Hooniverse Weekend Edition: Russian Audi Buyer Finds a Surprise Inside Door Panel!


I ran this story over a year ago when I was still writing for Car Throttle. It serves as a reminder that what you buy on-line is not necessarily what’s presented.


This story is a new twist on finding documentation inside of the car that you may have purchased. On the other hand, what would say if you happened to find out that the car you purchased was not only totaled, but was cut in half, re-welded, with scrap parts used for body panels, and then sold to you without any disclosure? Well, that’s just what happened to a guy who purchased this Audi on-line. The new owner would have probably never discovered the hidden “treasure” if it wasn’t for a faulty door speaker. As he popped off the door panel, he discovered a thorough set of documentation, including pictures, on how the little Audi was re-built. Read the entire posting over at Car Throttle. Images from Yaplakal.com via EnglishRussia.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

  1. K5ING Avatar

    You see Comrade? We told you that it would buff right out!

  2. ladle666 Avatar
    ladle666

    off the topic.. but this whole "regular updates on saturday" thing has me very excited!!

  3. Thrashy Avatar

    I know a guy (whose name I won't mention) who claims to have worked at a chop shop while he was in high school. He's told me that whenever you're shopping for cars — especially ones that are cheaper than they probably ought to be — you should feel along the rockers for weld seams. Apparently a surprising portion of the cars that comes up for cheap on Craigslist have been "repaired" in this fashion.
    He also claims to know where you can go to get a counterfeit title for cheap. I'm pretty sure he's got connections to the mafia or something.

    1. tonyola Avatar

      Anytime you see a nice, late-model car at a ridiculously low price (particularly a muscle/sports car or pricey import), that should set off alarm bells – especially if it comes with the dreaded "salvage title" proviso. There are lots of chop shops here in Miami that take in totalled, written-off desirable cars and repair them just enough so that they look pretty on the lot. Think of what a typical small used-car dealer can do to spiff up a rough-looking car just by some careful detailing. Now throw in a welder, body putty, and some paint guns, and suddenly you have Mercedes and BMWs at used-Kia prices. These salvage cars are usually bought by credit basket-cases and clueless kids at the worst "We'll Finance Everyone in the World" car lots.

    2. lilwillie Avatar

      Years ago on a pre-purchase inspection I had a Mercury Cougar roll through that was two cars. It was a pretty good job until we racked it and got underneath. That was when I spotted a few little things they missed and started tearing carpet up and found the welds.
      They did a good job of hiding welds under it, ground down then undercoated and covered.

    3. muthalovin Avatar

      So that E39 M5 I saw the other day for 5K might not have been such a killer deal…

  4. 35mm Avatar
    35mm

    Back in my MR2 hooning days there was an internet famous story of a guy who had a MR2 that was made from two separate MR2's. Said guy slid his MR2 into a pole (at relatively low speeds if memory serves). The driver was very fortunate to walk away fro this one.
    <img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/beaushaw/mr2_050902_09.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket">

  5. jim-bob Avatar
    jim-bob

    The scary thing is that it seems to have been done with no regard for the factory seams. I bought a wrecked low mileage Nissan Sentra a few years back and cut and welded it back together. I respected the factory seams and did almost everything with plug welds. I later wrecked the car again in a far more severe accident in the same place I had repaired. It held very well and none of the seams split. This is because it was put back together the same way it was assembled when new. Sadly, that would not be the case with this car. There is no stagger to the repair, just a clean cut line. In a wreck this is dangerous and would split apart as the weak point is uniform. If it were staggered in different places like a stock car would be, it would be about as safe as if it were never repaired. The rocker, for example, would be a single piece and extend in front of the toe board to floor pan seam that is there when the car is built. The roof pillar would have been secured better to the firewall, etc.