another french car thread

3 front seats,...

304S convertable - cool in a chic way not a leery way

Argentinian 504 - not at all cool, 70's ones with the chrome cool

Renault 5 Mk1's they still look like littel spaceships, lovely design, timeaess and completely underated.

this...




...veeery cool. Fantastic wheels and ruler straight lines. 3ltr v6 for go!

Agreed 504 estates are coool.

Interestingly Peugeot had no money to develop the 604 so they simply whacked new panels ontoa 504!! Doors are the same though!

604 low rider...mmm...pimpy

That one in Practical Classics was not an Argentinian plastic bumper model with the bumpers changed, it was a current model Kenyan built one in basically standard form. They even have a 5 speed gearbox.

The 604 is a series1 which makes it 1979 at the latest but it is wearing 15" series 2 GTi wheels. I used to own a very late series 1 SL and it was a fantastic car apart from a few things which were designed to be as wierd as possible and a little troublesome.
They were introduced with a 2664cc V6 engine, but were later available with a 504 4 cylinder and a turbo diesel. The BA10 gearbox was developed to have a manual option as teh BA7 was not strong enough. The BA10 later became the BA10/5 and was also used in some 505s.
The SL had carbies, but it was an unusual system. There was a 504 single barrel carb at th efront of the motor operated by the throttle cable and a twin choke mounted at the rear of the motor and operated by vacuum. This is prone to going out of adjustment. The low compression motors in some markets, Sweden was one, had a single centrally mounted Weber and the UK market Volvo 264 had available a SU setup.
Volvo injection works well too, as does teh Pug injection system.
The ignition is very expensive and prone to wearing out points and rotors. Volvo ignition is easy to fit and reliable. Pretty much nothing else works as it is an odfire engine.

Australia never got diesels, no 4 cyls, no manuals, in fact we got only one spec, V6 automatic, carby points ignition, leather seats, susroof, electric windows, air con all stadard. Many of these were optional extras in other markets.

The later engines went to 3.0 litres, and there was even a 24v version with a balance shaft for extra smoothness. Later engines were also evenfire which run smoother but don't sound as sporty.

If you ever get one of these little beauties, chuck the carbies, chuck the ignition, get electric central locking, the vacuum one is a pain in the . Get a manual box and have heaps of fun. There are several people here in Australia with those V6s in 505s with twin turbos etc. In fact the bloke who got my 604 has a 504 with a twin turbo V6 with over 20 grand in custom parts in the engine and he is hoping for 850hp but I think 600 will pull it up.

They are one of the best riding cars I have driven, the brakes are fantastic, the power steering is not too sensitive, they have all the gadgets. I just love them.

By the way, the easy way to identify a series 1 is the round fuel filler flap, series 2s had rectangle ones.