First-generation Audi 100s–where are they now?

Learning was hard before the Internets–so difficult that I never bothered to find out about that cool German car my friend’s dad had in high school.

Turns out, thanks to Wikipedia as usual, it was a first-generation Audi 100LS–made between 1968 and 1976 with mainly incremental changes, and some of the coolest continental styling we in the U.S saw during that period.

What were U.S. automakers turning out during that period? Well, the 1968 Impala looked like this (just scroll down). And not too long after ‘68, U.S. carmakers got lost in a maze of 5 mile-per-hour bumper impact standards, detuned engines to deal with the oil crisis, and those fugly ’70s compacts–Gremlins, Pacers and Pintos.

In 1976, my friend Dave’s dad traded in a boss ‘69 Pontiac Firebird 400 for a Ford Pinto. (The fact that his son had led the cops on a 120-mile-per-hour freeway chase in it the week before Christmas–and it now had a bullet hole in the driver’s door as a result–had something to do with this, but still. Damn! Dave’s old man was hardcore.)

1970s American cars sucked, with very few exceptions. The first generation Audio 100s? They look great now. They were a bit nebbish when they were new–and they were probably never fast–but they’ve got the same less-is-more styling as those first-generation pagoda-roof Mercedes 230SL convertibles. (Here’s a Mercedes on eBay right now.)

Sure, the Mercedes is the rock star next to the Audi (another eBay listing)–but you’ll pay thousands more. And the Audi? It’s just nice. It’s rare and desireable–but it doesn’t try too hard. A late bloomer.

Makes you wonder how many are still out there–parked dead in garages and storage yards. Let’s hear it: any first-generation Audio 100 drivers out there? Do those things actually run on American roads?

Tags: 1968 Impala, 1973 oil crisis, Audi 100 C1, Audi 100LS, California, Chevrolet Impala, first-generation Audi 100, Gremlin, Mercedes 230SL, Pacer, pagoda-roof Mercedes, Pinto, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Wikipedia