PEUGEOT PARTS WITH PROTOTYPES

Factory museum’s bid to sell reserve collection to raise funds

Twenty eight cars and a selection of automobilia from the PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroën & DS) will go under the hammer with auction house, Aguttes, on 20 September at the Peugeot Museum, L’Aventure Peugeot in Sochaux, France. Lots include a number of cars from the museum’s reserve collection of the Peugeot Citroën DS Adventure Association, L’Aventure Peugeot and Conservatoire Citroën.

L’Aventure Peugeot Citroën DS director, Xavier Crespin, said: ‘We have the mission to build and preserve the best elements of this great industrial history. That’s why we have to part with duplicate models or models deemed not essential to the collection in order to acquire the cars we lack.

‘For this sale, 28 out of the 55 cars [have come from the museum]. The rest of the sale consists of models from individuals or collections.’ Xavier also explained that while L’Aventure Peugeot and Conservatoire Citroën have reopened with COVID-19 safeguards in place, the business lost money owing to coronavirus closures: ‘We are seeing a very significant drop in public attendance (more than 40 per cent) and especially the turnover of the reception space for groups or companies (more than 90 per cent). This greatly weakens the economic balance of our association. It will take time to restore people’s confidence to come back, though we have put a whole health protection system in place.’

Some of the star lots from the auction include a 1966 Citroën DS cabriolet, a 1984 Citroën Visa Dangel Group B rally prototype and a 1985 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6 newly restored by the museum’s workshop. The full catalogue can be found online.

1985 205 GTI has just received a full re-spray from the museum workshop.

Stillborn Visa Dangel boasts all-wheel drive and a mid-mounted PRV V6.

Future collection plans and falling attendance has prompted L’Aventure Peugeot, PSA Group’s official museum, to auction 28 cars from its reserve collection.