Gary Charlton - Celebrating 40 years of the 504CCCPUK National Rally 2009
CPUK NATIONAL RALLY - SUNDAY 16th AUGUST 2009
Our Events Co-ordinator, Alison Budd, writes:
2009's National Rally was not simply the annual get-together drawing members from all over the country (and Eire too) but also a special celebration of the 40th anniversary of the stunning 504 coupe and cabriolet models and the 25th birthday of the 205GTI.
The Rural Life Centre, just outside Farnham, was the perfect backdrop to the fantastic display of cars; in all just over 80 cars arrived which must be a record attendance in recent years.
It was fortunate that the weather gods smiled down on us and we were blessed with one of the hottest days of the summer. Perfect for enjoying the drinks and nibbles on offer and wandering around admiring examples across many model ranges from the 203/403 era to today's production models.
The venue itself had many interesting exhibits and artefacts (well, that was what I was told, I didn't get round to looking at anything in the museum!) but surely the cars were what most people had come to see. It was a wonderful chance to catch up with old friends, make new ones, talk Peugeot and maybe even find that elusive part at a bargain price among the autojumble stands!
A very big thank you to everybody who helped make it such a great day; many hands certainly do make light work and we much appreciated the numerous helpers. And, of course, a big thank you to everyone who came!
And Gary Charlton writes:
The venue for this year's National Rally turned out to be an excellent choice. We were allocated an area in the grounds amongst old buildings and barns which housed museums and information on rural times gone by. A miniature railway also ran around the perimeter of our site with a whole lot more to explore if one could find time to escape Peugeot matters!
This year the club is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the Peugeot 504 Cabriolet and Coupe which was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1969. This beautiful model was never seriously marketed in the UK and was only built in LHD form so has always been rare on our roads. But largely due to its beautiful lines and reliable Peugeot pedigree some were imported during its 14 year production life and also since the model was withdrawn in 1983. There are now known to be less than 200 504cabs and coupes in the UK and we enjoyed a respectable turnout at this year's National.
The weather was glorious and the event had all the makings of being a good day. I was the first to arrive in my 1983 504 Coupe, newly MoT'd after being off the road for 2 years. The 40 mile journey was a convenient distance to road test the car after fitting the new cylinder head gasket. Richard and Carloyn Barker then turned up in their RHD burgundy Coupe. Although 3 times as many Coupe were manufactured than Cabriolets, the Coupe remains rare in the UK and no more were to arrive during the day. Richard's Coupe is probably unique in being the only one I've ever seen with an electric factory-fitted sliding metal sunroof.
The next car to arrive was a stunning white LHD Cabriolet, registration no TET 3, which just had to belong to Mike Tetley-Jones. He has owned this car from new in 1972 and is a credit to him having recently joined the Club. I had not seen or heard of this car before, so was keen to meet Mike. You can imagine having owned a 504 Cabriolet for 37 years, Mike had some interesting stories to tell. He said that Pininfarina based the design of the Peugeot 504 Cabriolet on the Ferrari 250GT and when you see one you can see the similarities. Full marks to Mike for making the journey from Reigate, even though he was still attending to hot starting problems. Let's hope fitting a ballast resistor coil improves this problem and we see more of Mike in the future.
Another recent 504 Cabriolet owner and subsequent new Club member is Jim Baumann who is now the proud owner of a burgundy model formerly belonging to Peter Beale's son, Nigel. Jim currently shares his passion for cars between his beautiful Peugeot and a 4.7 litre MGBGT. That is in addition to building model boats, which is probably his greatest passion. However, he was soon able to boast the Bill Messam trophy for the Peugeot. No sooner had Jim parked when David Auton followed in, yes, another Cabriolet from the Beale stable. David and his wife are no strangers to CPUK events and it's always a pleasure to see their Cabriolet, now in Jade Green, complete with King Charles Spaniel (has he taken over from Oscar ?)
