Europe by 31year old Peugeot 309! And Landrover....

[Melfjord]

Having just missed the boat on buying the beige pug 205 from Beige1100 on this forum a few weeks (I guess it will be months now!) We turned our attention to finding an equally beige replacement... our actual criteria was to find a 30 year or older car with original chassis and engine to import to Norway where we have just moved to. Importing cars out in Norway is devastatingly expensive unless the car is over 30 years or electric.
Driving out to the far north of Norway in a 30 year old car might seem daunting but it beat the thought of trying to find enough electric charging points on route, plus a 30 yr old banger was more in our price range!
After searching everywhere for a car which suited we were almost giving up but about an hour before boarding our prebooked flight to the UK to pick up a car we found one and phoned the garage in Brighton sending a deposit a few minutes later. 
First things first we had to get our unfortunately youthful, well 21yr old so 9 years off the magic number for Norway, landrover Discovery 300TDI from Orkney with a trailer load of all our earthly belongings south to Brighton to pick up the New old car.
It's a long journey to ask of any car and having placed a lot of faith in a car we had seen 5 photos of online it was a bit nerve-wracking turning up at the garage.
So meet our new chariot our 31yr old Peugeot 309 1.1
The beige exterior and brown interior screams 80s, far from the comforts of frankly any luxury this 31 yr old beige beast has actually been looked after remarkably well by its previous owners.
Rescued from the fate of a scrapyard previous to us buying it she's in amazingly good condition with a full MOT. We put her to the garage in Suffolk near a friends where she got treated to new break pipes and a few bits while we carried on through Europe with the Landrover Discovery and tow. A quick turnaround after unloading the tons of household goods and we arrived back to Suffolk.  The trusty Landy is now up for sale after proving herself! ...so if anyone is looking for a trustworthy landy give us a shout!!
The 309 retrieved from the garage headed up to Aberdeen, down to Sussex, back up to Aberdeen and down to Dover. Now loaded with lots of leftover bits and pieces we stayed a couple of nights in North France.... in the hottest weather in 41 years briefly visiting a scrap yard for a few bits, then headed through Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and finally, after customs, Norway. 150 miles north of the Arctic circle and 5000 miles in the few weeks since purchase. What a car!

 

[Cavcraft]

Ha, that's brilliant!

[loserone]

I've seen snippets and photos of this escapade in various places on the interwebs, but I'm really pleased to see that you're actually posting here.

 

-fellow old peugeot owner who would one day love to live in Norway

[hairnet]

nutter

[Asimo]

100/10

[richbraith]

I saw this for sale and thought it looked a good buy.  This is one in the eye for anyone who won't go further than the shops in an old car.  Excellent work!

[Junkman]

1986 Roolz.

[mk2_craig]

brilliant stuff!!

[trigger]

This is just great, i was following your story over on East Coast Retros on Facebook and shared it on here last week. Pleased to see that it's made it too.

[stephen01]

​Love it! Also that 309 looks fresh, why that ended up in a scrapyard?!

 

​5000 miles in a few weeks is good going for most cars, but a 30 years old Peugeot!

[RayMK]

I am so pleased to see our old 309 out and about on new adventures.  We (my son) owned it from 2008 until 2012.  It was bought in Derbyshire as a low mileage car in excellent condition and sold by us in equally excellent condition.  It was ultra-reliable. Unfortunately, the chap who bought it could not start it a week or so later, either because of poor technique or possibly bad luck (2nd hand cars can throw a 'wobbler,' as we all know).  We offered to buy it back but he declined, saying it was in such good condition he wanted to persevere with it.  He got it fixed by a garage but still could not start it and, after several months asked if we still wanted to buy it back.  By then, so many people, including himself, had 'fiddled' with it and we had bought another car and had no room. Reluctantly, we let the offer pass. The 309 then passed to a dealer who sold it to a chap who obviously just wanted a banger for work.  When he sold it on, the interior was badly stained and the car had not been cared for.  We were relieved to see that it popped up again on eBay a few weeks ago down south, a bit cleaner but still looking shabby inside.

