This ex-cop bought a stolen Audi 80 33 years ago and still drives it

Every once in a while you read something in the news about Audis being involved in all kinds of criminal activities. The RS6 in particular seems to be popular nowadays for escape attempts, ram raids or even liquidations. Apparently the crooks guild likes to drive representatively. In that respect there is nothing new under the sun, because it was already the case in 1989. In that year, a brand new Audi 80, with license plate XJ-31-KT, was stolen in Breda. It would soon become clear to the police that this was no ordinary theft.

Stolen with the original key

Former policeman Cees van den Bussche, now 73 years old and retired, knows the story from A to Z, even though he was not directly involved: “Apparently this Audi was stolen with the original key, because it had no burglary damage. The thief stole the key from the owner’s coat pocket; thief and owner seem to have been colleagues. You are a fine colleague.” The Breda police were informed about the theft, but were initially in the dark. The owner called in his insurance, was paid the replacement value and went on with his life. The thief had it less easy. He did not dare to show himself in the Audi and parked it in a garage box in Breda. A phone call from the owner of that garage to the police got the ball rolling.

The entry-level version of the then Audi 80, so a 1.6 with 69 hp.

Just lucky with winning bid on the 80

After the Audi was removed from the Breda garage box, it ended up at the police station in Bergen op Zoom, where it was temporarily parked. That desk was the workplace of Cees van den Bussche, who was an adjutant in the inner city team. The insurance company would auction the stolen Audi and that message made the adjutant prick up his ears. He was looking for a new car. “I am definitely not a car enthusiast,” he says. “Unlike some colleagues. They made it a sport to buy a new car every few years, but that was never my intention. I drove a Fiat 850, then a Peugeot 104 and somewhere I once had a Citroën Dyane. At one point I picked up the phone on the desk and I was on the phone with the insurance company, who told me about the auction of that Audi. I had a Golf at the time, which I had just totaled, so I was looking for something else. I thought the Audi was a chic car, so I decided to make an offer. I had no idea whether to bet low or high. I didn’t know what I was doing at all, but I had the winning bid. That was lucky.”

Cees is not a special car enthusiast, but he cherishes his Audi 80.

Audi 80 was modern but not trendy

For a government employee with no particular love for automobiles, the Audi 80 is perhaps the perfect choice. After all, Audi itself presented the model as ‘modern, but not trendy’. Already with the introduction of the first generation 80, the manufacturer from Ingolstadt showed that it left nothing to chance. Every part was weighed and scrutinized to see if a few grams could be saved somewhere, without compromising on quality, of course. That exercise paid off, because during the oil crisis, the Audi 80 turned out to be very economical with the expensive fuel compared to its direct competition. The title ‘Car of the Year 1973’ went to Ingolstadt with flying colours.

Slippery carriage of the B3

The Audi 80 would live on until 1994, the year in which the A4 took over. At that time, innovations would follow each other in rapid succession: the 80 would benefit from Audi’s most important technical inventions. Quattro drive, for example, or the fantastic five-cylinder turbo engine, but also the first TDI engine and the Procon-Ten safety system, which was advanced at the time, which pulled the steering column away from the driver in the event of a collision.

The Audi 80 caused a stir in 1986 with this body.

Third generation Audi 80, the B3

The introduction of the third generation of the 80 – the B3 for intimates – caused quite a stir in 1986. Not only because Audi broke ties with the Volkswagen Passat, which had shared its technical basis with the 80 for years, but mainly because of the slippery bodywork. Audi was already successful with the 100 introduced in 1982, but the new 80 meant another revolution four years later. As is often the case with Audis, the radical appearance has become more beautiful as the years have passed.

It has always taken me everywhere I wanted to go and it is still a beautiful, chic car

Still beautiful and chic after all these years

Cees van den Bussche thinks so too. He has now been the owner of the Audi for 33 years, and he still views it through rational glasses, albeit slightly less so. The car is parked indoors, hand washed and gets all the maintenance it needs, although it was never much. “I am proud that we have come this far. It has always taken me wherever I wanted to go and it is still a beautiful, chic car, still going strong after 33 years and 150,000 miles. I hardly had any costs. The exhaust has been replaced and there are new shock absorbers underneath. At the end of 2020, the cylinder head was removed and a new subframe was installed. All maintenance, although it was not easy to find parts. You will notice that it is now really an old car. Yet my mechanic Jan van Gent always manages to get and keep it in tiptop condition.”

No longer rational

For someone who firmly says he is not a carphile, Cees is surprisingly full of praise for his Audi. The emotional value of the old white sedan clearly exceeds that of the emotionless look that a non-autophile usually casts on a car. There is no other way, after having come such a long way together. Still, Cees thinks that farewell is near. “I have a problem with my leg, so I think it would be better to buy an automatic,” he says. “But I can no longer look at this car purely rationally. It is still so beautiful and it still drives so well. If I’m honest, I just can’t bring myself to get rid of it, even though I know it might be better. Have I become a carphile after all?”