Hi all!
The last time that I remember sitting (not driving) in a 504 was way
back in 1980-81 in Malaysia in my father's '76 504. It was new then
and the car was a beauty over the 'newly developing country'
Malaysian roads (and we were in East Malaysia or Borneo Island,
where smooth 4-lane highways would go out of town for about 25kms
and then abruptly end in a dirt track, which would then lead you for
another 10kms and lo! you face thick tropical jungle ahead!!). The
car would gobble up craters, dirt tracks, slush etc. without any
problem. We have gone many places (where there were at least
tracks!) and had a lot of fun.
Cut the frame to yesterday (29.8.2006) - New Delhi. Since my 405 is
still in the garage, I went to Delhi for a meeting in a 275bhp Volvo
bus (public transport; I was not driving it, though it would have
been great!)and had to borrow my dear friend Ravi's (of the strange
green 504 in the 405 India album fame)1975 504, which he has
recently 'restored'. Since it was a petrol car, Ravi has retrofitted
a Toyota 1.7 diesel in it. The car was noisy as hell, booming engine
which you can hear a mile away. Moreover, the car has been painted
with what Ravi calls 'special colours', which, hold your breath, is
lemon yellow on the roof and the pillars and post-office red on the
body!! He has also painted the antenna red!
So, here I was, driving in Delhi to my meeting with this car which
looks like it came out of a circus!, alongside spanking new Mercs
and Audis and what not!! And this was my first 504 driving
experience..
I must say that though the car was rattling all over, and the engine
was booming loud enough to make you deaf, the car ran so smooth over
the post-monsoon Delhi roads and so fast (I was doing 80kmph in some
places), that I did not feel the fact that I was driving a car which
was 32 years old. The suspension was wonderful and I was constantly
overtaking other cars which were slowing down due to pot-holes and
bumps on the road..
Car magazines which say that the Suzuki Swift and the Chevrolet
Optra have great suspension will mince their words if they ever sit
in a Peugeot, be it a 203, 205, 309, 404, 504, 505, 405 and.... the
list
goes on..
The greatest thing that happened yesterday was when a French
gentleman with his two little kids saw the car and immediately
shouted 'Peugeot!, Peugeot!' to the kids and they all seemed very
happy!!
Cheers,
Sasi Menon, Jaipur, India
1994 405 GLD
1984 Suzuki SS80
PS: My '65 404 restoration project is scheduled for take-off
sometime end next month. Will keep you all posted, especially Mark
Ruskamp..
Recommended format for your email subject lines:
Model # [Model Letters] Year Subject
Examples:
505 88 V6 Mileage
405 Mi16 89 Ignition Coil source?
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Received on Tue Aug 29 21:59:47 2006
