203 project

1948 French factory rhd pre production slope back....sunnycoast
I'd imagine you would have had a few 2oh fans viewing aussiefrogs on the edge of their laptops after reading post No. 7 last Wednesday. long gone.JPG Alas,,,,,,,,,,
 
Of the three CCM cars imported the first one sold ended up with a family in Ballarat (Etheridges) and was likely wrecked early 1960's, possibly at the Miners Rest yard. The other two could still be out there. Private/diplomatic imports in mid 1949 were possible but never mentioned. As the Carlotte Peugeot shows, cars can turn up with no clue as to who imported them.
 
This is the June 1949 203 that lives in the Cape in Sth Africa. Note the two boot handles, the French hub caps and what are almost certainly metric wheels. The dash is the same colour as the car but this may be a respray.
I don't know the importer but they were active. SA had RHD Peugeots in 1938/39 and there is a RHD 402 there.
 

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I am sure I saw one of these in a shed down NSW way about 5 yrs ago. Next time I inquired about it, the owner told me it went to the dump. It definitely had the steel hoops atop of the back on the front seats. From memory, it was fairly shot and at that stage, I didn't know floors panels etc were available. It had a brown leather interior, sun roof and it was a greenish/brown colour. I'm colour blind, so it could have been any dark colour.
 
The unknown in early 203 imports is the December 1949 shipment. When Canada Cycle & Motor released the 203 in September 1949 there were only the display cars in Australia and orders were taken for a promised December delivery. That shipment did in fact arrive late in December but it was small - how small I don't know. There is mention of a NSW dealer receiving a showroom car the Christmas week. There were 45 Peugeots sold in Australia in 1949 but nearly all were 202's. The December cars would be in the 1950 sales figures. CCM was a cautious company, there was a fear the Peugeot wouldn't sell. It had taken two years to sell 90 202's. My feeling is the shipment would have been in the order of 25 to 50 cars. The next unanswered question is whether some or all were N3 bodied models made before October when the N3Y was introduced? When the orders flowed in, a much larger order was placed and a ship chartered. As the NSW share of the load was 250 cars we can guess at 500 cars or greater. That shipment arrived the first week of January 1950 and all the earliest 203's that are around the place came from it.
Shipping times are all over the place. A fast liner might be able to make Freemantle in six weeks but a slow stopping all ports steamer could take forever and six months was always quoted to get major pars like a gearbox from England. Sydney was the major port for car imports but was strike affected and a big car shipment would overcrowd it. Some of the importers charged 50 pounds freight on the cars they sent to Melbourne. It was cheaper to send drivers from Victoria to get the cars. A Regans man fondly recalled the weekends away, the night trip on the Spirit of Progress and then driving the car back. Delivery mileage? They would have needed their first service on arrival. He got a broken windscreen once. The new owner would have puzzled at the pieces of broken glass that always seem to turn up.
 
The unknown in early 203 imports is the December 1949 shipment. When Canada Cycle & Motor released the 203 in September 1949 there were only the display cars in Australia and orders were taken for a promised December delivery. That shipment did in fact arrive late in December but it was small - how small I don't know. There is mention of a NSW dealer receiving a showroom car the Christmas week. There were 45 Peugeots sold in Australia in 1949 but nearly all were 202's. The December cars would be in the 1950 sales figures. CCM was a cautious company, there was a fear the Peugeot wouldn't sell. It had taken two years to sell 90 202's. My feeling is the shipment would have been in the order of 25 to 50 cars. The next unanswered question is whether some or all were N3 bodied models made before October when the N3Y was introduced? When the orders flowed in, a much larger order was placed and a ship chartered. As the NSW share of the load was 250 cars we can guess at 500 cars or greater. That shipment arrived the first week of January 1950 and all the earliest 203's that are around the place came from it.
Shipping times are all over the place. A fast liner might be able to make Freemantle in six weeks but a slow stopping all ports steamer could take forever and six months was always quoted to get major pars like a gearbox from England. Sydney was the major port for car imports but was strike affected and a big car shipment would overcrowd it. Some of the importers charged 50 pounds freight on the cars they sent to Melbourne. It was cheaper to send drivers from Victoria to get the cars. A Regans man fondly recalled the weekends away, the night trip on the Spirit of Progress and then driving the car back. Delivery mileage? They would have needed their first service on arrival. He got a broken windscreen once. The new owner would have puzzled at the pieces of broken glass that always seem to turn up.
Hi Russell,
Received book today payment made thank you little bit of reading to do now..
 
Jarrett (Immediate past owner) is a friend of one of my brothers. The story on the weekend went like this...
Jarred wasn't a Peugeot fanatic, but liked the shape and thought it was a good idea at the time. He wanted to restore it, but was
dissuaded by "Peugeot enthusiasts?" who said "He should just register it and drive it". Or words to the effect.
Hopefully it will see a future.
Cheers,
Dan
 
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Nice looking car, I'm sure someone will be very happy with it. The time and effort to keep one on the road, you have to have quite an interest in them.
 
I did indeed. I sell them direct for $30 posted. If you would like a copy send your address to me at corndale@bordernet.com.au and I will post you a copy. Motorbook World in Melbourne and Automoto in Sydney also sell them.
Hi Russell,
I'd like to purchase a copy of your "Peugeot in Australia" book. I've tried a couple of times to contact you via the email address that you provided above, but my email bounced both times. If the books are still available, would you please let me know how I can contact you?
 
Of the three CCM cars imported the first one sold ended up with a family in Ballarat (Etheridges) and was likely wrecked early 1960's, possibly at the Miners Rest yard. The other two could still be out there. Private/diplomatic imports in mid 1949 were possible but never mentioned. As the Carlotte Peugeot shows, cars can turn up with no clue as to who imported them.
what happened to the early orange car in NZ ,? someone looked at it a year or so back
 
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