Mitch Schouteden’s Audi love story

This is a love story about a boy called Mitch Schouteden and his drop dead gorgeous, 1987 Audi 100 C3.
This story starts with a chance meeting at Edition38 (E38). I’ve been lucky enough to attend the last few years and it never fails to entertain and inspire us, and the thousands of people who attend.
If you haven’t been, it’s one of Europe’s biggest VW shows, with something for all tastes. Superb organisation and entertainment make it one of the must do event for your calendar.

This particular year, nestling amongst the cars in the show arena was a exquisite, bright red, 1987 Audi 100, slammed on air, sitting on Porsche 928 rims.
We’re big old school fans and were completely blown away by the attention to detail on this Audi 100. Unusual because it was a C3 and not an earlier C1 or C2 but this is where the scene is going now with more and more late ’80’s/early ’90’s metal catching people’s eye.

The owner is a cool cat called Mitch Schouteden who lives in Belgium.
Mitch came to own the Audi through his Grandpa. He gave Mitch the car when he was 18, but i doubt his grandad had any idea what Mitch had in store for his beloved Audi.

Mitch is an old school fan like us, he says old cars have history, a story. He’s also very handy with a spanner and carried out the majority of the work in this build with his own hands.

Where do we start? The bodywork is absolutely flawless and finished in original VAG Tornado-Red, with the bumpers being painted a contrasting black. I doubt this Audi was as clean and straight as this when it came out of the factory, it is faultless, impeccable, exquisite.

Mitch’s interior is something to behold. I mean it’s jaw dropping, stunning, breathtaking. The interior is one of the few jobs Mitch didn’t carry out himself, entrusting it to his friend at Concept Leather.
The standard of the interior work is spectacular and is one of the defining features of the car.
The floor is bathed in Porsche carpets and acres of cream leather and alcantara are contrasted by Burberry cloth on the sumptuous seats, door cards and pretty much every nook and cranny in the interior. Any plastic interior parts have been refurbished and painted the exact same colour as the rich cream leather.
Every inch of the boot is upholstered in the same gorgeous cream leather and Burberry cloth as the interior, and the leather boot floor has ‘1987’ embroidered in it, the year of manufacture for this elegant Audi, a nice touch.

The attention to detail is staggering, for example, under the wooden Nardi steering wheel, in front of the driver’s knees, is a small shelf. It’s out of the way, you can hardly see it. Mitch has fully upholstered the shelf in cream leather with Burberry cloth inlaid. They have even gone to the trouble of making leather covers for the drivers pedals with ‘100’ embroidered on them……spectacular attention to detail.

Talking of the boot, there’s a full airride kit in there, polished 20 litre tank and chromed compressors with 10mm custom formed copper pipes. The install is all Mitch’s work and It’s a beautiful install.

To make the airride work effectively, Mitch has had to notch the chassis at the front to create clearance for the ball joints, then modify the rear axle to ensure there’s no body contact when the Audi is dragging it’s belly in the weeds.
Subframes and anti roll bars have all been refurbished and powder coated semi gloss black. Yep, that’s right, hours and hours of work under the car where no one will see it. That’s dedication, that’s serious attention to detail. That’s the kind of attention to detail that makes this car so special.

Enough for you? Had your fill? We haven’t finished yet. “Pop the hood” and you’ll be met with a fully polished 1.8L engine, head to toe…..well, sump, and everything in between. Literally the whole engine has been chromed. The rocker cover, block, sump, radiator cowl, cam belt cover, alternator, everything. It’s mind blowing, breathtaking.
Only the plastic parts haven’t been chromed for obvious reasons. The rest of the ‘bay has been fully refurbished to better than new condition and painted in the same deep tornado red as the body. The chroming has all been taken care of by K-Tech in Hagen (DE).

Mitch’s Audi rolls hard on highly polished 16” Porsche 928 S4 ‘winter’ rims, 7J ET 65 up front and 16” 8J ET 58 out back with 25mm spacers. Custom adapters were made to take the 5×130 Porsche PCD to VW’s 4×108.

What Mitch has built is a straight flush in the world of car poker, a winning hand, the best of the best. I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of Mitch’s Audi 100 in the future, it’s really is a beautiful car.

Photo credit goes to Oliver Verhey and Mike Crawat for the awesome photos

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