This is the first inline-five coffee table we’ve ever written about on Silodrome, and it may very well be the last as this one was hand-built by the current owner, who is now offering it for sale.
Although a small number of other manufacturers have introduced their own inline-5s over the years the layout is most closely associated with Audi, who pioneered its use in production automobiles in 1976.
Above Video: This classic episode of MotorWeek from 1983 shows the Audi Quattro in action, and provides a detailed review of the car. It’s powered by a turbocharged version of Audi’s famous inline-five.
Audis inline-five would become one of the most famous racing engines in the world in the 1980s when highly-tuned turbocharged versions of the engine fitted to the Audi Quattro would power the company to four World Rally Championship titles in 1982, 1983, and 1984 – two Drivers’ Championships and two Constructors’ Championships.
Millions of Audi road cars were also built with inline-fives, and later there would be diesel versions introduced. Volvo and Volkswagen would also make use of the engines, further increasing production numbers.
The inline-five layout, or straight-five as it’s sometimes called, was developed by Audi as they needed a more powerful engine with more displacement than their standard inline-four, but couldn’t fit an inline-six in the engine bay.
The coffee table you see here has been built around a turbocharged Audi inline-five, the KKK turbocharger is still in place though it’s not plumbed in. The engine also still has the cylinder block, head, intake manifold, distributor, and the pulleys/belt up front that drives the single overhead cam.
This is a cutaway image of the single overhead cam version of the Audi inline-five. It shows many of the internal components, and this is the angle it’s installed into the vehicle at to help lower both the center of gravity and frontal area of the car. Images courtesy of Audi AG.The engine is mounted to a steel frame riding on multi-directional caster wheels and it has a circular 1/2″ thick tempered-glass tabletop which measures in at approximately 33″ in diameter. The tabletop sits 29″ off the ground, and it the table can be moved easily thanks to the wheels.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Travelers Rest, South Carolina with no reserve on Bring a Trailer. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer + Audi AG
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
