Here's a little film someone made about the 504

Its a sweet little film, mostly of brochure shots and a jaunty synth soundtrack. The tune doesn't really have quite the same tough, rugged spirit of the car...

The Purchase

I bought my 504 from a nice Dutch guy called Gert-Jan, who advertised on the Dutch eBay Marktplaats.

He lives in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. I went to see it, and it was clear he'd looked after it pretty well.

The first owner -the one before Gert-Jan- had been a mechanic at the Peugeot factory, and had only sold it because, at 80 years old, he was about to move into an old people's home.

Gert-Jan said that when he had arrived to pick up the car, the old man cried.

The old man's son said he would have bought it, but he had just bought a boat, and couldn't afford both.

Gert-Jan wasn't the kind of guy to tell me some bullshit sob story, he was an upright Dutch bloke who took his kids for weekend rides in the car.

"The best thing about it is going around roundabouts," he said, "and there are a lot of roundabouts here."

Back in his home, Gert-Jan said: "This comes with the car too," pointing to a box full of spares for the car sitting in his immaculately tidy and organised garage.

When I was counting out the cash, Gert-Jan counted it too. "you put one too many notes here," he said handing the cash back.

"That's very honest of you," I said. He looked at me with the most quizzical expression I have ever seen.

"It's normal!" he said.

I decided this was a good man to buy a car from.

The Beast

This is my Peugeot 504. I've been thinking about buying one for years, and now I have.

What's the attraction? Well, I used to live in Nigeria, and there are quite a few of these still around.

They're a beautiful car, designed by Pininfarina, they're rugged and cool, and this one is all mine.

I'm hoping to make this a great example of the car, learn a lot about its mechanics and have fun with it.