Moped from the 70s going strong in Morocco
No permit is required to drive the bike and it is prized all the more after going out of production
In France it slipped into legend after delighting longhaired teenagers in the seventies and eighties, but in Morocco the tireless moped spurts on despite an invasion of cheaper Chinese scooters.
The Peugeot 103 has been around for so long in the North African country that most Moroccans do not notice it.
But with its rounded handlebars, spluttering engine and signature exhaust cloud of blue smoke, the Peugeot 103 is to Morocco what the Renault 4L is to Madagascar: almost a national emblem.
“We adore the 103,” says Mohammad Ngaire, a salesman at a used motorbike and moped market in Rabat, showcasing the most beautiful specimens of the Peugeot 103 still in circulation.
“The Fox, named after its headlight that makes it look like a fox. The Ninja with its black coat and steel hubcaps. The safe Vogue, and the unmissable 103” Sport Prestige, says the 63-yearold, a popular character at the seaside venue.
The first models of the Peugeot 103 were made in France in 1971, intended for older people living in the countryside.
In Morocco, “they started arriving in the eighties,” says a mechanic in central Rabat who gave his name as Habachi.
The model “became popular among the working class and low-ranking public servants,” says the man in his fifties.
No permit is required to drive the moped, which can be spotted at virtually every street corner in Morocco.
They scoot around in all their legendary glory — starting pedals, 49cm3 engine, miraculous petrol tank back-up, 45km/h speed limit and all. Some models have been customised in new chrome colours.
But the must-have item is a special kit to boost the engine’s carburator. Urban legend has it that all thieves in the southern city of Marrakesh once retuned their mopeds like this, so police were ordered to arrest anyone riding one at more than 80 km/h.
France stopped producing the 103 in 2011 and Morocco followed suit three years later.
Nostalgic moped lovers are now forced to make do with an obsolete if beautiful catalogue of seven models priced from 7,400 Moroccan dirhams ($740, Dh2,695) for the orange 103 Classic to 10,600 Moroccan dirhams for a Fox with a pointy nose.
But at the Rabat motorbike market, worries are high over a new arrival in town.
For about a decade, cheap Chinese scooters have invaded the country, says Ngaire, with “that aggressive look youth like so much”.