Caudell was a mechanic in our maintenance shop. He spent as much time after hours working on other peoples, and his own, cars as he did working on the company's trucks. He also spent a lot of time over at the Army junk yard looking for parts and such. On several occasions he would catch someone turning in a car for junk and buy it cheap before it got into the Army's junk system. One afternoon he intercepted a young GI who was turning in an Audi because he couldn't afford to fix the transmission, which was "really screwed up". Caudell offered him $25.00 for it and Gray, a five-cylinder engine (for those not in the know, that is a very unsual number of cylinders in a motor), a four-speed transmission, and it was in excellent condition...other than having a major transmission problem. Caudell towed it to the Company parking lot and after a few days he found time to look into the problem.
It turned out that the transmission was fine, the linkage was screwed up. It took Caudell about two hours and a trip to the Audi parts shop to put the transmission back in service. It was less than a week and Caudell turned it around and had it for sale for about $500.00. Not a bad deal.
The family wagon was a bit bulky for running errands and quick visits around town, so I toyed with the idea of buying the Audi. I talked to Caudell about it, I had to be careful about commercial arrangements with subordinates, there is a standards of conduct consideration. But Caudell made a discovery about the car that the young GI hadn't mentioned: the engine was a terrible oil-burner...it made smoke like a destroyer on defense when it took off and you had to add a quart every couple of weeks. It smoked so bad on take off that Germans (who are very fussy about their cars) would back off and leave me lots of extra room. I asked him how long he thought the engine would last like that and he allowed as how it could be something serious or not...the car could last for days or years...so we settled on $300.00 and I bought it.
I cleaned it up and drove it around a little to get the feel of it. I was so surprised. First of all, it was a performer. The five-cylinder engine was rated at 94 horsepower but it took off like a shot and stopped on a dime. It handled like a sports car and you could cruise on the autobahn at 140 kpm (about 80 some mph) all day long without overheating or straining at all. Top speed? Not sure, somewhere north of 170 kph (a little more than 100 mph), I never really tried it out. Passing was pretty easy, too. And it was easy on gas, too.
The thing that surprised me most was the way MamaCharlie fell in love with it. The wagon was a bit big, I think, especially in Germany's narrow roads and crazy speeds. But in the Audi, she blasted around like one of the natives. Not since we sold the '69 GTO eleven years earlier had she been so comfortable and...well...happy behind the wheel. She liked driving a stick and she really liked the little Audi's heart. Neither of us minded the smoke too much, despite the disdainful glances and glares we got from the German motoring public.
When I got back from the STORM, we found we would be going back to the States sooner than we had expected. MamaCharlie dropped request on me that about choked me. She wanted to take the Audi back to the States. At that time, we had three Firebirds, an Olds Firenza, and the Audi. We shipped one car over, the wagon, so we could ship one car back. There were a lot of rules about that but the long and the short of it was that we could ship the Firenza at government expense, the boys would pay to ship two of the Firebirds back, and the Audi and one of the Birds would have to stay behind. If we shipped the Audi, we would have to pay for it ourselves but that was the least of it.
German cars that are built to be used in Europe, are not equipped with a lot of the safety requirements that the US requires. Upgrading the Audi to US specs would require the installation of 5 mph bumpers front and rear, new sealed beam headlights and re-lensing the tail lights. The steering column would have to be replaced with and energy-absorbing column. And nearly all the glass would have to be replaced. All the the replacements would have cost in the neighborhood of $5000.00...oh...and the engine (old smokey) would never pass emission tests without major work or replacement and I have no idea how much that would have been. Then when we did all that and paid to have it shipped to the States, then we would have to pay sales tax and import taxes and who knows what else. So you can see that our beloved little $300.00 Audi going home with us just wasn't economically feasible. Still...if I could have afforded it, I would have done it...'cause as much as I liked the little Audi, I loved MC more.
I only have one photo of the Audi and I can't find it right now, I would be happy to post it and if I ever find the dang thing I will make a special article just for the picture. I have it courtesy of the Baden-Wurttemberg state Polizei. They caught me with a radar-operated speed trap camera on the river road, a back way from Ludwigsburg to Bad Cannstatt. I was running a little late for an appointment at the Hospital and got popped for doing 100 kpm in a 60 kpm zone. They send you the picture and a bill for the fine in the mail. There I was, zooming along, you could see my pretty face clear as day.
The newer Audis are cute, they are a lot bigger than our old beater, and they sure cost a lot more than ours did. But I miss it sometimes. The picture here is the same model and color but this isn't our Audi..