Beschreibung
Now sold is this beautiful Wartburg 353W four door saloon, manufactured in late 1981 and imported into the UK and registered here on the mainland on 1st January 2018 using an Irish number plate, Ireland being where the one and only registered keeper lived.
Complete with V5 and relevant documentation and factory workshop manual, this particular car must rate as one of the finest examples of its age and type, requiring only a small amount of time and investment to bring it to museum or show-winning standard.
With one elderly recorded keeper only, this sweet three cylinder, two stroke, left-hand-drive car with a four speed and rare column-shift gearbox with a built-in freewheel runs beautifully and quietly. She requires nothing mechanically and the interior is in incredible condition, the front and rear seats having been re-trimmed to their original specification in 2021. Recent recommissioning by me personally, as the UK’s leading specialist in Wartburg cars since 1978 includes a brand new RYMAN steel bearing crankshaft, a new battery, a new clutch assembly and a full mechanical service.
The underbonnet area is totally original and unmolested, whilst the dry, clean boot area houses its original, unused spare wheel fitted with a brand new tyre to match the four excellent and matching tyres fitted to the car itself.
Underneath the car, it is immediately obvious that this car is quite simply one of the very best. Whilst there is evidence of two small (and dated) repairs to the front corners of the left and right footwells (they usually disintegrate here), the remainder of the floorpan, chassis and body mounts are perfect, beneficiaries of the car having been wax-injected when new.
The same can be said for the four doors, which are completely free of signs of corrosion at the bottoms. Trims are all good and the doors seal well.
The headlining has been repaired at the rear at some point and it may be that the next owner will prefer to install a new headlining, although this would be a nice-to have and not a must-have.
In my forty five years of being around these cars, this has to be the nicest and most well-preserved example I have ever seen, and values of even the average ones are rising both in the UK and Overseas, due to the rarity of good examples.
I have several other Wartburgs that form part of a large classic car collection and so am offering this one to someone looking for a really lovely, patinated but original version of this much underrated and mechanically interesting motor car, which is ready to be driven and enjoyed without a moment’s hesitation.
Please feel free to ask any questions.
