Here we have Minichamps’ rendition of Michele Mouton’s 1982 Rally Portugal-winning Audi quattro, in 1:43 scale. I was fortunate enough to own a 1:1 1983 quattro for 13 years, so I collected quite a lot of memorabilia in that time, which I kept when I sold the car. This is one of many scale quattros in my collection, but it’s in the most iconic Audi Sport livery so it got my pick for today.
Often referred to as the Ur-quattro (the German abbreviation of Original quattro), I should note that there’s some debate among enthusiasts as to whether the name “quattro” should be capitalized, as the badging on the car all features a lower-case “q”. Subsequent Audi Quattro models get a capital “Q”, but all have other names first (80, 90, Coupe, etc). This is simply quattro, the first in a line of immensely capable cars from Ingolstadt. Arguably the car that not only changed the World Rally Championship forever, coming to define the glorious excess of the Group B era, but also that launched Audi onto the world stage, defining the brand for decades to come. Vorsprung durch Technik, before the marketing geniuses were even born.
By my standards, this is a very good 1:43, if not quite up to, say, BBR standards. The paint and decals are all expertly applied and accurate, and detail is very good. The interior is fully detailed as well, though that’s difficult to capture. Some details are a little heavy handed, such as the antenna and the window mouldings, but on the whole I really like the model.
This car sits on the gravel-spec forged Fuchs 15x7 wheels, which were later offered as an option on 5000/200 Turbos. I sourced a set for my own car, and I think they look great. For tarmac stages, it would wear a set of 15x8 “steamroller” Ronal R8 wheels. The rear wing hides supplemental coolers for the oil and transaxle. The main and auxiliary lights have the telltale dot in the center so common to plastic model lenses, an unfortunate detractor. It will please Jobjoris to know that it rolls fairly well for a model intended to be static.
And lastly, one of my favorite classic rally videos, Walter Rohrl behind the wheel of his quattro at Portugal ( & possibly elsewhere), circa 1984. Enjoy:
Nothing like that noise!