Peugeot History Book

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Russell Hall

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Thank you to those who bought my book and your kind comments. I am no longer selling them directly (apart from a few copies put aside for PCCV members) but it is stocked by Motor Book World in Canterbury Road, Melbourne, and by Automoto book shop in the Dymocks building, George Street Sydney. I hope to reach a wider audience selling through book shops. The disappointment was the lack of interest from Inchcape. I sent a copy with a note to the manager of PCA and got no reply at all. A vast difference to Rob Dommerson who appreciated the importance of the past to Peugeot sales in Australia and was rewarded for his approach. The books sold well and as anticipated I still have sufficient copies to supply the book shops. At this stage I am not anticipating a second edition but I will update the manuscript as additional information becomes available..
 
Its a good read Mike.

Russell, thanks for taking the time and effort to compile this little gem.

Cheers

Dan
 
I can keep it on sale for another month because I'm still selling direct to the PCCV but I thought everyone who wanted one had ordered. So if anyone still wants one, pm me.
 
The advantage of selling through a book shop is they market the book better than I can. Automotive books can be very expensive and I guess slow moving so mark ups have to be high. I'm actually supplying the books to froggers at the wholesale price which is why I'm coy about putting it up. It would be bad form to be seen to be undercutting the retailers. In many ways writing the book is the easy part. When you get to publishing it and then selling it there are months of unforseen obstacles to overcome.
 
A quick note on sources. The Holy Grail is the Peugeot Archives Centre which has moved into a joint facility with Citroen at Terre Blanche. The Director tells me they have nothing on pre-war Australia. Or they don't know where it is? The old Peugeot archivists seem to have left. The Australian War Memorial has nothing on the WW1 Peugeot ambulances and staff cars. The early Victorian registration figures are not accessible and something of a black hole. Photographs are rare. Club historians from other makes have not been able to add much. There is still lots of information out there yet to be unearthed. I will continue to research and add to the manuscript even if a second edition never sees the printing press. The bookshops are doing a good job of marketing and I am down to the last few copies.
My first outside review: http://australianmotorheritagefoundation.org/peugeot-and-australia.html
 
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I just got a copy from Russell today and it's excellent! only 27 pages in so far, but I should be halfway through later tonight!

I want to check out that archive myself, to try to find out what they had cooking in Canada. It's not as rich as what happened in Aus but it'd still be interesting. We may be there next year. This book is inspiring!
 
A big congtrats from me too Russell it's a fantastic read. I've learned a few things, I've read lots of books on French companies during the war but never have I read that Peugeot were under VW control and Dr Porsche. Very impressed by your research.
 
Yes, there was talk in France of charging Porsche with war crimes and he avoided visiting the country for a few years. But by 1955 all was forgiven. The German who managed the Renault factory became the publicity director of Daimler Benz after the war. I wonder if he used to go to the Paris Motor Show? I wonder how you say "don't mention the war" in French.
 
Didn't France effectively hold Porsche for ransom? They also built fw190 fighters for their own use ( re-subjugating Algeria? Indochine?) until running out of bmw-power.
 
A word on supply. I have ten left. Demand is erratic. I sometimes post out one a week and then I get a flood of orders. Last week I posted fifteen. Automoto has been selling them and ordered more. I'm not going to do a another print run so if anyone still wants one supply is becoming uncertain. Like the 404 they sold slowly at first, demand eventually picked up and no doubt when they've all gone everyone will want one. The print run was 110 which is not unduly small for specialist automotive books. The temptation was to go grand, a larger hardcover, photographic plates, but suddenly you're in $100+ territory like so many are. Some of the books at Automoto are up over $700. The only way I would have gone to another print run was if Inchcape was interested and they're not. So hang onto them, you never know they may become a collectors item in twenty years
Five left and counting down.
 
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Just ordered my copy through the shop.
They only have 8 left!

Looking forward to a good read!

Cheers
Roland


PS. Another good read is the one by John Smailes on Allan Moffat.
 
I ordered one from Automoto yesterday and it arrived today.
 
I bought one from Automoto bookshop a couple of weeks ago for $39.95 and now I find that the price has leapt up to $95!! Only 2 copies left in their stock.
 
Yes, Automoto ordered more again but I told them I was sold out and there was not going to be another print run. I think David Evans still has a couple at Motor Book World in Camberwell at the old price.
 
Aside from being an interesting read, at this rate of increase we just have to ensure Russell never prints any more to ensure a well funded retirement!

The Original Citroen DS is about to be reprinted again as a hardback in English and can be pre-ordered from Book Depository (part of Amazon) for around A$65 posted at the moment. That has rather taken the steam out of the US$1K+ ambit claims of the last few years, even for the slightly inferior China paperback reprint version.

p.s. Is print on demand (perfect binding, paperback) an option here?
 
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