I captured this old Peugeot 504 L back in 2017, a one time find that I’ve never come across again. Meanwhile, in recent times, a battered black one that I used to see around my wife’s old neighborhood seems to have disappeared. A third and last one I knew of, parked in a gated community near my home in San Salvador, has also gone missing.
So, have the days of seeing old 504s come to an end around me? Have these gone from being in their autumn days to fading away to a lifeless winter?
It’s, admittedly, a hard idea to accept. Old Peugeots were a given in the streets of San Salvador, and the thought of their –let’s say– distinctive shapes no longer being around is a difficult one for me to live with. Not the most relevant of worries, I know, but well… the priorities of my mind.
And I know the droopy rear ends of these Pininfarina styled vehicles are an acquired taste. I did think of these as funny-looking as a child, but now my older self finds them oddly attractive. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that they’ve aged like wine, but rather, they’re a wine I got used to.
I believe the door handles on this one date it to a pre 1975 model. Meanwhile, the “L” emblem in the back is at least from 1973, so let’s say this curbside find belongs to the 1973-74 crop. L was the 504’s stripper entry level trim, and knowing Salvadorian finances, these were probably the best selling 504s around here. Tatra87 covered the history of the 504 L in an earlier post, so you may want to check that for details about these.
Unlike the 504s, a couple of 404s are still around, keeping the “Old Pug” worrying side of my mind somewhat at ease. A worn wagon is still parked by the car wash place I talked about a year ago, and recently, a fairly well preserved 1965 sedan has shown up for sale at the local FB Marketplace. I need an old Pug like I do another DVD set of The Avengers (No, not Marvel movies, but the Diana Rigg series), but my mind wishes for both whenever a copy/sample appears. What’s life if not cluttering one’s home with useless materialistic nonsense? (Said consumerist me).
From this shot, the zebra pattern seat covers suggest this 504 L is doing some kind of role playing. Dreaming of African colonies? Well, that would make sense, old Pugs were loved in that region and thrived there for a long time.
No idea what kind of luck this 504 had after these shots were taken, but maybe I need not be pessimistic. Its looks are autumnal, but overall, quite together. I hope the locals’ tradition of “let’s keep it around” no matter the effort, played in its favor.
Of all the silly things I like, my love for the old 405 is the most inexplicable. Maybe it’s because in the US the Peugeot model numbers indicate how many of each model they sold. I’ve seen a few 505s on the road (20 years ago) and one 405, ever.
I think everything weird about the styling beautiful. And the legendary durability. How often would you find that? Beautiful and durable in the same car?
Hey Mac, not quite sure which car you’re talking about. The 405 is this one:
Correct, I meant to type 504.
One more thing: Please excuse the typo in your name above. It wasn’t my intention.
As a european, I find the 504 much more attractive for the american market with its twin-headlight grille. In Europe, that type of grille was only seen on models from the early 1970s. As for the car itself, I think if it’s not the best French car ever made, it’s certainly among the top five. I’ve never known a more reliable car than the Peugeot 504.
In Uruguay the French-made 504 was only available up to 1970, and then for 1985-86 and then only as a GRD. So most 504s around here are Argentinian, and there were a lot of them. But every now and then (I mean decades ago) a French one brought in by a diplomat or some other state official would appear, and hen put up for sale would be gone in seconds. One of those, a 74 GL, was in 1977 a point of interest for my Dad. We went to see it, and I duly noted all the differences with the ones I knew. Short floor gear lever, starting switch no longer deep in the column but in the upper section, much more reacheable, different internal door latches, and other things I don’t remember. The price was a bit steep and it had 60.000 km on it, and my Dad decided not to get it (as usual…he was quite undecided). About 10 years later I made my FIL buy a 78 Argentinian 2000SES, which had no exact equivalent in France but had real leather upholstery, cut-pile carpeting in a similar color, and generally very good trimming, in a metallic deep brown paint. It was a several year old car and probably had at leasr 120000 km, and as the dealer was located on a very concurred thoroughfare, the engine’s noise was nowhere as loud as when it got home…and mi FIL decided there was a loose rod who made itself known at every revolution (my FIL, though worked as a carpenter all his life, was formally trained as a mechanic and always tended to his own cars). He promptly made his mind, he liked the car, and probably wouldn’t have any problems. He kept the car for 6 years, had to weld new floors, had to tend to electrical issues, but the engine was never touched and the new buyer either didn’t hear the clunk, or didn’t care. In 1993, the year when he sold the Peugeot, Uruguay was the best place to be an expert in swapping to Diesels, and probably that’s what happened to that 504.
