Risky Business: Would You Buy A Totaled Audi R8 And Rebuild It?

Owning a supercar would be a dream most of us, but the expensive price tags and high maintenance bills are preventing this dream coming true.

What if, however, there is a way to get past the first part and having to worry about the second one later? Well, that’s what agencies such as Copart are all about, often selling expensive machines that have been significantly damaged, for only a fraction of the normal price.

Take this first-gen Audi R8, for example, which was written off due to undercarriage damage and was purchased at a salvage auction. The buyer’s plan is to take care of all problems and bring it back to life. Only work started sooner than expected, due to some battery problems.

With a little work and patience, the happy owner of the German supercar managed to fire up that 4.2-liter V8 which is linked to a six-speed manual gearbox. The next step was taking the R8 out for a quick drive and assessing it mechanically from the driver’s seat, just to know what to expect.

It’s going to be quite a challenge to breathe new life into the salvaged supercar, which is probably “the cheapest Audi R8 in the world”, according to its owner. But with enough elbow grease, the reward will be higher than if he purchased a low mileage example with full service history for a small fortune.

We guess there will be updates on how it’s all going, or a video showing how the R8 was rebuilt. For now, though, let’s just scroll down a bit and see how everything looks at a first glance.