 

As bought in 2008 (1st two photos).   The other photos were taken during our ownership - you can see part of my Hyundai Stellar in one of them.

 

 

 

[stephen01]

​I miss my old 309, doubt i'll have another as they seem to sell for decent money now.

[Guest Hooli]

Road trip to Norway is on my bucket list.

[chaseracer]

I'm wishing I'd had the time in March to go the extra bit north from Trollhattan.  Next time... 

[Jim Bell]

Old beige 309s, Ive had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

 

Well bought and well traveled dude. All the nordics are winners.

[hairnet]

Road trip to Norway is on my bucket list.

funnily enough..............

[Melfjord]

I am so pleased to see our old 309 out and about on new adventures.  We (my son) owned it from 2008 until 2012.  It was bought in Derbyshire as a low mileage car in excellent condition and sold by us in equally excellent condition.  It was ultra-reliable. Unfortunately, the chap who bought it could not start it a week or so later, either because of poor technique or possibly bad luck (2nd hand cars can throw a 'wobbler,' as we all know).  We offered to buy it back but he declined, saying it was in such good condition he wanted to persevere with it.  He got it fixed by a garage but still could not start it and, after several months asked if we still wanted to buy it back.  By then, so many people, including himself, had 'fiddled' with it and we had bought another car and had no room. Reluctantly, we let the offer pass. The 309 then passed to a dealer who sold it to a chap who obviously just wanted a banger for work.  When he sold it on, the interior was badly stained and the car had not been cared for.  We were relieved to see that it popped up again on eBay a few weeks ago down south, a bit cleaner but still looking shabby inside.

 

As bought in 2008 (1st two photos).   The other photos were taken during our ownership - you can see part of my Hyundai Stellar in one of them.

 

100_0322.JPG100_0319.JPG

Wow thanks for sharing! The car still is fairly rust free and looks not too bad at all on the outside... Thanks to previous owners care and attention. Thank you!

We noticed on the log book 5 previous owners. Were you the second?

We noticed a 1987 one for sale here... Wonder how many we will see in our travels?! 

[Guest Hooli]

funnily enough..............

 

My rough plan is up the west coast to Nordkapp, backdown Finland & maybe a 'small' diversion to St Petersburg.

 

Won't be for a few years mind.

[RayMK]

Wow thanks for sharing! The car still is fairly rust free and looks not too bad at all on the outside... Thanks to previous owners care and attention. Thank you!

We noticed on the log book 5 previous owners. Were you the second?

We noticed a 1987 one for sale here... Wonder how many we will see in our travels?! 

 

Yes, my son was the second owner.  First was the classic 'elderly owner' who trundled to the local shops once a week, accumulating very few miles over the years and presumably kept the car in a garage.  309s are more prone to rust than the 205 - we have had many 205s and I currently have an automatic.  We bought it from an 'appointment only' type dealer who advertised the car in Derbyshire for £900 with just under 20K miles recorded.  My son used it regularly for four or five years, putting the mileage up to around 40K before replacing it in 2012 with a 205 diesel (sold on in 2015)  and a '94 Fiat Tipo 1.4ie which we still have.  We loved the basic, homely beigeness of the 309 and its complete reliability.  I hope it gives you good service.

[BorniteIdentity]

Contender for thread of the year. Much calendar potential.

 

Carry on.

[Lacquer Peel]

Simca pushrod engine? Heroic stuff.

[Melfjord]

Thanks the info. We will try and get a garage sorted out before the winter to help fight rust and an engine heater too! We too love the simplicity of the 309. We've had several 205s and yes they are very good little cars. Great diesels. Also a citroen zx diesel and a Renault 5 diesel!

 

I think it is indeed a simca poissy engine. Amazing really to get better than 50mpg from a petrol engine designed early 1960s. No belt to worry about either.

[Melfjord]

All cleaned up