Bidders get all fired up as Gene Hunt's Ashes to Ashes Quattro is auctioned
It's time to fire up the Quattro again after Gene Hunt's iconic car from the hit TV show Ashes to Ashes was sold on ebay.
The Audi, riddled with bullet holes after 2010 finale of the show, received 48 bids and made £15,100 after it was listed on the on-line auction site.
It has become one of the most famous cars in British TV history after it was used in the second and third series of the time travel police drama set in the early 1980s.
It was driven by lead character DCI Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, who barked out 'Fire up the Quattro' when he and his co-stars were going out on a shout.
The car auctioned on eBay was one of two Quattros used for filming. It has no MoT and hasn't run for 18 months.
The seller, who offered the car with no reserve price, bought the Quattro from the production company, who he worked for at the time of filming.
In a poll taken last year by Auto Express magazine, the Ashes to Ashes Quattro was voted number four in a list of the top 40 most famous television cars of all time.
It was beaten only by Knight Rider's KITT, the Dukes of Hazzard Dodge Charger and Magnum PI's Ferrari 308 GTB. It is a 1983 example of the legendary rally-derived four-wheel-drive coupe.
It drew fire from keener fans of the show for being anachronistic in that right-hand-drive versions of the Audi weren't on sale in the UK in 1981 when it was supposed to be set. Hunt's catchphrase 'Fire up the Quattro!' and its fame grew to the point that Labour took the image of lead actor Philip Glenister leaning on the car and superimposed the head of David Cameron with the slogan 'Don't let him take Britain Back to the Eighties'.
That backfired when the Conservatives retagged the image to say: "Fire Up the Quattro: It's time for Change. Vote for Change. Vote Conservative".
The seller of the Audi said he worked for the company that originally supplied the car, and bought it from the production company at the end of filming.
