605 of Doom Blue poverty

[TheXUDfiles]

I lost my password some months ago. While sorting out my old laptop, I found it, alone with some pictures of last year's moronic, ongoing  activities. Enjoy. 

I've not been posting about any of my cars anywhere for a long time - to be honest I've been quite happy just driving them, and haven't really done anything that interesting with them anyway.

14 months ago, a fairly disgusting 605 SRDT came up for grabs on Gumtree in the middle of a pandemic. There was no way to legally view it, so my partner and I bought it blind and had it Shipley'd over, communicating with the seller only via email. 

It was a leap of faith, but if you don't have faith in 90s diesel Peugeots, quite frankly you should give up on life. 

A week later, this was deposited on our driveway. 

It was owned by the same lady its whole life, as the blue V5 was testament too, but I don't think she washed it very often. Odd, as it's a well known fact that old ladies dig car detailing. 

 

 

But still, let us worship at the altar of originality, and praise the holy dealership sticker, clinging on for dear life in the back window. 

Lo,  thou interior may be tidy, if be brown where once was grey. 

First impressions were of a car which drove very well and had been well looked after, which happened to have not moved for quite a long time. A binding calliper at the back was the first sign of a long slumber. During covid I volunteered to do prescription runs for older people in our village, which gave me a chance to actually drive it. Oddly, the air con was still working. 

If it wasn't driven for a couple of days, the battery would go flat. 

Ever have those: "what am doing with my life?" moment?

Thankfully, the '90s battery charger was called upon to rescue the '90s car (and probably '90s battery).

A weeks later I decided it was time to address the binding calliper. It turned out the calliper had rusted onto the disc as one ancient rusty blob. Just as well I threw it the garage who were happy* to take on the challenge** of hellicoiling snapped bolts out and attacking it with a blow torch. Here's some pictures of when I came to bring it some grapes and a get well soon card. 

 

I attempted to MOT it, then both front coils snapped on the ramp. I don't have any pictures, but I counted four pieces on the floor. Had it fixed, after going to NCIS lengths to track down the right coils (it turns out 308 springs will fit) and we passed.

Deep cleaned it , and found it to be quite nice under the ming:

So, what is it? It's an SRDT, which means you get more wood trim, the posh radio and air-con. However, being shod on plastic covers and lined with cloth seats, you, and the outside world are reminded that you're not quite good enough. DT denotes that its a turbo diesel (living up to my user name).

This is the 3rd 605 I've owned, and probably the best. I can see this sticking around for a long time with us, and after a year of ownership its still my favourite in our little fleet.

But it's weird. I've always wanted a phase two, dark blue 605 with cloth seats and wheel trims (I'm aware that that sentence is a portal which allows you to look into my mind, and see just how perverse I really am). Don't ask me why, I just have. 

The amount of time I spend cleaning, polishing, and looking at this thing probably looks a lot like mental illness to the outside world and Asperger's Syndrome to my ever-tolerant partner, but there's nothing better than making a dream come true - even a dream as pedestrian as this one.

 

 

 

 

[HMC]

Lovley! IIRC pinifarina did the interior design as well, one reason why Chris goffey thought the centre console to be form over function. Blazer rather than sensible sweater in this road test, showing he is prepared to think outside the box.

 

[PrinceRupert]

Looks rather charming, I like it.  Even though if most will struggle to understand the appeal. At least your other half appears to approve!

 

Some of your pics sadly ain't working.

[TheXUDfiles]

7 minutes ago, HMC said:

Lovley! IIRC pinifarina did the interior design as well, 

 

Pinin did the interior, but surprisingly, Peugeot did the exterior themselves. Pininfarina submitted proposals which influenced the finished car, though.

[TheXUDfiles]

9 minutes ago, PrinceRupert said:

 

 

Some of your pics sadly ain't working.

You ain't missing much.

[Broadsword]

Really, really handsome vehicle and prime AS! The 605 is definitely one of those cars I regret not having. I like the colour and spec on yours. Looking forward to seeing more progress on it!

[TheXUDfiles]

It probably managed to be AS the second it was launched. I like the colour and spec too "exists only in old magazines" spec.

[stuboy]

thought 605 was punted as executive model.. but cloth and trims...strange

[Jim Bell]

Bit of blue for the dads. Lovely. 

[brownnova]

605 has always been one of my favourite Peugeot’s. I do love a 90s exec barge. A cracking thing and lovely to read about. 

[Soundwave]

Lovely stuff! I know where there's a Phase 1 SRDT in a similar hue, been sitting there since at least 2014. One of those "I'll leave a note under the wipers one day" cars, except I never do.

I'll be following this thread, maybe it'll inspire me to get my thumb out of my arse and give it a shot.

 

 

[meggersdog]

What a lovely old car this is and both times I saw it was immaculately clean.

Yeah, I'm the nasty MoT man who failed it then eventually passed it.

 

How's the 306 coming along @TheXUDfiles

[TheXUDfiles]

12 hours ago, meggersdog said:

What a lovely old car this is and both times I saw it was immaculately clean.

Yeah, I'm the nasty MoT man who failed it then eventually passed it.

 

How's the 306 coming along @TheXUDfiles

Why, thank you! 

If bits of the car are falling off when its on the ramps, one would say that the MOT is a forgone conclusion...To be honest, I didn't think it would be returned to the Nasty MOT man, by rights it should be dead by now!

The 306 is being worked on as we speak, by world's cheapest, nicest, but slowest garage. 

[Bitzer]

IIRC, my father in law had this very shite, in burgundy metallic. He had it scrapped after rather dramatic failure of rear axle torsion bar and swore he would never buy another pug.

Was many moons ago and I really do not remember any details.

[Hogie]

I remember seeing one of these in that colour on the forecourt outside Warwick Wright Kenton back in the late 90s when my old man went to test drive a 406 Estate.

Always liked them, especially in that colour.

[Scruffy Bodger]

Great to see a 605, such a rare find now. Where did they lose their way in the badge exercise tho? My SRDT has all the sports* bits of the Sri or Mi16 and it's only 2 years newer.

[Richard_FM]

The last one I remember seeing was a blue L reg example around Stockport at least 10 years ago.

They were always hard to tell from a 405 from a distance.

[Scrubworks]

You've made a fantastic job of that. Looks very smart now. Always loved these cars since our French teacher showed us the Taxi films  (even though that was a 406, but close enough).

[richbraith]

I'd like to try this and compare it to the old V6 of yours I drove last year and fell in love with.   I'd also like to take it back to the former site of its supplying dealer, which must have been the smallest Peugeot dealer by square footage in the UK for years.  The 605 would barely fit lengthways on the old forecourt I imagine.

[Talbot]

Always thought it was a shame there was never a 605 Estate available, which would have looked like a 405 estate at 1.15x magnification.  That would have been a car I would have definitely bought.  405 Estates are great cars, but just fractionally small for my wants.