All Peugeot had to do was replace its 104.
They did that, easily enough. But something quite extraordinary happened. They created a car with such mass appeal, not only did it sell over 5 million units over a 15-year period, but it also became a giant of the motor sport world, and a brand and cultural icon.
Everyone reveres the GTI model. But the GTI and Turbo 16 wouldn’t have become those cultural and motor sport giants we know so well if the skinny-wheeled base cars in flat beige paint weren’t so intrinsically excellent.
Work began on the M24 project in 1977. As so often in Peugeot’s history, it was a design competition between the Pininfarina studio in Italy and Peugeot’s own. This hasn’t ended nicely before. But on this occasion, under the stewardship of Gerard Welter, the home-based design team came up with the goods. As some consolation prize, Pininfarina did the cabriolet. The regular 205’s final shape was pretty, purposeful and balanced to perfection. A car needs more to go on to greatness. It has to be well-packaged, perform its intended function with aplomb, and drive superbly. When a car maker can combine all these things, they have a once-in-a-generation classic on their hands.
This won’t be a buyer’s guide. There’ll be no breakdown of model designations or engine sizes. That’s all been done before and is still available in a multitude of places on the web. This is a birthday celebration.
Because this is a birthday celebration, we asked some of Perth’s 205 owners and drivers to write us a birthday memory for the 205:
“My only drive of a 205 GTI occurred about 35 kilograms ago. It was a white car belonging to a friend. I drove it from our weekend holiday digs in Denmark, Western Australia, to Albany and back again. I know I went to Denmark in it from Perth as a passenger and obviously came back in it. Funnily, I can’t remember that part of the weekend. I also can’t remember if we had our other two friends with us as passengers from Denmark to Albany. All I remember is its precision and its immediacy of responses through the throttle, steering, brakes and gearshift. I was besotted. I wanted one. I wanted that one. But I had to live the experience through a parallel universe, one where I didn’t have a 17-year supply of boring white company cars, and had the cash to afford one new. Neither was real. I only have this memory of one of my greatest drives of all time”. – Peter Casserly.
“I have had 5 GTis and loved every single one. I have had originals and highly modified ones as well. All in Perth.
My favourite was the 1989 series 2.5 that i fitted a 405 T16 engine to with 306 GTi6 6 speed gearbox. Second favourite was my 1994 205 Classic which is an Australian limited-edition number 21 of 30. This was 100% original. Recently sold. The 205 GTi is a car everyone needs to experience at some point in their lives. It is a special little gem of the motoring world“. – Luca Polizzi.
“Been lucky enough to own 3 of them, a series 3 which I sold for $15k with 46,000km (probably worth 4 times that now….), a Series 1 and also a Guttman. I like to think all 3 are out there somewhere…..” – Justin Walker.
L’Aventure Peugeot is well and truly getting in on the 40th birthday celebration. The PEUGEOT 205 exhibition is actively under way. 10 models have already taken place in the collections of the Musée de L’Aventure Peugeot, including the first model proposed by Pininfarina. Your eyes don’t deceive you: its interior is a plain wooden box.
