Peugeotphile Dawid Botha sent me shots of this customized 404, from the Caribbean Island of Guadalupe. Breathtaking! It’s something I might expect to meet in a dream after reading too many Brougham CCs before bed. And I’ve saved the best for last, as the back end has received even more lavish attention than the front.
Those high-mounted taillights on the C Pillar are lifted straight from a Citroen DS. But the primary taillights are also very different from the originals, and obviously borrowed from a donor mobile, whose name I cannot quite pin down at this late hour. But one of you will. They sure look familiar. Lancia?
Related reading: Peugeot 404 CC
Gaaaah!
It’s definitely different
Finally! A Peugeot 404 that really looks French. 🙂
Personally, I think there should be law against this!
Kudos to the owner for showing some creative courage/flair! And for keeping it in such great shape.
Not boring. I’m sure the owner can see the humor as well.
All of ya quit yer whining. There is room for that Peugeot in any garage that already has a box Caprice Estate or a Grand Wagoneer. 😉
The side paint pattern looks like they way they did the side of buses in the 30’s and 40’s.
Or Monte Carlos and Regals from the 70’s!
The taillights look like the ones on a Fiat 2300
Obviously somebody bought the wrong car in the first place. Mind you I’m not sure there is a ‘right’ car…
It’s the Turnpike cruiser of Peugots!
my grandpa owns a 1969 Peugeot 404 with 850 000 km on stock motor.he is the first&probably last owner of that gem.amazing reliability that I do not see anymore.
It’s fun, I like it.
Me too!
Feel your pain Paul. Take two aspirin and call us in the morning.
Breathtaking? Yes indeed. I mean I was choking!
Mon dieu!
For those of us with Bauhausian pretenses, this is a breath of fresh air. The paint and bodywork appear to be first rate. The closer to the Equator, the more brilliant the colors become.
Yes indeed, the craftsmanship looks excellent and the colors are beautiful. But: not every house painter is a Picasso!
This 2-tone paint job is a cause of astigmatic headaches: the lines don’t line up!!!
The 404 body has straight lines. Put this paint job on a 1955 Rolls Royce silver cloud and I will applaud.
I hate and love it in equal measure! The DS lights are inspired though! Re the lower taillights, modified Fiat 2300 units maybe? The pic below has clear lenses at the bottom but google shows them with orange at the bottom too.
Love it and can appreciate this.
Most spoiled Europeans would send a car like this to the crusher if it had served its purpose.
So, it is alive, the owner loves it enough to spend time and money on it, qwould I do it t omine?
No, but mine wears its original paint and even its Original Michelan X tyres at the rear.
Btw, there has been a prototype of the 404 Sedan that wears Coupe/convertible tail lights, to be introduced as a ‘refreshment’ on the model in the late sixties.
But this project was dismissed by Peugeot.
Never seen that pic before. Nice one. Like a plucked heckflosse, I’ve always wanted to see the 404 saloon with the trailing edge canted forward like the wagon. Neither the Baz Luhrman special above nor this prototype really make it work. I think it’s because they shortened the trunk too much.
This old charmer still seems to be wearing its French number plates from Département 11 (Aude, in the south of France, capital Carcassone). I’m guessing that it may therefore be a relatively recent import to Guadeloupe. As Guadeloupe is also a French département (county to you and me) making it effectively a little overseas extension of France, I would guess that this 404 will soon have to be issued with local plates. Moving from one département to another in France is probably not unlike moving from one state to another in the US: you change your plates and registration docs, thus keeping another clipboard-wielder in gainful employment.
Canard – you would have been right until 2009, but I believe under the new system plates no longer need to be changed when a car is moved within France.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_France
All that’s missing is a matching trailer, repainted in Sir’s green ‘n’ silver team colours but of course. I met the owner of this trailer at a car show in Lille, northern France around twenty years ago. Unless there’s more than one of these things, this it it!
hmmmmmm—-3rd row seating.
The mother in law carriage.
Well, that is clearly the one-of-two-built 404 Magnifique d’Elegance. They were commissioned by the great French cheese industrialist, Baron LeBaron Fromage.
it shouldnt work but it does ,i like it looks like a lot of work went in to it ,its fun