Both the 504 Cabriolet and Coupe were given a newly PRV-developed V6 engine in 1975 for 3 brief years - hence the rarity of this particular model. So I was especially pleased to see Peter Vaughan leave his Ferrari 328GTS at home and arrive in his yellow V6 Cab. And sharing the journey from Lincs was his 18 month-old daughter, Ariane, together with Dino, his German Spitz. Peter (and his mum) love their cars and have owned a great many interesting models. I'm glad the 504 V6 Cabriolet is looking like it will stay the course with Peter now!!!
I mentioned earlier that the 504cc was only manufactured in LHD form. Well, in the early 1970s about 250 were converted to RHD by Hodec Engineering of Byfleet, Surrey, but there have been other conversions. Luke Walker has one such Cabriolet converted to RHD by John Fox in Settle in 1991. The car is a very early 1970 model imported into the UK in 1983 and is the only one I've seen with the early umbrella handbrake. Luke has had the car resprayed in graphite grey and changed the reg no to an age related plate. Sporting characteristic 604 wheel trims, Luke's 504 looked so good it won the Concours Trophy.
We've heard about the previously-owned Beale Cabriolets and Peter and Anne Beale were next to arrive in their current example. Of course having owned several 504s since the 1980's you would expect them to have ended up with something special. Several years ago their black RHD Hodec turned up having been owned by a collector, only 7,000 miles on the clock and totally original. It is still low mileage and in it's original livery. Peter has also recently updated the seats in leather with the later model headrests. Altogether the car is looking splendid as always.
The last Cabriolet to arrive was John and Angela Hepner. They also have a truly classic Peugeot 301 Roadster so I'm pleased they chose to bring along their lovely 1978 Gris Fume 504 Cabriolet. Their car has always looked very desirable and original and now is even better as John, too, has had the interior reupholstered in brown leather.
An unexpected and pleasant surprise was visitor Martin Asquith with his family. He was a member of CPUK back in the early 1980's when he put his 504 Cabriolet into storage. Now his daughter is reaching driving age she is putting him under increasing pressure to get their car back on the road after all this time. Could she be our youngest 504cc enthusiast? Perhaps, but not quite, as I spotted 18 month-old Ariane Vaughan about to test drive my 504 Coupe!!!
And so the day was filled with enthusiastic chit chat ranging from wheels and tyres to tin foil on your injector pipes. A few bargains were also had at the autojumbles, for instance exhaust, brake pads, Haynes manual, hub caps, points. But there was much more to see in addition to the 504cc. It is always a pleasure to see what Rob Hasson turns up with. This year it was a 504 pick-up with canvas top and carrying two classic Peugeot motor scooters. And where did Keith Herbert find his wonderful brown 504Ti saloon? The 505GTi was a worthy successor to the 504Ti and excellent examples were on show from Ken Broughton and John Boorman. I still have withdrawal symptoms from the 604, so it was indeed a pleasure to meet our new 604 Registrar Giles Myhill with his LHD 604 GTi ……!!!
Many thanks to all who participated in making this event such a success.
Alastair Inglis writes:
It was good to be able to welcome our friends from the Peugeot Sport Official Owners Club who brought along some very desirable and unusual 205GTIs, including one with a Dimma body-kit. We were fortunate, too, that Rob King was able to entice four of his friends with 205 1FMs to join him so that we were treated to 5 in-a-row. He told me that the largest ever gathering was 7, so didn't he do well! These rarest of 205s will be featured in a future article.
This year's National must have been the largest gathering for a decade or more. It was beautifully orchestrated by Alison, even down to the special trophies for the Anniversary winners which were postage stamps with pictures of the anniversary model mounted in a special frame - which were such a great memento of a memorable day. Alison and John had obviously worked hard to make it so. The ladies team that produced the wine and nibbles also did us proud, managing to provide for an unexpectedly large turnout. And it was particularly pleasing to see so many volunteers to help setup and dismantle all the event paraphernalia: it made such a difference to the organisers and even the venue owners commented the next day on how clean we had left it.
A great day! Thank you to everyone who contributed.
