The Audi Quattro found fame during the 1980s as both an off-road beast on the rally circuit and as a popular road car which allowed average drivers to picture themselves as hardened racers, even if they were just popping to the shops.

Audi developed the Quattro ahead of its 1980 unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show and it did not bother to beat about the bush with its name, since it simply refers to the fact that it features a dedicated four-wheel drive system.

Audi has gone on to appropriate the Quattro name tag as a catch-all term applied to many subsequent models which have also used 4WD, although the original vehicle remains a classic in its own right and is distinct from these denominations.

The significance of the Quattro's use of 4WD is difficult to overstate, because at the time it was one of the first vehicles in competitive rallying to actually use such a system. This is because the governing body of the sport had recently altered the rules to permit such setups and so Audi was just able to get out of the blocks quicker than many of its competitors.

Indeed Audi engineer Jorg Bensinger had been thinking about creating such a car since 1977. As such he went about looking at whether the Audi 80 might be adapted to offer better off-road performance than other current cars and the Quattro was the result.

While the 4WD of the Quattro was a nice touch, it was the combination of this with a turbocharged 2.1 litre engine which made it particularly unique, as this had never been done before.

With a top speed of 137mph achieved via 197bhp, the original Quattro was no slouch, but receiving a 2.2 litre engine further into its life boosted its performance further.

The Audio Quattro was built for a period of 11 years, between 1980 and 1991, with just over eleven thousand iterations ending up on the roads during this period.

Interestingly, Audi did little to alter the design in all this time, making only minor tweaks, which is a testament to the strength of the original work which went into the Quattro's development.

In pop culture the Quattro made a mark in the UK when BBC TV series "Ashes to Ashes" took advantage of a 1983 model, partnering it with police detective Gene Hunt.

This has helped to give the Quattro enduring appeal and it has come to embody performance and rallying in the 1980s.