1948 Peugeot 202 woody wagon

[Greenpeace]

I like your viewpoint. It is a "U" model, which means utility and it has 4 wheel hydraulic brakes already, so the main focus will be the drivetrain. He's thinking a Toyota or Nissan 4 banger would work and with electronic ignition, and manual 4 or 5 spd, it would be a fun wagon, and he would be keeping Peugeot history alive, which I know appeals to him. He won't cut the firewall and will keep the stock motor in case someone in the future has an itch to put it back to bone stock.

That is exactly what I would do. Convert it without cutting, enjoy it, and if a future owner wants to spend the extra $ to make it dead standard there's no harm done.
You could fit a remote booster to give the standard drums a bit more oomph.
I think the ones they make for hot rods are as small as 6" in diameter and you can hide them quite easily.

 

[Greenpeace]

I think there's a misconception that any deviation from stock is a bad thing. I too have seen some shocking engine conversions, but a well executed one is just that, well executed.

I converted a Hillman Safari to a Datsun engine and gearbox 30 years ago. I sold it a couple of years later and subsequently saw it in early 2020 at a Cars and Coffee and the Nissan running gear was still running strong.

Half the Triumph Stags out there have Rover V8s fitted, and like for like, the value seems to be the same as one fitted with the original motor.

I've converted many cars and several motorcycles to different engines. I never cut, never weld and never drill any of the factory structure. Pick the right engine first and you don't have to.

I've had this 1924 Douglas looked at many times while out riding and stopping for coffee. No-one has come out and said it's not original. I'm sure if I went to Douglas club it would be a different story though.

I stopped once for coffee and a bus from a nursing home pulled in. Couple of the old gents wheelie walkered straiģht over to my bike. One said he owned one just like it and other the said his brother had one the same. The "nimbler" old guy got on it to have his photo taken, he had a grin from ear to ear and said "this is exactly like the one I had".

Can anyone guess what is not original to the bike?

 

[Russell Hall]

When I was doing research some years ago I came across a figure for surviving 202's as being "no more than 500" in metropolitan France. There was a belief among Peugeot enthusiasts in Australia that the 202 was sold in Australia before the war. Ewan Kennedy repeated it in his book. Took quite a lot of research to put it to bed. Stories start and are repeated as fact. Common enough with cars and of course happens well beyond the motoring world. George Gall's 1938 202 was a problem - how did it get here? Of course we now know it was a 1948 model BH. He just said it was a '38 and nobody knew enough to contradict him. There were stories of Axis ships being captured and 202's brought to Australia. Not supported by naval records. I suspect the controversial arrival of a Regent Motors consignment of DKW's in Melbourne just after the outbreak of war was folded into the story. Pre-war registration lists frustratingly put the handful of European cars under the general heading of "continental". But thanks to old copies of the Garage and Motor Trader the figures were found. The figure of 90 202's for Australia 1947 -1949 that was put about in the 1980's is probably right. I believe there was one in NSW in 1940. Reports in the Riverina Herald after the war of the presence of a wartime Peugeot captured in the Middle East are impossible confirm and may be the result of a motoring writer who didn't know much about cars.
I never did find the origin of the story about the 202 in Australia before the war. Just one of the things that people "knew".
My interest is in original cars and although I would once have had no problem with improving them my interest now is in restoring them to the often imperfect state in which they left the factory.

 

[Peter C]

If the cost of fixing the engine, and there are no others available, is prohibitive then I say find some other engine that will fit in without drilling holes, etc., so long as it is not something completely out of place like a V6, etc. Apart from an increase in performance, it may well make the difference between the 202 sitting in a shed engineless and a static display for the owner, or being drivable and out and about for others to admire. Like others, I am a purist but we all have to be realistic.

 

[Dano]

He says with a huge grain of salt. "The owner can simply ship the car to me and I gladly return it to its original condition" That would solve his conundrum. I'd love it!

 

[Russell Hall]

The 202 is not so rare parts are not available and original restorations are still done. The Bridgestone 202 was flown from Japan for a full restoration in a French workshop. But each to their own. Some (but not many) even liked the TD 2000 and would buy a plastic 402DS on modern running gear. There have been 203's with Holden engines and automatic transmissions and powered by all manner of engines sitting on running gear from numerous sources. Not around for long after the original owner. Not such a problem when a model is still plentiful but sad to see mods to something like a 402 DS. Never seen an "improved" 203 I wouldn't have undone the modifications on. Same as the early British sports cars I once had an association with.

 

[Greenpeace]

Same as the early British sports cars I once had an association with.

Look up "The Fright" Jaguar engined Austin Healy Sprite, it's been in this guise since 1960 and at some stage was shipped from the UK to Aus as it currently resides in Sydney. There are several other similarly converted Sprites that have been around for decades.

 

[Greenpeace]

Shannon's current catalog has a 1922 Delage CO2, less than 10 examples left in the world. It was "recently" built by Delage Garage on a genuine CO2 chassis in Melbourne to pay homage to the 1920s CO2 LSR Delage.

It's fitted with a period correct V8 Hispano-Suiza aeroplane engine, the original LSR car had a V12, so this one's not trying to be a clone of the original.

Estimate $530K to $580K AUD.
The last standard, fully restored, 1922 CO2 at auction (in 2020) sold for $186K AUD?

Interesting to see if it makes the estimate.

 

[Greenpeace]

I had one a standard one of these, calling it a "sports" car was a bit of a stretch. Still a fun drive though.
I'd hazard a guess this one would be a bit more "funner". Looks great in its mostly original paint.


