Sunday, February 08, 2009

Carspotting (8): Peugeot 604

When I first caught a glimpse of this on the freeway in Oakland, I thought I was looking at an old BMW. But I did a double take and recognized that it was a Peugeot 604. I don't think I've ever seen one of these in the States before.

This Pininfarina designed model was the first modern Peugeot executive sedan. It was a huge flop. Poor performance, rust, and bland styling made it unappealing to all but the most ardent francophile.

Below is a stretched 604 belonging to former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.


CKY

3 comments:

Flavian said...

The 604 is a really nice car. The design is marvellous, discrete elegance and very french and still distinctly non-Citroen.

It is very comfortable and the turbodiesel is actually one of the first luxury diesels.

Yes, the V6 was not a hit and it did rust, but still this car is a classic. 153.000 were built and sold. To describe it as a flop is an exaggeration.

A friend of mine has one and riding it is something very special.

Flavian, Sweden

Rich said...

I had seen this 604 on SF Craigslist and figured you had spotted the same.

But what do you know, different plates! I'm amazed that there are at least a couple of these roaming the Bay Area streets...

Maxichamp said...

Rich, We in the Bay Area have a lot of unique cars. Yesterday morning, I saw a show room new Unimog on Highway 24!