Well, all told, I love 504s, even Argentinian ones with a solid rear axle and mostly 404 mecanicals.
Nice to hear of another country that has or had the Diesel swap mania/disease! Sri Lanka was notorious for it, initially for 4x4s and later for everything. The largest victim cohort happened to be Peugeot 504s and 505s, with well over half the remaining examples now containing some sort of Toyota lump.
The other major victims were Mercedes W123s and W126, so much so that around 90% of the units around now (and there are many), have diesels, but at least they are Mercedes units. A crying shame in the case of the W126 in particular!
I got to enjoy a ’71 504 for two years – a lovely mediterranian blue dealer demonstrator with a comfy (but easily stained) silver vinyl driver seat. The ride and handling felt sublime after driving a ’65 Corvair for 7 years. My first wife and I put 34k miles on it before our split up. I wouldn’t have sold it but it seemed too nice for my self image at the time which required a Volvo 544. The car had a couple of issues. It came with a layered plastic mesh air filter element that allowed small wood slivers through and plugged the idle air correction jet repeatedly. This was repaired with a paper element. Also the right side tie rod was loose in the steering rack and made a knocking noise over bumps. In retrospect I’m not sure if it came from the dealer this way or resulted from a nasty pothole that bent the wheel one night on Interstate 84 near Portland, OR. What a well mannered car. The 4 speed on the column was a joy.
These 504 Pugs were indeed pretty good cars .
I owned two, a wagon and a four door .
Like most French cars and all Pugs, they were incredibly comfy and handled well at speed, sufficient to scare the beejeebers out of my passengers .
The overall weirdness I could not get past and eventually sold them on, the 504 Sedan in particular was beloved by the two sisters who bought it .
IMO the 404 was a better looking car as well as a better overall .
-Nate
Can’t help but think the little white car looked somewhat “depressing”, even when it was new. Puts me in mind of a , perhaps sturdier, “67 Kadett”.
Though we loved our ’81 504 diesel wagon I always liked the sedans as well. Imo they pulled off the beveled-trunk rear end better than Buick did with the ’77 LeSabre.
The droopy rear end of the 504 was odd than and remains odd now. However, I’ve always felt that the correct configuration was as an estate car (or “station wagon” if you prefer). With the huge rear capacity and strong rear underpinnings it was a car that was born to work, and it looked magnificent while doing so.
That droopy rear end with the abrupt break downward in the middle was a happy (?) accident, when Peugeot execs were about to review competing clay model proposals prepared by their in-house studio and Pininfarina:
“On the day of the decision, Pininfarina’s Aldo Brovarone, who would go on to design the entirety of the Coupe version, decided that the rear of his design was not quite right. Assuming he had time to make adjustments to the clay, he began carving away, only be be suddenly ushered out by the unexpectedly early arrival of the Peugeot board of management.”
This is also apparently the very first appearance of what would become a signature Peugeot styling cue for decades to come, those headlights with “arched eyebrows”, courtesy of Peugeot’s own stylists. As Brovarone remarked when their proposal was unveiled:
“Do not even take the cover from my car… That is the perfect front end for the Peugeot 504, and I will tell you why – it has the eyes of Sophia Loren.”
Ultimately, the final 504 sedan design wound up combining the front end from Peugeot’s stylists and the serendipitous rear end from Pininfarina.
Source:
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/driving-the-peugeot-504-a-perfect-car-for-troubled-times-1.4016191
I still have two 504’s I drive occasionally, a 76 sedan gas powered, 82 wagon diesel both great cars, when people look and ask about them I always say sit in the front seat, they sink right in and can’t believe the comfort. The diesel wagons were certainly made to be workhorses.