For years now, I feel that the automobile industry, and therefore the cars we drive, have become overly complex. With few exceptions, they have nothing to do with the simple cars that we drove not so long ago. Anti-pollution regulations, driving assistance, and the technology that overwhelms our cars have made them expensive, complicated, and heavy. Sometimes it is convenient to look to the past and verify the charm of a car as simple as a Peugeot 205 Style with 1.1 liter engine.
And it is that a real unicorn has recently been auctioned. But Sergio, how is an access Peugeot 205 going to be a unicorn? No, the car itself is not special. What is truly special is that this unit It was never registered and has only 65 km on its odometer. It is a brand new car, despite being 31 years old. It was auctioned in benzin.fr for a whopping 13,700 euros. The history of the car is curious: it was acquired by a Peugeot dealer in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, who decided never to use or register it.
It’s a time capsule. And it is in perfect working order.
In the spring of 2021, the vehicle was disposed of and it was sold to a private individual, who is the one who auctioned it off, presumably at a huge profit. In any case, the remarkable thing about this vehicle is that its condition is completely original. Both its paint and its mechanics are of strict origin, as is its interior. It looks like a time capsule. And that’s when we really appreciate the charm of her simplicity. Look at your steering wheel, plastic, without a single button. In its central console there is no sound equipment, nor more than six controls.
Its instrumentation even has a lap counter, since it changes ears. And yet, it’s full of storage spaces and even being extremely basic, it seems like an airy and well-constructed interior. The engine is another breath of fresh air: all its components can be identified with the naked eye. For not having this 1.1-litre, 50bhp engine doesn’t even have injection, it’s fed by a simple carburettor, perfectly visible. Its 13-inch wheels retain their original tires, and are covered by hubcaps.
When did even the simplest cars get so complicated?
East it was a very simple and basic car even in its time. Of course, any modern car is light years ahead in performance, safety, reliability and technology. But with everything, I feel that we have lost the essence of a simple and cheap car, and the sample is perhaps the very high price that a car as basic as this has commanded, 30 years later. I doubt its owner will drive it regularly, but in any case, we’ll still long for how simple and easy-going the cars used to be, and how that has changed so quickly.