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Princess Diana’s Audi Cabriolet Goes to Auction

Princess Diana’s Audi Cabriolet 16 photos
Photo: Silverstone Auctions
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When we think about the B4 generation of the Audi 80, us petrolheads see it as a last hurrah before the first-generation A4 came forth to the party. However, in Cabriolet form, the squarish and stony-faced Audi 80 was a car popular with the rich and the famous, including those born with blue blood in their veins.
One of the most affluent owners of the Audi Cabriolet was Diana, Princess of Wales, who owned the car you can admire in the adjacent photographs between 1994 and 1996. The first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and the mother of Prince William and Prince Henry, the late Diana is considered by many as one of the most influential women in the 20th century.

Compared to Her Majesty’s Bentley Mulsanne, which was recently sold for £199,850, Diana’s Audi Cabriolet is estimated to fetch anything between £50,000 to £60,000. The seller, Silverstone Auctions, will try to vend the ragtop next month at the NEC Classic Motor Show Sale in Birmingham.

The teal green convertible machine still has the license plate that was on when Diana owned it. Bought in London in 1994, three years before the tragic car crash in Paris, Diana is believed to have driven the Audi Convertible 4,000 miles or thereabout. At the present moment, the vehicle shows 21,412 miles on the odometer, which translates to just about 34,460 kilometers.

Motivated by a 2.3-liter five-cylinder engine matched with an automatic transmission, the 1994 Audi Cabriolet appears to be in pristine condition inside and out. From the Gomera Pearl paint finish to the Parchment leather and cream carpets, everything looks perfectly fine for a 22-year-old car.

After Diana had got bored of the car, the 1994 Audi Cabriolet was sold to Ian Campbell Dale. Then the third owner bought in 1998, after which the current vendor purchased it in 2013. Other than the car itself, the sale also includes a “history file containing the relevant handbooks and manuals and several good-quality photos of Diana using the car,” for added authenticity.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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