Club Peugeot UK - The Official UK Peugeot Owner's Club

Irish Peugeot Day 2006

On Sunday 13th August, Irish members of CPUK and other Irish based Peugeot enthusiasts had a chance to meet and to enjoy their cars together. Fellow CPUK member John Maguire and I had often mentioned the idea of such an event but the final impetus to act came from Mat Tuck’s encouragement during his all too brief stint as Events Co-ordinator.

We chose an area in the Irish midlands being fairly central as there are members on the east and west coasts. Months in advance we canvassed all members possible and anybody whom we thought might be a prospective participant. By April, we had an event devised, so we e-mailed or snail-mailed all interested parties with two possible dates and asked for a vote. And so Sunday 13th August was chosen.

On the day we were favoured by very good weather. Most participants started from the village of Kinnitty at 11 am, from where we drove to nearby Kinnitty Castle Hotel for a comfort stop as many had been travelling for over two hours. Then followed a scenic drive across the Slieve Bloom Mountains, passing through The Cut, a short single lane section of roadway cut into the rock at the summit.

Then we began the descent and we made our way through pretty country lanes with scarcely any other traffic, until we reached our destination, the restored 15th century Ballaghmore Castle near Roscrea in Co. Tipperary. There, the owner, Ms Grace Pym, who had a roaring fire and lunch ready for us in the banquet hall, welcomed us.

It was a wonderful opportunity for likeminded enthusiasts to meet, in many instances for the first time. For others it was a chance to renew old acquaintances. The Jacob family outdid us all with no less than three cars, a superb ex-UK 1980 304 Estate piloted by Cyril Jacob Snr with his wife Peggy, a 306 Hdi Turbo driven by Bernard Jacob and Cyril Jnr and Hilda Jacob with their 307CC. The Maguire family produced two cars, John and Eileen drove their 1967 404 Convertible and their son JP brought a 1975 504 Convertible. Jim Wylde from Co. Clare is working on a rare 1926 177B, but rather than miss the event, he arrived in another somewhat rare car, his 1947 Lanchester 10.

The 403 would have been the most plentiful model on the day with three examples, but unfortunately Cathal Johnston who had booked in with his 1957 saloon, had to cry off on the day. So the 403 saloons had to draw with the two 205 GTIs for this distinction. Michael Slattery, a long established Peugeot dealer in North Tipperary, brought his cream 1959 403 saloon. This car was local to his area and he bought and restored it almost 20 years ago. The blue 403 is my own 1963 example. The Slattery connection led to the presence of the two very smart 205 GTIs, the white 1990 model driven by Michael’s grandson Andrew and the red car was owned by Andrew’s friend and neighbour Mark O’Dwyer.

Through John Maguire’s influence with his local Peugeot dealer, (well, he keeps buying new Peugeots from him!) everybody was presented with Peugeot promotional items and a Peugeot clock was awarded to Michael Crean from Tralee in Co. Kerry for travelling the greatest distance on the day in his 1967 404 saloon.

As we were anxious to invite owners of other suitable French vehicles, we were delighted when two Panhard owners responded by e-mail to our appeal. Franck Cappelli, a Frenchman living in Ireland brought his green 1963 Panhard PL17 BT accompanied by John Butler with his blue PL17. Both cars were in superb condition and I understand that both men own Panhard 24CT models too.

After a lively conducted tour of the castle by Grace Pym, we could relax and chat in the afternoon before setting off home around 4 – 4.30 pm. Special thanks are due to John Maguire for collaborating with me on this event and to Cyril Jacob, who arranged emergency breakdown cover for the day.

Feedback has been good with strong interest in having a similar day out next year. Some more Peugeot enthusiasts have come to light since and we hope to invite UK-based owners to our 2007 event.

If you are interested in participating, please e-mail either John Maguire on maguirej@bloxham. ie or myself on williamconeill@eircom.net, so that we may add your name to our mailing list to keep you informed of developments for 2007.