Hello from France

[olivier_FR]

Hello,
it's good to see old French cars lovers !
Please accept my apologies about my strange English, don't forget I'm
Maybe one day there will be much more French cars from the 70s and 80s in USA and Australia than in France
I live and work in the suburb of Paris, and I can't remember when I saw a 505, probably many weeks ago.
Here the "government wrecker prime" for a new car and the rust have killed so many of these cars.
I'm working for automotive suppliers since 15 years, and the future is not happy for us too.

List of my cars :
Peugeot 204 GL 1970 from 1985 to 1987, died of rust...
Renault 9 GTL 1983 from 1987 to 1991, so many problems
Peugeot 305 GTX 1985 from 1991, still running with 291000 km
Peugeot 405 SRI 1995 from 1996 to 2000 160000 km of pure happiness
Renault Espace V6 1993 in 2001, stollen
Renault Espace V6 1992 from 2005

You have probably never heard about the 305 and the Espace.

The 305 (my avatar) have the look of a small 505, the front drivetrain is like the 405, the rear suspension is like 304.

The Espace is a minivan like the Voyager (smaller of course!) with parts from Fuego and R25 in it. The V6 is cool to drive. The more common Diesels are so ugly (perfect bad example of NVH).

Of course I'm dreaming of a Challenger ! but I will probably never drive it, the world is so bad

Olivier

[Hotrodelectric]

Originally Posted by olivier_FR

Hello,
it's good to see old French cars lovers !
Please accept my apologies about my strange English, don't forget I'm
Maybe one day there will be much more French cars from the 70s and 80s in USA and Australia than in France
I live and work in the suburb of Paris, and I can't remember when I saw a 505, probably many weeks ago.
Here the "government wrecker prime" for a new car and the rust have killed so many of these cars.
I'm working for automotive suppliers since 15 years, and the future is not happy for us too.

List of my cars :
Peugeot 204 GL 1970 from 1985 to 1987, died of rust...
Renault 9 GTL 1983 from 1987 to 1991, so many problems
Peugeot 305 GTX 1985 from 1991, still running with 291000 km
Peugeot 405 SRI 1995 from 1996 to 2000 160000 km of pure happiness
Renault Espace V6 1993 in 2001, stollen
Renault Espace V6 1992 from 2005

You have probably never heard about the 305 and the Espace.

The 305 (my avatar) have the look of a small 505, the front drivetrain is like the 405, the rear suspension is like 304.

The Espace is a minivan like the Voyager (smaller of course!) with parts from Fuego and R25 in it. The V6 is cool to drive. The more common Diesels are so ugly (perfect bad example of NVH).

Of course I'm dreaming of a Challenger ! but I will probably never drive it, the world is so bad

Olivier

Hi Olivier- Welcome to YankeeFrogs. Don't worry about your English too much-
it's perfectly understandable.

I was a little surprised by the lack of "classical" French cars when I was in Paris- and that was back in 1986! The last 505 I've seen here in the US, besides a couple in the junkyards, was my 505 Turbo Break, and that was a few years ago. French cars never were very common here, few people understood them, and servicing was always frustratingly expensive.

A listing of the French cars I've owned (all of them are gone now, except the CX):
1963 Citroen ID19
1965 Citroen DS19
1974 Citroen GS 1220
1975 Citroen GS 1220
1963 Citroen 2CV
1974 Citroen Dyane 6
1986 Citroen CX Prestige
1978 Renault 5 GTL
1982 Renault 5 GTL
1978 Peugeot 504 GR Diesel
1982 Peugeot 505 S TurboDiesel
1984 Peugeot 505 Break TurboDiesel
1986 Peugeot 505 Break Turbo 2.2
1987 Peugeot 505 Break 2.0

Believe me- many French car enthusasts here are aware of the 305 and the Espace. We just never got them, especially since the last new French car we saw here was the 405, in 1992. Renault pulled out in 1990, and Citroen has not sold a new car here since 1973.

I like my CX, but what I really want is another GS, preferably a Break, Service, or Service Vitree.

Cheers-
Bill

[Hotrodelectric]

Originally Posted by olivier_FR

Hello,
it's good to see old French cars lovers !
Please accept my apologies about my strange English, don't forget I'm
Maybe one day there will be much more French cars from the 70s and 80s in USA and Australia than in France
I live and work in the suburb of Paris, and I can't remember when I saw a 505, probably many weeks ago.
Here the "government wrecker prime" for a new car and the rust have killed so many of these cars.
I'm working for automotive suppliers since 15 years, and the future is not happy for us too.

