51-Mile 1975 Peugeot 504 Wagon Diesel 4-Speed Project

[DylanCarroll]

Hello Peugeot forum, I am after buying a 1975 Peugeot 504 Wagon Diesel with only 51 miles on the clock! It was a barn find in Ontario, CA. I live in Connecticut and would love to be directed to someone who could restore this special piece of history for me! I've attached the link to the auction site below. Any help finding a solid mechanic would be greatly appreciated! My normal classic car mechanic is slightly intimidated by this car.

Thank You

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-peugeot-504-2/

[Bean]

Welcome to the forum Dylan!

Your car was a barn find from Surrey BC!  I followed the auction as well, and the sellers had posted here as well prior to the action.  I was hoping the new owner would find us as I’m really looking forward to seeing how the car turns out.

We unfortunately don’t really have any Marque specialist restorers, but any of the really good places wouldn’t have a problem with a concours restoration - but that’d be a high 5/6 digit cost.

“Restoration” has an incredibly wide range of meaning, so for some it’d be to go through it and return it to functionality, and for others it means a museum quality restoration for a collection.

First thing would be to determine what kind of budget are you talking about, and what is the end goal / plan for the car?  If you’re handy you can get WAY better value getting it functional yourself as there’s a lot of great tech resources on the forum that would be happy to provide guidance, but if you prefer paying to have it done it’s going to be pricey.

Probably the best shop closest to you would be Imported Car Center in Burlington VT.  Arlo Cota’s dealership has been involved with Peugeots a lot of years and likely has the resources to do whatever level you wanted, but it’s not going to be economical in a ROI perspective.  Hopefully this is a sentimental purchase that you bought for a specific reason - So once we have more details on what ideas / purpose you had for it, and the budget planned for it, it’ll be a lot easier to brainstorm options available.

BTW - We love pictures.  

Rabin

[Mike T]

White Post Restorations in Virginia is very good - not close though.  My advice would be to have the car comprehensively gone over and all rust dealt with immediately to stop it spreading and the damaged paint repaired even though it means losing the "originality".  The double bump strips on the car were something Brasso Peugeot did when they were selling these cars and it's not to my taste, but removing it would mean repainting every panel due to the drilled holes used to affix it, so it's best IMO to leave it in place.  The braking system will require all new hoses and a rebuild of all cylinders.  The bodyshell should be rustproofed before it's used, especially the box sections which no doubt have surface rust inside them.  A good shop will know what to do to make it roadworthy and I expect all the work would cost a few tens of thousands.

[DylanCarroll]

@Bean @Mike T Thank you so much for the help! My father grew up in the north west of Ireland surrounded by tons of Peugeots, especially 504s. He actually drove one identical years ago. We loved the story behind this particular one and couldn't believe the mileage! My father is very handy but is extremely busy with work/terrible with computers so Ive decided to help out and try and find someone in the US northeast who could help! We want the car to look/drive like its rolling out of the factory again! Burlington VT could be fine if the guy does good work! My father does hate the front and back bumpers, and would love chrome bumpers if they're possible to find. I found a list of mechanics that might work on Peugeots, the list looks a little outdated but maybe you guys would know a few of them: http://myplace.frontier.com/~peugeot/mechanics

Trying to get this car dropped off somewhere soon! I really really appreciate all the help and will send Pictures ASAP!

-Dylan  

[Bean]

Chrome bumpers would have to be a very custom job as the bumper supports for the big rubber bumper are sized to match - the chrome ones simply don’t even cover them.  
 

If you knew any fine aluminum fabricators a larger polished alloy bumper could possibly be fabricated and look pretty sharp, but that’d be quite the project itself.

As Mike mentioned - A concours restoration would cost many tens of thousands, and its almost a guaranteed certainty you’d never be able to sell it for a profit.  All that is moot for the right reasons and enough disposable income however.

Budget allocation for repairs is going to be the biggest factor of where the car should go. 
 

Rabin

[Mike T]

Leave the big bumpers on it, they are super heavy and the car will literally sit too high without them!  As Rabin notes, the bumper mounts are totally different as are the holes in the front bodywork for those bumpers so it's not a good idea to mess with them.  And look on the bright side, you will never worry when parallel parked.

The diesel engine in 1975 had only 65 HP so it will be working hard and very slow in this large car, but I'd discourage re-engining it unless the original engine is unrestorable.  If that's the case, consider a turbo diesel from a late 505, which has 95 HP.

The body needs some touching up but should not be too bad to get looking sharp enough.

I think the big costs will be in treating all the surface rust, reupholstering it (I understand the vinyl is cracked - Peugeot actually recalled this model year for that problem but the owner evidently didn't do that), redoing the brakes and getting the engine operational and reliable.  The injection pump is a specialist matter if it needs work.