick file complete with lots of invoices and receipts and older MOTs. An interesting thing that you may want to look into is a copy of a V5 says it has 4 previous owners and another that states two owners, as does the HPi. It could be a DVLA error, but please check and satisfy yourself. The Audi has its correct badging on both the bodywork and the rear windows. It is in outstanding condition and needs to be seen to appreciate what this iconic car is all about. All this is finished off with a recent Scorpion exhaust system, which sounds amazing - maybe a nod to the noise those famous rally cars made back in the day. The paperwork is well worth a read to understand the money and love that has been given to this piece of motoring history, some would say royalty.

In the years that followed its 1980 Geneva Motor Show launch, the Audi Quattro became an icon of its era. Thanks to a state-of-the-art four-wheel drive system, the Quattro’s roadholding was a revelation. Coupled with a powerful turbocharged five-cylinder engine and practical but handsome packaging, it was in a class of its own. In roadholding terms, the Quattro redefined what was possible from an executive-sized machine. Nowhere was this better reflected than the world of rallying where, prior to the arrival of tricked-out Group B specials, the Quattro was the car to have. Beforehand, most manufacturers thought four-wheel drive too complex to be successful in rallying.

That soon changed.

In 1983 and 1984 the world champion driver used a Quattro while Audi also took the manufacturer titles in 1982 and 1984. The intervening 1983 manufacturers’ title fell to Lancia whose Group B 037 was the last rear-wheel drive car to secure the world championship. Despite its high price, the Quattro proved considerably more popular than anticipated; Audi hadn’t even planned to offer the model in right-hand drive trim. However, in its first seven years of production, over 8,000 Quattros were sold, and the UK became Audi’s best export market.

Technical, cosmetic and quality improvements were made year on year; by 1988 the Quattro had already been facelifted inside and out. Thanks to the car’s good looks, supercar-rivalling performance and lack of four-wheel drive competition, it was still very highly sought after. For the 1988 model year (production of which started in August 1987), Audi introduced the most significant changes yet, this is this car. The revamped car was cosmetically little altered but, at its heart, the new Quattro MB had an engine that was 93cc bigger than before. It was also fitted with hydraulic instead of solid lifters. The transmission and braking system were also overhauled as part of the 1988 model year programme. Although the MB Quattro’s official power output of 200bhp at 5500rpm was unchanged, the new car offered peak torque lower in the rev range: 270lb-ft at 3000rpm instead of 285lb-ft at 3500rpm.

The Quattro’s five-speed manual transmission was uprated with a Torsen torque-sensing differential. It enabled the rear differential to be locked but doing so disabled the ABS. The differential lock was speed-sensitive and at 20kph automatically disengaged (simultaneously re-engaging the ABS). Weight rose from 1300kg to 1335kg but the car’s 137mph top speed was unaffected. However, thanks to the electronic wastegate control and improved torque rating, the MB Quattro was appreciably quicker from 0-62mph. This now took 6.7 seconds compared to 7.1 for the outgoing variant. Production of the MB Quattro continued from August 1987 until July 1989 at which point it was replaced by the RR variant with its new dual overhead camshaft 20 valve engine.

If you want to own possibly one of the best Audi Quattros on the market and one that is the rare MB model, finished in the right colour that has been in a very high brow private collection, then this could be the one for you. We encourage you to view this Audi in the flesh, as you may never see one ever again. This is possibly one of the rarest and most unmolested cars you will ever have the pleasure of coming across.