On Monday, 7 September 2015, a lifelong dream of mine was fulfilled. On that day Louise and I traveled to Ingolstadt, Germany, to take delivery of our new car from the factory that built it. Some might not understand my craving but it goes back to watching my grandfather peeling the paper from the fenders of his first car…a brand new 1939 Ford. I never saw a man so proud.
Alex Rudolph started our day by pounding on the door of our bachelor pad, saying, “It’s 6 AM. Come on. Let’s go. Los geht’s . We must be there on time and it is a 1 1/2 hour drive.” Louise replied, “Why can’t they wait? I don’t even have my face on yet.”
At 7:05 AM Alex headed the Audi A8 toward the autobahn that would take us to our goal. I felt he could be trusted as he’s gone through this three times at the same factory. Breakfast would have to wait…but it would be on Audi.
The presence of the Audi Shop in the delivery area is certainly no accident. They try to mine every ounce of this memorable moment from the new owners to be.
Louise headed right for the store but reappeared quickly, saying, “Do you know what they want for that stuff? We’re spending enough already.” There went my Audi jacket, Audi driving gloves and Audi Rallye moccasins.
Our name was called and an Audi rep sat with us to go through the paperwork so carefully prepared by Kristin Huey, Overseas Delivery Manager of The Auto Gallery in Woodland Hills. All was OK and she suggested we might want to enjoy their restaurant on the premises before the tours began. She slipped an Audi bracelet on our wrists and said, “Have anything and as much you want. It’s on us.”
This was no ordinary company cafeteria. Not only was food of all types available, but it was beautifully arranged and artfully displayed. It was difficult to keep from piling it on.
Louise never made it past the first display area and gamely filled her plate to the edges.
The dining area is carefully placed so the diners will see almost all the Audi products as they appear from the Customer Delivery building driving toward the front gate. After a while you wonder. “Will one Audi will really be enough.”
Our factory tour wouldn’t begin until 11:30 AM so we passed the time at the Audi Museum…not a bad way to spend some free moments.
Alex and I headed right for the racing history part of the displays while Louise struck off in the direction of the cabriolets and sports cars.
Not that many people are aware that Audi has a proud history in racing. In the case of this car, it was high speed records generally set on a closed part of the autobahn. Hitler thought it was a good idea to provide a challenger to Mercedes …probably to make sure their prices remained competitive. Kind of like Boeing and Airbus today.
Keeping up the tradition, Audi has won 13 times at the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France and we were there to watch a car similar to this take the checkered flag in 2011.
Three floors were more than we could cover in our short time so we made a silent promise to return. Maybe for the next Audi?
When it was time for our factory tour we disappeared into this building for almost two hours. Poor Louise had to do another forced march past whirling robots, overhead conveyor belts and robot-like men (mostly) piecing together Audi A3’s and Q5’s at a clip of 2,000 per day. Lucky for you, Audi forbade the use of cameras on the tour so you won’t have to look at umpteen robots whirling around.
All cars intended for factory delivery are driven into this large hangar-like building to await the new owners. Months before, we were given instructions to appear here at exactly 2:00 PM on this day to take delivery of our new Audi.
Sure enough, at precisely 2:00 PM, our name was called to appear at the gate of this land bridge to meet our Customer Representative. We were paraded grandly across the bridge and descended to the floor level. I didn’t hear any grand-march type music, but it wouldn’t have been out of place.
We were guided past car after car until we reached a silver Audi Q5 at the end of the line.
The Customer Rep showed us all through the car, even going so far as to pop the hood. It was a 75 minute orientation with most of the instruction time spent on the GPS and how to hook up the iPhone 5S to the on-board computer. When it did come alive it was playing Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nacht Musik. What could be more appropriate?
Just to show we were paying attention, here are the stix. It’s an Audi Q5 SUV with a 3.0 Liter V-6 engine complete with supercharger. (Don’t confuse that with a Turbo. Not the same thing.) Exterior is light silver, interior is black. Entertainment center is by Bang & Olufsen. Do I look a little baffled?
The final moment came when we were handed the keys and the Customer Rep pointed the way to the door and offered the traditional “Gute Fahrt.” (It means “Have a good trip”…not what you’re thinking.)
The door opened and we were greeted by Alex and his father, Werner Rudolph, who showed up to man one of the cameras. We didn’t want to miss the moment so took no chances with only one camera present. Unfortunately, we didn’t bother to take Werner’s picture so that will have to wait.
Within minutes we were on the Autobahn at 100 MPH heading back to Schliersee via Munich. To celebrate we turned on the sound system. The first thing we heard was the Alleluia Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. We both said, “What could be more appropriate.” We turned the sound up, joined in and loudly celebrated the fulfillment of another life’s dream. “Hallelujah”
On to Salzburg in our brand new car.
Gute nacht from Louise and Ray