The internal boot release was seen as a major improvement but it was decades ahead of public acceptance.
203 stuff
- Thread starter Russell Hall
- Start date
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A Tale of misbehaving 203's. Or rather their drivers.
Peugeot could never have established in Australia without enthusiast dealers. The car may have been exceptional but it needed dealers who really liked the car to sell it. And it had them. Men (they were men) who would delight in showing buyers the cornering ability, the ease with which rough roads could be ridden over and the easy cruising. The dealer at Wollongong amazed buyers with the London taxi turning circle by turning in one sweep outside the dealership. R.W. Boddenberg who had Advanx Motors at Gosford was one such enthusiast dealer and entered two cars in the 1953 Redex. He convinced the local taxi service to use Peugeots.
The local press first makes note of the service in July 1950 when on a dark winters night the 203 taxi carrying an undertaker home from a job went through the closed Gosford railway gates. Now these gates were always substantial wooden structures, painted white and usually with a lantern on them. Bystanders thought the car was travelling at least 50 mph and it travelled some distance before stopping. A 203 is a solid vehicle made of substantial metal not plastic so it was more than a match for the gates. The police suspected the driver was drunk but there were no breathalyser so the driver was set a task everybody in 1950 could do - roll a smoke. After a fail the driver was pronounced drunk and released into the care of the undertaker.
The 203 taxi service made the news again in 1954. On a morning the 203 taxi was hurrying to complete an urgent task of getting a drunk home before he made good his threat to deposit the nights consumption onto the back seat. Progress was interrupted by the Advanx Motors 203 ute pulling out from the showgrounds in front of the 203 taxi. The police measured 84 feet of rubber from the taxi but the driver swore he was travelling at 30 mph. The ute laid down 12 feet of rubber but the mechanic swore he was only travelling at "one or two mph".
The sedan gave the ute a decent thump and moved the front wheel and suspension sideways by six inches. It need a new stub axle, hub and shock absorber. No mention is made of the drunk or if he suddenly sobered up.
The local paper saw the humor of the situation and ran an article "Peugeot cars hit head on". They noted that Peugeots were solid cars but when they collided there were consequences.
The police sized the matter up and charged the mechanic in the ute with failing to give way. Boddenberg saw this as a miscarriage of justice towards his mechanic and employed both a lawyer and an ex-army technical expert. He gave the opinion the 203 taxi must have been travelling at least 40 mph and at 30 mph would be able to stop in a length and a half, about 23 feet. That would be a fine braking system indeed but in the real world a 203 would stop in 32 feet from 30 mph which was good. It would lock its back wheels in a panic stop. By the time the expert was finished the court was well confused and the mechanic got off.
I ran this piece in Torque a few years ago.
Peugeot could never have established in Australia without enthusiast dealers. The car may have been exceptional but it needed dealers who really liked the car to sell it. And it had them. Men (they were men) who would delight in showing buyers the cornering ability, the ease with which rough roads could be ridden over and the easy cruising. The dealer at Wollongong amazed buyers with the London taxi turning circle by turning in one sweep outside the dealership. R.W. Boddenberg who had Advanx Motors at Gosford was one such enthusiast dealer and entered two cars in the 1953 Redex. He convinced the local taxi service to use Peugeots.
The local press first makes note of the service in July 1950 when on a dark winters night the 203 taxi carrying an undertaker home from a job went through the closed Gosford railway gates. Now these gates were always substantial wooden structures, painted white and usually with a lantern on them. Bystanders thought the car was travelling at least 50 mph and it travelled some distance before stopping. A 203 is a solid vehicle made of substantial metal not plastic so it was more than a match for the gates. The police suspected the driver was drunk but there were no breathalyser so the driver was set a task everybody in 1950 could do - roll a smoke. After a fail the driver was pronounced drunk and released into the care of the undertaker.
The 203 taxi service made the news again in 1954. On a morning the 203 taxi was hurrying to complete an urgent task of getting a drunk home before he made good his threat to deposit the nights consumption onto the back seat. Progress was interrupted by the Advanx Motors 203 ute pulling out from the showgrounds in front of the 203 taxi. The police measured 84 feet of rubber from the taxi but the driver swore he was travelling at 30 mph. The ute laid down 12 feet of rubber but the mechanic swore he was only travelling at "one or two mph".
The sedan gave the ute a decent thump and moved the front wheel and suspension sideways by six inches. It need a new stub axle, hub and shock absorber. No mention is made of the drunk or if he suddenly sobered up.
The local paper saw the humor of the situation and ran an article "Peugeot cars hit head on". They noted that Peugeots were solid cars but when they collided there were consequences.
The police sized the matter up and charged the mechanic in the ute with failing to give way. Boddenberg saw this as a miscarriage of justice towards his mechanic and employed both a lawyer and an ex-army technical expert. He gave the opinion the 203 taxi must have been travelling at least 40 mph and at 30 mph would be able to stop in a length and a half, about 23 feet. That would be a fine braking system indeed but in the real world a 203 would stop in 32 feet from 30 mph which was good. It would lock its back wheels in a panic stop. By the time the expert was finished the court was well confused and the mechanic got off.
I ran this piece in Torque a few years ago.
may have posted a long time ago but here just in case
had an idea it was NSW?
had an idea it was NSW?
Car hasn't set the room on fire.
Could be the look of disappointed bidders who missed out.
A new Morris Minor was 300 pounds cheaper than a 203. At two years of age they had the same resale value. Peugeots always had a severe depreciation, not disastrous but the owner who wanted to sell at two or three years old would only get half his money back if sold to the trade. The exception was the 504/505 period where inflation masked depreciation. Except for the 604 which was a depreciation disaster. A ten year old 203C in good order was 100 pounds in 1966. The depreciation largely wiped out the commercial traveler market. Lots of people got into Peugeots by buying nearly new two or three year old cars.
‘Car’ meant Minor until I left Home. Dad had done a lot of his apprenticeship at Kellow - Falkiners (Sp?) and has driven one ever since ( traded up to a 64 Mini now ) and impressed upon me what a bastard to work on they are. The best things about them would have been ubiquity ( and part-sharing with other BMCs ) and rack&pinion - apart from which only better than a 203 in the floor-shift …