On February 28, the closure ofAudi Brussels created a social earthquake leaving more 3,000 people without work. Despite attempts to take over the site, no other car manufacturer was ultimately interested in this site which suffers from its too much proximity to the capital. Since then, theForest factory is empty and its content (tools, metals, etc.) was sold to the most offender.
However, an Audi Brussels hangar was still full until last week and he contained a real treasure: a cars collection. Indeed, around thirty cars retracing the history of this site where dozens of millions of VolkswagenthenAudi have been built since 1948.
Zero kilometers or almost
If all the cars kept by Audi Brussels are all different, they all have the same particularity in common: they have hardly rolled. Indeed, they all display a mileage at one or two figures maximum, resulting in their test gallop carried out in the field of the factory, after being assembled.
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In cars that have been found, we can only fall in love with the VW Gulf Ralue (a very limited series built in 1990), a ladybug and a rare Audi S1 Quattro. You can also find unique models like the 500.000E A1 built in Forest or, more moving, a e-tron and a A1 which have the distinction of having been signed by all the employees of the factory.
Heritage
Some cars that have been discovered represent an industrial heritage for our country. We can regret that after having received almost 158 million euros in public aid, that Audi did not even donate one of the two vehicles signed by the employees of the factory to a Belgian museum so that we remember that this factory was a very large employer in the Brussels region.
Even on the side of D’Ieteren, Importer in Belgium of Audi and Volkswagen, we admit to the sale of a large part of the collection to the Dutch merchant The Collectables. Formerly owned by the Forest factory, the firm would certainly have readily welcomed certain vehicles within its own collection, the D’Ieteren gallery.
Records to be expected?
Another stranger is the value of cars that have been discovered. The fact that they are all in new condition makes it potentially more value than the models that have rolled. This is the case of the Golf Rally which displays 55 km on the clock or the Audi S1 which has only traveled 33 km. Other vehicles are less attractive, like this Golf IV Pacific 1.4 of 2003 (the last produced) with 27 km or this Lupo 1.4 TDI Who rolled 262 km, much more than the others!
Finally, a last question arises: provided that these cars have papers to be registered and being able to circulate on the road legally, wouldn’t it be better not to have them rolling? What makes their value is their new condition, this virginity that makes them very attractive from the point of view of collectors. They therefore may never really see the bitumen and integrate other collections in which they will be kept as it is. Anyway, the memory of Audi Brussels and the Forest factory will certainly be the subject of harsh battles between European bidders in a few weeks …
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