How many left?

[N9TE]

I was thinking lately, how many examples are left of our cars?

I'm thinking for turbos, we're talking less then 50 that are good.

For all other 505s, maybe 150.

405s?  Maybe 50

I base this nothing but a gut feeling.  I use auto tempest all the time to search CL nationwide and for the last year, I may have seen 50 505s.  Most were rolling scrap metal.

 

[Mike T]

That sounds very low.

I used to think the same about the 404C.  I used to imagine that maybe 800 were left worldwide.  But in the 404C Registry started in 2009, we have found - 50 years on mind you - that at least 12% of the original production still exists - a total of 2014 cars at last count.  Now that's likely to head upward to 15% and beyond as we keep at it.  

I don't think that as high a percentage of 505s will have survived despite them being 20 years newer than the 404C...but still....consider that 60 404Cs are confirmed by VIN to be in the USA and a further 12 in Canada.  Does that help?

How many 505Ts were sold in the USA and Canada?  How many are just hoarded in garages, likely to reappear later?

[N9TE]

According to the Angelfire.com database:  {I don't know who the owner of that site is, where he/she got their number, etc.}

Google DOC

505 US Numbers
	Model Year	From Model Database website	12%
	1991	2223	267
	1990	4292	515
	1989	6095	731
	1988	6713	806
	1987	9422	1131
	1986	14296	1716
	1985	15636	1876
	1984	20007	2401
	1983	15241	1829
	1982	16725	2007
	1981	12930	1552
	1979	10000	1200
Total		133,580	16,030

1989-92 also included 405 numbers.  Perhaps you would halve that number to get 505s?  Also, 1979 is a 'guess'.  The data was no available.

Using their numbers and your percentage (12%), we get 16,030.  That seems pretty optimistic for a couple of reasons.  

1. The 505 was a first gen "modern" car, with fuel injection, and ECU and lots of wires.  It's much easier to keep a 504 or earlier car running.   Although there is a whole generation of car guys who grew up with nothing but FI & ECMS, this wasn't the case when 505s started reaching their save/crush moments (most likely in the 90s).  When the tended to break the level of expertise required (back in the day) was pretty high and the value of these cars was low and prospects of the values rising still have yet to be realized.  This means a lot of them met the crusher.
2. The Peugeot name in Europe is regarded higher than in the US.  By a lot.
3. The pre-505 cars are viewed as "more collectible" and likely to be saved.  How many 505s does Jim Schick have?

What percentage of people in the 404 registry live in the US/CN?  That might help us determine how many 505s are left in the US?

Do we have a registry somewhere?

[Mike T]

Sorry I am so late in replying!

http://www.smrtash.ca/404/browse.php?country=USA

Now other than the 404 Coupé and Cabriolet models, most of the others are gleaned from VIN databases that were old.

However, with 67 404C cars identified in the USA, and discounting however many would have been imported after 1968, that is a fair number.  if that is 12%, then  that would mean that 560 404Cs were sold when new in the USA, which is 3.5% of the total.  That number seems high to me.

But I agree about the 505 being less collectible.  I guess it's hard to know.