Following our discovery of our new-to-us 2003 Audi exclusive Nogaro Blue TT Roadster in Ohio and its quick purchase, it’s now time to take stock of what we have.
Until we purchased this car, we’d only ever seen one other Nogaro Blue TT (Mk1) come up for sale in the United States. That car, a VR6 Coupé, appeared a few years ago in slightly worn survivor condition, so we passed on it. Our car, while not the more-preferred (for us) Coupé, was largely stock and in notably good, unmodified condition. That it was close enough for a road trip acquisition was an added bonus.
Before jumping into what’s next, it’s worth noting that we’ve since seen two other TT Roadsters on Facebook Marketplace this summer that also appear to be Nogaro Blue. We didn’t have VINs to confirm them, but the photos made the color seem obvious. Neither car was in as good condition as ours, though their existence suggests the specification isn’t quite as uncommon as we first suspected. The consolation is that ours appears to have been the best-preserved example at the time of purchase.
First up after getting the car home was registering it in Pennsylvania. For now, we’re foregoing vanity plates and simply took the next available combination at the local tag shop. Pennsylvania’s new red, white and dark blue plate design looks particularly sharp against the Nogaro Blue paint.
For the moment, the story of this car is the Nogaro Blue paint itself, though any car with more than 80,000 miles is going to show some wear. In our case, that meant a fair number of small dings around the body along with a handful of scratches. We were able to schedule a visit with Manheim Imports, a local wholesale and retail dealer specializing in premium cars.
Given the quality of the vehicles that pass through Manheim, we’re very familiar with the standard of its reconditioning work, and our TT was due for a little of that velvet touch. Manheim doesn’t offer paint correction, so our focus was simply removing the dings and minimizing the scratches. As expected, the results were excellent. The dents are gone, while the remaining scratches have been reduced to the point that most are barely noticeable.
The next step in establishing a baseline was Pennsylvania State Inspection. During that visit, we learned the already aged-out 2017 tires had also begun to split. That won’t pass inspection and, more importantly, it isn’t safe. As a result, we’re fast-tracking a wheel and tire upgrade that you’ll see in the next installment.
Beyond that, the car needs a handful of repairs to pass inspection, followed by a longer list of less urgent fixes and preventative maintenance we’d like to address sooner rather than later. We’ll dig into those in the next installment as well.
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