My mates got one of these to ferry his 6 kids about in. The thing looks an absolute dog but it is still going strong and gets him, his wife and the 6 kids down to the south of france every year for a camping holiday.
He looked into a people carrier but they are so expensive when compared to the running costs of the 504.
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2,987,250(Dollars/Pounds/Shillings) for the top of the range Station Wagon about 14,000 pounds on the road. They charge VAT there so you'd probably have to pay it back, by the time you drove it backit could well be second hand enough to qualify for a SV Test - go-on I dare you.
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I see they do an ambulance version, too! Are these made locally? It was the rust that did for them here, of course, but not a big problem in Nigeria, I imagine...
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If you consider buying a 504, take an overland 504 taxi from Beirut to Amman or Damascus. If you survive with your nerves intact you will realise what a tremendous car they are. They are to the Middle East and Africa what the Hindustan is to India.
I used to visit Jordan a lot in the late 70's and usually my Avis rental was a 504, so I got to know them quite well.
We should not overlook the 404 either. That was a more conventional RWD sedan but equally unbreakable. I used to take solo holidays in Sri Lanka and always hired a car and driver. In this case my driver Thomas knew his way around the island well but was, as are many of his compatriots, a trifle fond of the local palm toddy. On average by 11 a.m. each day, with last night's hangover augmented with today's intake, he would have had any breathalyser off the scale, so I often ended up driving the car I was supposed to be chauffeured around in myself! So I have fond memories of those old Peugeots, built like tanks, and it is small wonder they are still so ubiquitous in tough environments.
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My late grandfather imported a 6 month old 404 from the UK to Sri Lanka in '77 and it is still used by my grandmother today. Most of the panels like the sills, front "mudguards", door skins have been replaced several times - it's amazing watching the local panel beaters form a near perfect panel from sheet metal with only a crude card template, hammer and anvil. The shocks need replacing every 25K or so due to the appalling condition of the roads. Great car.
Most of my Uncles still run 404/504's but have slowly migrated to more modern, effecient but boring Japanese stuff.
Chad.R
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2,987,250(Dollars/Pounds/Shillings) for the top of the range
The currency is the Naira.
Want me to get you one next time I'm up there? :)
(I'll get some pics, anyway!)
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Ir was a bit vauge on the website as to what the currency unit was !
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A real shame the old 404 isn't still being sold too. I'd love to get my hands on one just for old time's sake.
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Not the same era of course but in my experience the 309 was of similar toughness. I believe they were still making them in third world countries in the late 1990s (maybe they still are), with uprated suspension. In fact those "heavy duty" suspension parts were available over here for only a few quid more than the standard. When mine needed new rear spring/damper units I opted for this and the thing was much more capable at carrying weights (logs, bricks, booze from France) and much happier off-road (oh, yes). I'd imagine that 405s are just as rugged--my 309 was fifteen years old, still reliable, and in good running order when I sold it.
Chris
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OK all you 504 nostalgists, here's a sight for sore eyes...
www.garage24.net/504ww14.htm
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OK all you 504 nostalgists, here's a sight for sore eyes...
shouldn't that be 'site' for sore eyes?
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They did make 309's in India but Peugeot chickened out over a dispute with its partners. The cars still run and most people are happy with them except parts availability
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Just another bit of info about the 504...
"Guy Fréquelin leaded for a while the 1976 Monte Carlo rally driving a Peugeot 504 Diesel.(Believe it or not, this is true)"
Hard to believe .. eh?
504 still alive and well in Argentina so it seems. African versions look purer.
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The biggest, in terms of floor area?
They make my XM look small.
Ditto THe Growler. They are the definitive "Bush Taxi" and I have done a few miles across Nigeria at 70++ for hours on end with another eight bodies...
rg
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The other side of the coin:
A relative had a used estate version from the late 70s in the early 80s - this one must have been clocked because without a doubt it was the most unreliable car I have ever encountered. Whenever it was most inconvenient - raining/snowing and car full of kids and/or shopping the car could be guaranteed to break down. He was so glad to get rid of it eventually. The running costs were immense....Peugeot spare parts were not very cheap and boy, did it need plenty!
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A Case of Rose Tinted Glasses, I suppose. I was thumbing through a magazine (smallest room reading !) called Drive - AA publication from the 70s - in its hayday the 504 was pitted against a Vauxhall Victor 1800cc (still "built", until recently
in India) Hillman Avengers (still made for export to Iran until after 1979 sometime) and Ford (Sweeny) Consuls. 504s didn't have to be seriously good to compete against the grey porridge of the day. They had French flair and a decent diesel (for the day). The equivelent Fords and Vauxhalls of today are as good dynamically as their French Opposite numbers and possibly even more durable.
