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In Panevėžys, cars confiscated from drunk drivers travel to the UAB Automera site after the court ruling goes into effect. Here they are waiting for new hosts. It’s no secret that most drunk drivers “fill up” old, low-value cars. Junk cars usually do not return to the streets from the parking lot, but the story that happened in Panevėžys is a bit different.
Four residents of Panevėžys have decided to buy an Audi 100 car, popularly known as “herring”, confiscated from a 2.3 thousandth “inebriated” drunk driver. Now this car tours exclusive vehicle exhibitions and delights the eyes of all vintage car enthusiasts. On the resurrection of the “herring” for a second life with GAZAS.LT Evaldas de Panevėžys shared her story with her readers.
Personal file photo / “Audi 100”
“Initially, with a group of friends, sitting at school, we came up with the idea of buying some kind of car that we could drive to race in the so-called ‘bull cross’. There are autocross races for amateurs. We thought we would make a machine for an easy race, just a break and that’s it.
We started looking for options and then one of my friends found Automera ads on the internet with impounded cars. There was an ad for that “herring” with photos. “Audi didn’t have a roadworthiness test, but autocrops don’t even need those things, so we thought it was the right choice for us,” Evaldas said.
Personal file photo / “Audi 100”
However, in 2019, the Panevėžys company regretted the drunk driving and the confiscated car. It was clear that there would be nothing left on the autocross track during the first race. So the company decided to drastically change its plans and not prepare for “herring” sports. The new vision was to restore and remodel the car for car shows and participation in public traffic.
“We were still thinking about buying that ‘herring’ or not. In the end, we decided to buy, but on the way home, we decided not to make a car for the competition, but to make an exclusive ‘herring’: we would lower the suspension, restore it and make a model that would be unique – picking it up and crushing it during the race would have been the easiest way, but we decided to do the opposite.
When we got back to the garage, we started to see what needed to be changed in order to do a technical inspection. Interestingly, none of us had ever worked in auto repairs. Of course we were able to change the brake pads, but there was a lot more work to do with the “herring”. So, we begin to learn the subtleties of repair. We found many lessons on Youtube and after all the technical inspection we passed the first test. It was a great achievement for us, “Evaldas said.
Personal file photo / “Audi 100”
Once the car was allowed to participate in public traffic, the boys continued to decide what to do with the “herring” look. The original dirty white color did not satisfy them, and the guys did not have a big budget to repaint or glue the car to the specialists.
“We thought we had to paint the car ourselves. We also had no experience in that, but we think that as there will be, there will be. We went to the paint shop to choose paint. They were expensive, but they offered us slightly cheaper paint already mixed. The price suited us. The color was Lada tobacco. However, when we started to paint the car we ran out of paint, and we no longer found the same in the store, because we bought a ready-made mix, and not the color according to the code or catalog. We had to pay to make paintings as similar as possible to the ones we originally purchased. The price per liter received about one hundred and a half euros. We had no options, so we had to buy, ”Evaldas said.
Personal file photo / “Audi 100”
After painting, Audi got new wheels, so the overall picture with a low chassis, beautiful rims and a unique color was combined into a rather nice “herring” paint. Evaldas says his company tried to do everything as cheaply as possible and on its own, because none of the four involved in this project had anything to do with cars. One of them is a chef, two are computer specialists and the fourth is a chemical engineer.
Evaldas says the spontaneous idea of resurrecting a “pragert” car gave the entire company lots of fun moments, from participating in car shows to curious situations with police officers.
VIDEO: Audi shots from a muffler
“Once in Kaunas we participated in the NightShifters event, and then we decided not to go to Panevėžys anymore, but to stay with a friend near Kaunas, on the farm. At that one farm, we showed the father of a friend how Audi fires with a silencer because we had a chip in the computer that allows us to fire like that.
Once, the second we shoot, we observe: the police are circling. Finally he turned to us in the courtyard and began to wonder if we had heard any gunshots. It turns out that the police were summoned by neighbors who lived further away who thought someone was firing a gun. And there an Audi muffler went off. The next morning we showed the neighbors what the action looked like, there was a lot of laughs, ”Evaldas said.
Personal file photo / “Audi 100”
With a 2.2-liter naturally aspirated gasoline engine combined with a five-speed manual gearbox, the Panevėžys “herring” also travels through various events for car enthusiasts. At the end of last year, friends and Audi participated in the closing of the VAG fan season, and there are practically no car events in their native Panevėžys where this Audi is not on display.
“The reactions of the people are good not only in the exhibitions, but also in the streets. Passersby, especially the elderly, often turn to look at our Audi. In the future, we plan some work in the engine compartment. We want to install a turbine, so that the “herring” is not only beautiful, but also fast. We will not really go outside in winter, but after the cold season, we will definitely attend many events next year and you will often see ‘herring’ on the streets of Panevėžys, “Evaldas said.
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