In North America, Audi styling has lingered on the conservative side. Finding a smoothly shaven or color-changed quattro isn't a common sight, compared to the VW and BMW scenes, for example. Because of this, we were excited to see Matt Demetria's '04 Audi A4 1.8T quattro.
Residing in Northern California, Matt has plenty of experience with VWs and Audis. "I started working as a sales rep for a VW dealer," he began. "Then I worked at Emotion Garage for 18 months, where people began trusting me with their cars and manufacturers would even call me for advice. After that I moved to another shop that fixed up Porsches and Lamborghinis."
During his stint in the industry, Matt built a '00 Jetta VR6. "I did everything; a Votex kit, S4 wheels, racing seats and more," he explained. "I still couldn't keep up with all my friends, though, and it had too many maintenance problems." He couldn't keep up because he's a founding member of club NoFuknJoke (NFJ) featured in et 4/07. Most of their cars are modified from head-to-toe in hardcore Euro-themes, so Matt decided to start anew with something distinctive.
He picked up the Audi in 5/04 and started with basic modifications; intake, exhaust, Eibach coilovers and 19" Axis Milanos.
It was a decent start but the car didn't stand out. "All the Audi's looked the same," he explained. "Nobody was doing hardcore Euro-style. So I went after that look, not knowing how it would turn out. My influences were the NFJ family, since their VWs were shaved, with clean lines and a Euro-look. In my head it was possible for an Audi to have the same design."
To begin, Matt ditched the Eibachs and had NEX Racing fit a prototype of its coilovers. Once installed, they lowered the car another 2". They also had adjustable damping, so stiffness could be tweaked.
Matt then searched for a Euro wheel, picking a set of 18x8.5" front and 18x10" rear Kerscher KCS wheels. "I got crap for fitting staggered wheels on a quattro, but I've not had any problems," he explained.
Ultimately, the Kerschers were discarded for the Tracer Tech 1 wheels on the car now. The 18" five-spokes measured 9.5" wide front, and 11" rear. He also replaced the existing hardware with gold bolts, before mounting Falken tires.