Ask any car enthusiasts, and they’ll tell you picking up a new project vehicle is an exciting experience. Not many people know about the 1990 Audi Coupe Quattro. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it’s a Ford Taurus with Audi rings slapped on the grille. Alex Palmeri of Legit Street Cars recently acquired this rare rally car that’s been sitting for 12 years.
Peter, Palmeri’s crew member, discovered this rare gem. He first spotted the car as a kid playing across the street at the skate park. He didn’t know what it was since he’d never seen anything like it anywhere.
The Audi Coupe Quattro was offered in the U.S. for the year 1990 from mid-year 1989 to mid-year 1990 (only 1,750 units). Under the hood, it had a naturally aspirated 20-valve 5-cylinder 2.3-liter engine making 164 hp (166 ps) and 157 lb-ft (213 Nm) of torque. It came with a 5-speed manual transmission and ran on an all-wheel-drive setup.
This was one of Palmeri’s best deals. It’s a reasonably neat car, with a tidy interior and a clean title. What’s best, the owner only wanted $500.
“Just opening the door to this right now. Is this now worth 500 bucks? Jesus Christ, this is awesome,” he exclaimed.
Palmeri was surprised to find heated seats, factory classic radio, climate controls, diff lock, and an anti-lock brake switch (all the nannies on and off buttons) on the 90s Coupe.
Like on any other car that’s been sitting for a long time, Palmeri had to perform some checks to ensure it was safe to turn on the engine.
“First thing we got to pull all the plugs borescope the cylinders make sure that the rings aren’t frozen to the cylinders. Either way, we are going to fog them out,” he revealed.
After replacing a faulty fuel pump, the 90’s Quattro Coupe roared to life. There was a notable misfire, still, the aftermarket exhaust purred with enthusiasm.
Palmeri plans on turbo-ing this unit in the future. We recommend catching the rest of that fiery action in the video below.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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