Pierre Peugeot

The Age

Wednesday January 11, 2006

KEVIN NORBURY

Kevin Norbury takes a ride in an old grey Pug that's not what she used to be.

PEUGEOTS of the 1950s, '60s and '70s were never known for their neck-snapping acceleration. Anyone who has ever owned one knows that, Bruce Shepherd included. But like others of his ilk, he wouldn't be without one.

Peugeot owners are like that.

Shepherd practically grew up in the back of a 203 wagon his father owned, and all these years later he talks fondly about his childhood in that car as if it were yesterday, such was the effect it had on him. "I remember when we went out, mum and dad would lay the seats down and the three kids (Shepherd being one of them) would sleep in the back. They never needed a babysitter. They took the kids with them.

"I remember driving in the car at night with the lights and looking out the window."

But Shepherd particularly remembers one 403 station wagon (he thinks his father had 13 Peugeots, mostly wagons): "We actually towed a plywood caravan."

Knowing the capabilities of the 403 Peugeot's four-cylinder 1500 cc engine as well as he does, his mind clearly still boggles at the thought.

"We used to do a lot of travelling," says Shepherd, who runs a Peugeot workshop (what else?) in Hawthorn. "In the Snowy Mountains (in the 1960s), we'd only just get over the hills in second gear (in the 403) with the caravan and all the family on board."

Shepherd's memory as a 10-year-old on one trip is of his father giving a road worker a packet of Country Life cigarettes, "so he'd turn the sign around (from Stop to Go) to allow us to get a run-up to be able to get over the next hill. We wouldn't have got up had we'd had to start at the bottom," he laughs.

"It's a vivid thing in my memory, something to do with the cigarettes. I couldn't understand why dad gave him this packet of cigarettes. It wasn't until I started to drive a 403 that I really understood. Some of those roads in the Snowy Mountains are steep, especially if you're towing."

Shepherd says everyone in Horsham (where his father ran a clothing and footwear store) "thought we were mad - why didn't he buy a Studebaker or a Holden or a Ford? The more they pestered him, the more he wanted to prove the cars' worth. He just loved Peugeots."

Like father, like son. It's probably no surprise that Shepherd grew up of like mind. His first car as a 17-year-old was a black 1949 Peugeot 203. It had been a commercial traveller's car. The traveller had got as far as Horsham when it "threw a big end", so he sold it to a local dealer.

"I bought it with the engine buggered," Shepherd says.

Fixing the engine was no big deal for Shepherd, who was mechanically minded from a very young age. "I used to pull my pedal tractors apart."

He got it going, then added his own touches, repainted it yellow using a vacuum cleaner, and put in a floor shift with a golf stick as the gear lever because it was all he could find.

Shepherd had that car for four years and many other Peugeots afterwards.

Oddly enough, he never really wanted the grey 1964 Peugeot 403B that is his work car now. He only bought it, he says, because the car's 84-year-old owner had died and it was original. He had planned to sell it, but has kept it for 15 years. "I fell in love with the car," he says.

As cars go, you couldn't say the old 403 is an eye-catching set of wheels.

"It's grey. You can't call it anything else but grey," Shepherd laughs. "It's not silver." The wheels are cream.

It's also showing its age. The red vinyl door panels and layback front bucket seats are original, although the seats "sometimes lay back when they shouldn't". Its wet-sleeve engine is original, too.

The Pug's glovebox is full of navigational gear. Apart from being an "everyday driver - it's very good, actually", Shepherd also rallies it. In 2003, he took part in the 50th anniversary re-run of the Redex Trial and was the first 403 home. But by far his biggest challenge is in April, 2006, when he will pit his old grey Pug's ability against the rest in a club re-run of the 1956 Ampol rally that was won by a 403.

Whatever happens, Shepherd will stick by his old grey Pug even though it ain't what it used to be. It's basic to say the least. "It has drum brakes, no power steering, it doesn't have a heater, it leaks, but I still enjoy driving it." It has what he calls Pierre Peugeot character. "I just call him Pierre Peugeot," Shepherd says with a grin. "The rest of the family think I'm a bit nutty; my daughter won't be seen dead in it."

This is my last RearView column for The Age. A second book of my columns, to be called On the Road Again, will be published by Hardie Grant in August.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Peugeot unveiled the 403 in 1955 following the success of its all-new postwar car, the 203, launched in 1948. The 403's styling was the work of the Turin-based Italian designer Pininfarina, used by Peugeot for the first time and a collaboration that continues to this day. The 403 was the first Peugeot model with a convex windscreen and the first to reach a million sales. The car came with the same four-cylinder - but slightly bigger 1500 cc - engine with hemispherical cylinder heads, and spark plugs buried in a central well, as its predecessor. It was also Peugeot's first production car to get a diesel engine and was at one stage billed as one of the seven best-made cars in the world. One of its most famous brethren was the battered 403 cabriolet driven by the bumbling TV detective Colombo. The 403 was dropped in 1962 after 1.2 million sales. It was replaced by the 404.

© 2006 The Age

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