Audi 100 Coupe S GT – 1972

School story

At an ordinary high school, Niklas Frisk is sitting and looking out the window. On the ground floor of the math classroom and just outside is the teachers’ parking lot. There are many cars, but only one catches his eye – an Audi 100 Coupé S from 1972.

Do you remember that coupé from the seventies? Its technology came from a regular Audi 100, but it had a body like the most exotic GT cars. It didn’t take Niklas long to decide – he wanted that exact car. But there were two problems.

First, he didn’t have the money for such a car. Second, it belonged to his math teacher. The teacher had invested a lot into it and guarded it carefully, Niklas recalls. The class ended. Weeks turned into months.

Exit

A few years later, something finally happened. Niklas got 19,000 Swedish crowns from selling his moped. Whether that’s much or little didn’t matter. He was finally going to own his dream car!

“My first drive wasn’t what I expected – the head gasket had just blown, and I had to crawl home slowly. But the feeling was incredible.”

“That summer I made small improvements. I don’t even need to say it – it was the most popular summer car for the next few years. But slowly, the car faded into the background. My plan was always to restore it someday. We were born the same year, and just in time for her 40th anniversary, I decided to bring her back to life. At the same time, I wanted to realize a small idea I had for a long time.”

Niklas says.

At that time, the Coupé S had no real performance potential. It had never been released as a performance model or with a fancy GT package. Niklas wanted to change that.

His first inspirations came from Porsche 928 prototypes. They used a coupé body to hide the drivetrain. This so-called “mule” made the body much wider.

Could Niklas develop his idea?

“I’ve always tried to stick to a clear plan. The car should look like it could’ve come from the factory. Imagine a Shelby version of an Audi.”

The project began. The coupé was stripped down to its pieces. At first, things looked promising. But once the sandblaster started, they realized otherwise. That didn’t worry Niklas too much. The big work on the body was still ahead. He got in touch with a metalworker named Dan Johansson from Degerfors, Sweden.

“Dan is a very talented metal craftsman. He had mostly worked on American cars. Once he understood my vision, he got started.”

The car’s shape was built around the wheels. To make the widening look natural, the sills were reshaped, and the rear fenders were also widened. The next step was to redesign the entire rear end with a recess for the license plate. The bumper stayed the same. That made it easier to see how much wider the car had become.

“Before, you could fit a finger between the body and bumper. Now, there’s not even room for a hair!”

The fuel filler was also an important detail. Changing the cap might seem simple, but it took work. The original cap was on the rear fender – not very GT. The filler neck was relocated. And the parts came from an unexpected source.

“It might sound simple, but to get the right transition, we took a piece from a Victory motorcycle tank and welded it in. We also used the chance to make a new trunk floor, so the exposed metal from the original was gone. Meanwhile, Dan made the slim body into something more curvy. He also handled 300 parts to be powder-coated. A year later, they were finished. Only one piece remains…”

Handmade 

The interior is also entirely handmade. All aluminum is hand-painted the old-fashioned way.

Finding rare parts and getting them on time was a real challenge for such an unusual model.

“I spent a lot of time looking for the right parts. For example, the engine mounts – sounds silly, but it’s nearly impossible to find them! So I had to make new ones. It was a mystery we slowly solved.”

Another time-consuming part was the brakes.

“In early models, the front discs are mounted along the gearbox. They can easily overheat during hard driving. Around 1975, they moved the discs out to the wheels. So I had to find new ones. The next upgrade was custom driveshafts adapted to Golf III hubs.”

says Niklas, pointing at the front wheels. The solution was to use parts from newer models.

Personal info
Age: Around 50
Lives in: Alnö, outside Sundsvall, Sweden
Family: Wife Lotta, sons Ludwig (20) and Lukas (14)
Job: Marketing Manager at Indian Motorcycle Scandinavia, also a musician
Likes to read: Car magazines (especially Motor Sports)
Favorite site: Top Gear
Listens to: Old hard rock
Hates: Seafood
Loves: Burgers
Favorite tool: Dremel
First car: Audi 100 Coupé S
Dream car: Soon building it – called “Overkill”
Car show he dreams of visiting: ESSEN Motor Show
If there were no cars: He’d get a snowmobile!

Contact Niklas Frisk:
https://www.facebook.com/whatifworkshopp/