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After 35 years the Hillman Hunter is stilled made in Iran!!! In fact they make somewhere around 300000 of them (the salon version I think) per year and if you wanted to by one right now, brand new it would cost you about £4k (To give you a perspective of how expensive this is for that car you are getting, a brand new 2003 Daewoo Matiz, would cost you the same amount in Iran). There is so many of them there, they call it the national car (much like VW beetle in Mexico), and the design has not changed a single bit, even the screen wipers still wipe the wrong way (they originally forgot to do that as part of the right had to left had drive conversion). I have driven one, and I must say they are not that great. The 1.6 engine has only about 45 horse power and it tops at 120-30km/h. and it takes a missive 15-18 litres of petrol for every 100km. But the reason you find so many of them there or for that matter the reason in middle east you find each country is dominated by a few makes of cars is not that they are made like tanks or are bullet proof or the ride is great or in fact anything to do with the car. The reason is that these countries have a poor distribution system for spare parts and the only way to make sure that wherever you break down in the country you can get you car fixed and find the parts you need, is to drive the `national car?. Otherwise there is no spare parts, and if there were spare parts, you wont find fort example a Land Rover dealer in Central Baghdad or a Jaguar dealer in Central Tehran. This is why the price of cars and their numbers, do not reflect the quality of the car, they merely reflect how much you will have trouble free motoring. If you drive the national car, then there are spare parts knocking around in even grocery shops for dirt cheap prices and all the mechanics know the car inside out. If you car is a little different , then its not like here that you drive to you nearest `specialist? garage and get it fixed, you are simply stuffed. For example in Iran there are many old American cars knocking about, Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets, Doges, Ford mustangs, Pontiacs, old Jaguars, you name it, its there, but their prices are really cheap because nobody can get spare parts for them. Some of these cars would be museum pieces if they were here, because they have virtually not aged due to the dry weather. Also bear mind that several third world countries to support their own car industries, have bans on private car imports, this is certainly the case in Iran, where about a dozen makes (oddly enough including Mercedes and Volvo) have contracts with the state to `assemble? their cars inside on Iran for domestic use, and there are several car models which the states now `owns?, as in, it manufactures them completely internally, including all the parts, (One of them for example is Renault 5 which is still made in huge numbers, the other one is KIA Pride, Peugeot 405, Nissan Patrol, Nissan Pickup, Toyota Land cruiser (old shape) ?..) Any car which is neither `officially assembled? in the country or made by the state, is thus very very expensive, and I mean expensive. For example A Vauxhall Omega 1996, would cost about £40k to buy, A Mitsubishi Pajero 1999 is about £100k, Toyota Celica 1998 £80k , and so on. The reason is that the imports of these cars are banned and there are very very few of these cars which get through (usually they come through the diplomats from their countries, who like to bring their cars with them and sell it for 30 time what they paid for it, not bad?). However the WTO is pressurising these countries to relax their market control if they want to join, and from what I hear, the control on car market in Iran will be lifted completely from next year?. Actually I just realised I have completely sidetracked and with no wish to further do, its bye from me.!!!! sorry..
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Vauxhall Victor 1800cc (still "built", until recently
Only 63 people bought them last year, I really don't know whythey bother to make tem. A 4 door suzuki Esteem has moe space inside. The old ambassador (1954 Morris Oxford) survives for similar virtues as the 504 and Paykan- easy to repair, spares everywhere
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One of the most pleasant sounds I ever heard was after an early morning soujourn to The Valley of the Kings. It was the starter motor firing the engine into life of the 504 we'd hired to take us back to the Nile ferry. We had to go very, very early in the morning (5am) due to the incredibly fast temperature increase in the desert by 9am to an unbelievable 50C. It's the most unbearable heat.
Over the two weeks spend in Luxor, these were our transport and I remember them from my childhood in the UK and felt a certain foreboding that these weren't going to be that reliable. I admit after that stay and numerous trips in them. I have a fond spot for the venerable 504; a great car.
As a sidenote, Egypt is the only country I know that literally has a two-day spring. It went from 20C at the start of the week to 35C by the following Saturday. You can tell it's summer when the tourist police go from their khaki uniform to the white one.
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What's the Victor called in India ?
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Hindustan Contessa.
Ugly as sin and with a 75 bhp petrol or 55 bhp diesel engine.
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