This Austin-Healey Sprite Is A Toy-Like Terror - Speedhunters

This Austin-Healey Sprite Is A Toy-Like Terror - Speedhunters

I am joking about the MX-5, of course, but what James’s Sprite does is turn driving into a full-on sensory attack. I can only imagine it’s akin to being trapped in a washing machine on spin-dry, in the middle of a fireworks display, whilst trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. I had to ask James …

www.speedhunters.com

 

[Russell Hall]

I like a car that feels right for its period, not over restored or improved, so that when you sit in it and drive it's just like 1928 or 1956. Even if it's a vague wanderer like the pre-war Ford 10 or hopelessly underpowered like the Morris 8 with a motor even its designers called a dreadful old thing. Now if we had kept some of those sports cars, the big Healeys and square rigger MG's and TR2 and 3.

 

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

I like a car that feels right for its period, not over restored or improved, so that when you sit in it and drive it's just like 1928 or 1956. Even if it's a vague wanderer like the pre-war Ford 10 or hopelessly underpowered like the Morris 8 with a motor even its designers called a dreadful old thing. Now if we had kept some of those sports cars, the big Healeys and square rigger MG's and TR2 and 3.

I tried to rebuild my 1966 404 to standard spec but hated it. Much better after fitting BA7 gearbox and clutch, disc brakes and late antiroll bars. Still 1600 though and matching numbers, I pulled apart a perfectly good late model motor to rebuild my 66 one as an XC6.

 

[Russell Hall]

I had a chance to but Vic Wendt's 1961 404 when he bought his KF2. Looking back it would have been a nice car to preserve and quite rare. An interest in preserving the original features of cars is something of a luxury easier to indulge as one ages.

 

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

My car was sold by Wendts, I have the original sales book.

 

[dacia4x4]

I think there's a misconception that any deviation from stock is a bad thing. I too have seen some shocking engine conversions, but a well executed one is just that, well executed.

I converted a Hillman Safari to a Datsun engine and gearbox 30 years ago. I sold it a couple of years later and subsequently saw it in early 2020 at a Cars and Coffee and the Nissan running gear was still running strong.

Half the Triumph Stags out there have Rover V8s fitted, and like for like, the value seems to be the same as one fitted with the original motor.

I've converted many cars and several motorcycles to different engines. I never cut, never weld and never drill any of the factory structure. Pick the right engine first and you don't have to.

I've had this 1924 Douglas looked at many times while out riding and stopping for coffee. No-one has come out and said it's not original. I'm sure if I went to Douglas club it would be a different story though.

I stopped once for coffee and a bus from a nursing home pulled in. Couple of the old gents wheelie walkered straiģht over to my bike. One said he owned one just like it and other the said his brother had one the same. The "nimbler" old guy got on it to have his photo taken, he had a grin from ear to ear and said "this is exactly like the one I had".

Can anyone guess what is not original to the bike?

I would say engine and lower drive transfer box that transfers drive from left to right of bike look too Japanese and modern for a veteran bike like that.the engine is laying forward and almost horizontal whereas most engines of that era were more vertical.it is also ohc and castings/side cover plate are way out as far as engineering for the era of the bike frame,but hey if it works and keeps bike on the road why not,as 95percent of people wouldn’t,t realise the differences……jim

 

[Russell Hall]

My car was sold by Wendts, I have the original sales book.

Who was the original buyer?

 

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

Mr O. Charles.

 

[Steven King]

I would say engine and lower drive transfer box that transfers drive from left to right of bike look too Japanese and modern for a veteran bike like that.the engine is laying forward and almost horizontal whereas most engines of that era were more vertical.it is also ohc and castings/side cover plate are way out as far as engineering for the era of the bike frame,but hey if it works and keeps bike on the road why not,as 95percent of people wouldn’t,t realise the differences……jim

afaik Douglas were famously less vertical with an horizontally-opposed but longitudinal twin that looked like a bird's nest ... hope you kept it, Greenpeace.

 

[Greenpeace]

I would say engine and lower drive transfer box that transfers drive from left to right of bike look too Japanese and modern for a veteran bike like that.the engine is laying forward and almost horizontal whereas most engines of that era were more vertical.it is also ohc and castings/side cover plate are way out as far as engineering for the era of the bike frame,but hey if it works and keeps bike on the road why not,as 95percent of people wouldn’t,t realise the differences……jim

Correct. Although the original engine was horizontal as well, it was a longditudinal boxer twin. The transfer box mounts where the original gearbox went. The only Douglas parts are the bare frame and forks. Everything else is either off something else or I made it. However if someone can come up with the factory running gear I could swap it over in a couple of hours as the original frame is unmolested.
I didn't use the wheels in the photo as they are for BE tyres, the wheel bearings were unavailable and the sprocket and brake "disc" press onto large tapered splines. It was way, way more economical to go with different wheels.
I still want to do a bit more to the engine to "age" it. Faux exposed valve springs, copper oil lines etc, but I've got a bit sidetracked with other projects.

afaik Douglas were famously less vertical with an horizontally-opposed but longitudinal twin that looked like a bird's nest ... hope you kept it, Greenpeace.

All I got is what is in the photo, it had bounced from owner to owner for 40 years gathering dust and rust. The forks were assembled wrong and badly bent, the handlebars were badly bent and the the frame was cracked and twisted, so it was probably pulled out of a landfill originally. Should have seen my wife's face when I got it.

Yes Douglas were famous for their boxer twins, very competitive in speedway and dirt track racing. The early ones were all inline and later on they went transverse, a la BMW.

 

[Russell Hall]

Mr O. Charles.

Didn't know him. 1966 is the last of the C&G cars, Tas Smith was managing the plant, only 35% Australian content instead of the target 45%, well assembled compared to the assembly line Renault cars, rust the problem.

 

[GRAHAM WALLIS]

Yes the C and G cars much better for rust. The body design around the boot was a problem from 1967, some bad water traps. My car has had the front radiator support repaired, no other rust that I can see.