I/we have an old (1991) H reg 405 GTX estate automatic. The poor old thing must be getting to the end of its natural. what do I/we do?
Flog it privately? put it into BCA at Blackbushe? part exchange it, or what? How much am I/we (notice I am being very careful to include her indoors in this decision making) going to get?
On the plus side, it is very comfortable and bowls along at respectable speeds, I quite fancy a Honda Civic or possibly a Ford Focus. Any advice from you guys and gals out there?
Don
|
|
I am going gaga! That should read 405!
|
|
|
|
Apologies for the flippancy but should'nt you do what everyone else does now - drive at night to a convenient spot where no one is looking, remove the number plates and then set fire to it?
|
|
|
My eyes lit up when I saw the post "404". I used to have one, back in the early seventies and I haven't seen or heard of one for ages.
Pity. I quite like the 405 but there's an inevitability that they will die out - particularly the petrol ones.
Ian
|
I had one as well from 1977 to 79. I inherited it from my father who bought it new in 1968. It was a superb car at the time - very comfortable but a bit unusual - column change that was a bit difficult sometimes. It was very reliable until it overheated and then there were constant head gasket problems. Rust finally killed it in 1979 - I remember it had serious rust problems (ie holes across the front of the bonnet and other places) by the time it was 6 or 7 years old.
My father replaced it with a 2 yr old 504 auto and invested in several gallons of waxoyl to keep the rust away - it did the trick and that car survived a lot longer.
|
Steve
Mine had the overheat problem too, but I eventually solved it. It had been caused by the radiator becoming partly blocked. I had the thing un-soldered and all the tubes had to be poked through and then flushed.
Fine after that, except that it had partially siezed up on number 2 cylinder. I fitted a piston/liner kit and all was well again.
Happy days!
Ian
|
There was a big thread about 404's a while back...
My father's compnay car circa 78-80 was a 404, (in sharkie brown) and I still see a fair few buzzing around here.
|
|
|
|
|
Should do ok privately. Don't put it in the auctions - they'll knock it out to the trade for a hundred notes before you can blink.
|
|
|
No need for that dog,
just leave it parked in a city centre and have it towed away and crushed if you don't collect it.
Although I expect theyv'e thought of this one already and probably send you a bill for the crusher.
alvin
|
|
|
|
In the case of one a relative saw the "convenient spot" was the middle of the road.
|
|
|
Don,
There are a fair few 405 Estates chuging around, usually the non-utrbo diesel type like mine.
Mine just passed it's MOT with no work at 241,000+
Estate-specific body and trim parts are quite hard to come by, so don't dump it in the street (if you do - choose my street..).
Try and dispose via a Pug specialist breaker who should give decent money for it...(if it is unrepairable and unsellable..)
HTH
rg
|
Don,
Be advised that "metal maggots/foundry moth" is not likely to be a problem with your 405. This is often the end of cars of a similar age. Not so the Pug. Structurally it will go on for a good few years yet. It's just the other bits...
rg
|
|
|
|
|
"must be getting to the end of its natural". Is this just because you fancy buying something else, or do you know there's something terminal about to happen? If not, I'd wait to see what the next MOT reveals - you might be pleasantly surprised...
|
|
|
|
Aah. The Peugeot 404. I spent 2 holidays in Sri Lanka in 1979 and 80. For each I rented a car and driver. Somehow this ended up being a 404 belonging to a local police major who had two charming slightly over-weight daughters he was desperate to marry off, one to me. Anyway the driver I was allocated was called Arthur. Arthur was not only an awful driver, he was became progressively more drunk on the local palm toddy as the day wore on. Most of Sri Lanka I noticed seemed to be like this. Net result I did most of the driving while Arthur snoozed in the back. The column change was awful, the brakes were iffy and the steering incredibly heavy. Since Sri Lankan roads are very crowded with every imaginable form of transportation, driving days were not very long and I must confess I gacve the toddy a nudge or two myself.
|
We were recently in Johannesburg on business, and the company hired a minibus to schlep the mob about.
I ended up driving, as the youngsters had never seen a column shifter before...
For me, with a fair few years of autobox driving, it was NOT a lot of fun...
|
|
|
|
|
THe 3 speed column shifts used to work fine (Vauxhall Victor, Ford Consul etc) but the 4 speed were devils (Austin A60, aforementioned Peugeot) for some reason you often got reverse instead of top
|
|
|
|
Why get rid of it if there's nothing wrong with it? I started a thread some weeks ago ("When does a good car die") - take a peek at the responses to that.
|
|
|
Bummer - you got me her under false pretences. First car was a 404 (73 on an L so it was a late. Had the "vibrating rear axle" that blighted these if the wrong oil was used in the diff plus the tendancy to lose 3rd and 4th gear when one of the connections from the column change came loose.
Guess I'm a bit misty eyed but it was built like a tank and it would be great to have one again - just to do about 1000 miles a year in.
The tinny 405 was a bit of an insult to its memory.
|
|
|