List of my cars :
Peugeot 204 GL 1970 from 1985 to 1987, died of rust...
Renault 9 GTL 1983 from 1987 to 1991, so many problems
Peugeot 305 GTX 1985 from 1991, still running with 291000 km
Peugeot 405 SRI 1995 from 1996 to 2000 160000 km of pure happiness
Renault Espace V6 1993 in 2001, stollen
Renault Espace V6 1992 from 2005

You have probably never heard about the 305 and the Espace.

The 305 (my avatar) have the look of a small 505, the front drivetrain is like the 405, the rear suspension is like 304.

The Espace is a minivan like the Voyager (smaller of course!) with parts from Fuego and R25 in it. The V6 is cool to drive. The more common Diesels are so ugly (perfect bad example of NVH).

Of course I'm dreaming of a Challenger ! but I will probably never drive it, the world is so bad

Olivier

Hi Olivier- Welcome to YankeeFrogs. Don't worry about your English too much-
it's perfectly understandable.

I was a little surprised by the lack of "classical" French cars when I was in Paris- and that was back in 1986! The last 505 I've seen here in the US, besides a couple in the junkyards, was my 505 Turbo Break, and that was a few years ago. French cars never were very common here, few people understood them, and servicing was always frustratingly expensive.

A listing of the French cars I've owned (all of them are gone now, except the CX):
1963 Citroen ID19
1965 Citroen DS19
1974 Citroen GS 1220
1975 Citroen GS 1220
1963 Citroen 2CV
1974 Citroen Dyane 6
1986 Citroen CX Prestige
1978 Renault 5 GTL
1982 Renault 5 GTL
1978 Peugeot 504 GR Diesel
1982 Peugeot 505 S TurboDiesel
1984 Peugeot 505 Break TurboDiesel
1986 Peugeot 505 Break Turbo 2.2
1987 Peugeot 505 Break 2.0

Believe me- many French car enthusasts here are aware of the 305 and the Espace. We just never got them, especially since the last new French car we saw here was the 405, in 1992. Renault pulled out in 1990, and Citroen has not sold a new car here since 1973.

I like my CX, but what I really want is another GS, preferably a Break, Service, or Service Vitree.

Cheers-
Bill

[Mike Tippett]

Yes, welcome!

Don't be fooled into thinking that there are more French classic in the USA than in France. I have found 1100 Peugeot 404 Coupé and Cabriolet models still in existence in France alone, which is about 6.4% of the total production! In the USA and Canada together I have only found about 40.... and a grand total of 1407 worldwide so far.

My family's French cars through the years:

• 1960 Renault Dauphine (bought new in Metz 1960)
• 1966 Peugeot 404 KF2 Injection Super Luxe (bought new in Montreal 1966)
• 1972 Peugeot 504 Automatique US version (bought at Sochaux Nov 1971)
• 1977 Peugeot 504 SL Canadian version (bought North Vancouver 1977)
• 1976 Renault 5 GTL Canadian version (64 HP) bought 1978
• 1979 Renault 5 GTL Canadian version 64 HP sunroof (bought 1979)
• 1984 Renault Fuego 2.2 L (bought 1984 North Vancouver)
• 1967 Peugeot 404 Coupé Injection (bought Jan 1981 Vancouver)
• 1965 Renault Dauphine (bought Kamloops BC 1982)
• 1963 Peugeot 404 SL US version (bought West Vancouver 1985)
• 1984 Renault 5 TL Canadian version (1.4 L, 58 HP, bought North Vancouver 1990)
• 1989 Peugeot 405 DL 1.9 Injection (bought 1994, scrapped 2009)
• 1966 Peugeot 404 Coupé Injection (bought North Vancouver 1989 and I still have it)

The 405 went 366,000 km before it died but the 1963 404 beat that, making 580,000 km.

[olivier_FR]

Hello, thanks for your welcome
Yes maybe there is more "classical" French here in number, but don't forget that we have only these cars in the 80'.
And today the % of living "classical" is very very low, and continue to decrease.
Bye
Olivier

[Mike Tippett]

French cars I have owned in France (TT plates):

• 1981 Renault 5 GTL 1108 cc
• 1984 Renault 5 GTL 1108 cc BV5
• 1986 Renault 5 C 956 cc
• 1988 Renault 5 TR 1237 cc
• 1990 Renault Clio 1.2 RN
• 1996 Peugeot 405 Diesel Break "Style"
• 2006 Renault Scénic 1.9 dCi 130 HP

Maybe there will be more to come in the future....the other times I have been in Europe, like the past two years, I have rented cars or borrowed them from friends (Peugeots, usually - 207 CC HDI last year)!