Rare Peugeot snapped up by keen courtiers
A desirable Peugeot 404 convertible emerged from 33 years of dry storage to sell for three times its estimate in a recent sale at French auction house Aguttes’ Lyon headquarters. The car is a secondseries example sold new in 1967 and features a mix of specifications – Kugelfischer fuel injection, turquoise blue paint with black leather and the sleeker looks of the MKII version of Pininfarina’s shape. And as if to show that French collectors can get as excited over barn finds as any British enthusiast, the car was estimated at €10k-€15k but sold for €38,250 (£33,600), which is about what you’d pay for a good restored example.
The 404 convertible cost almost twice as much as a 404 saloon but still sold more than 10,000 units. With only one previous owner before the vendor’s family and in apparently well-preserved condition beneath the grime, this example offered a barn find’s usual challenge to bidders – to find another like it.