Three quarters of his life
“Three quarters of my life.” With those four words, 48-year-old Belgian John Bacon describes his bond with the Peugeot 205 XS, which has been in his life for 36 years. Although the Peugeot briefly disappeared from sight, it was never actually out of his mind. “When I sit in the back, I feel twelve years old again!”
John Bacon (48) looks tenderly at his 1987 Peugeot 205 1.4 XS. “It’s actually a kind of time machine,” he laughs. “This car is a piece of history. He represents exactly three quarters of my life.” That calculation is correct, because when the Peugeot was first allowed on public roads in 1987, John was twelve years old. He also witnessed that beautiful moment, to be precise from the back seat: “Our dad bought this Peugeot in 1987. It was brand new at the time, my father was very proud of his new car and I was sitting in the middle of the back seat. watching my dad drive it home.” It was actually determined before he was born that John would become a car enthusiast. “Our love for cars goes from generation to generation,” says John. “My grandfather was a mechanic and a big car fanatic. That hobby was passed on to my father, who passed it on to me. The first car I remember from our dad is a Ford Capri. When my parents started building a house, they had to make way for something more economical, so a Mini was built. Then came two Ford Fiestas, first one of the first generation, then one of the second generation. I didn’t like that anyway. I never found that rounded nose a success.”
John was twelve years old behind the wheel of the then brand new Peugeot 205.
John hoped that Dad Bacon would buy a 205 GTi
So John was happy when dad Bacon announced sometime in 1986 that he was looking for another car. The battle was between a Golf and a Peugeot 205. John: “I hoped he would buy a GTi, but it was too expensive. At the end of 1986 we went to the car show in Ghent and there we saw the Peugeot 205 XS. It was new at the time and had the appearance of the GTi, but a smaller engine. This meant that the XS was accessible. So I made it clear to my father that he had to take it. It drove him crazy, I said it so many times.” John’s father Eric changed tack, partly under pressure from his wife Nadine, who also liked the Peugeot. On March 12, 1987, John Bacon ordered his 205 By trading in his Fiesta, which John hated, he still had to pay 242,000 francs. The Peugeot was equipped with a free radio cassette player with Bristol boxes and the cassette tape ‘Hits Album 5’, which would be completely out of use in the 205 in the years that followed, says John. “The first song was ‘Final Countdown’ by Europe. I can’t hear that song without thinking of the 205.”
For the younger ones among us: this is a cassette tape. That has turned gray in the Peugeot 205.
First ride with Peugeot 205 is etched in John’s memory
In the years that followed, John, initially seated in the middle of the back seat, would develop a strong bond with the little Peugeot, which became unbreakable the moment he moved from the back seat to the driver’s seat. His first ride is etched in his memory, because armed with a provisional driver’s license he made it at the wheel of the 205, with his father next to him and his mother in the back seat. “The feeling that you suddenly set such a car in motion yourself is very special, but it left me wanting more, especially for my inner Max Verstappen,” says John. “It was a shame for my parents that I had to take the highway on my first ride. went up and suddenly found myself in the fog, with a maximum visibility of ten meters. They were white with fright, those poor people.”
Fog or no fog, John got his driver’s license and was then confronted with a plan that his father had been pursuing since 1987. “He continued to drive this 205 for a remarkably long time. It wasn’t until I got my driver’s license that I understood why: all along he had planned to donate the car to me and then buy another one himself. A fantastic gift, there is no better gift,” says John. “The older I get, the more I realize that. I’m a lucky guy to have a father like that.” John would grow up in the 205 – as is the case with a first car – we get tired of it again.
John cheated with a Toyota MR2, 205
That moment came in 2000, when he spotted a Toyota MR2, with more horsepower, rear-wheel drive and without a roof. Much cooler than a 205. “Having two cars registered was too expensive for me, so I had to do something with the 205. My father thought I should get rid of it, but me? I just couldn’t do that. I mean: my father gave me that car, you wouldn’t throw something like that away, would you?” Without knowing exactly why, John convinced his parents to build a wooden garage on their property to store the Peugeot: “Don’t ask me why, but I was just sure that I would still use that car.” What he didn’t know was that this would take a very long time. Eighteen years old to be precise. The Peugeot was a bit forgotten. John admits this with a red blush on his cheeks: “How is that possible? The hustle and bustle of life, I think. I became a father and had a job with irregular hours. Then there is little time left. And then my father suddenly said that he had looked in the ‘room’ near the 205, that there was a 5 centimeter layer of dust on it, that a mirror had fallen off and that all four tires were flat. Then I woke up and went to take a look. I was shocked by what I found. Rats or mice had hidden a complete winter supply of acorns under the hood. I really thought that things would not turn out well with the 205. But partly at the insistence of my wife and parents, I started it anyway.”
The 1.4 with carburetor helps the Peugeot 205 to 80 hp. That was really something at the time, although the 1.6 GTi had 105 or 115 hp, the 1.9 GTi first produced 130 hp and later with a catalytic converter up to 122 hp.
New spark plugs, filters and fuel lines: Peugeot was running again
With a comrade, John quickly managed to bring the Peugeot back to life for the first time in eighteen years. “The engine was not stuck, and with new spark plugs, filters, some air in the tires and a few meters of new fuel lines, it ran as usual. That was an emotional moment!” John remembers. He took the Peugeot to a mechanic who checked the brakes and prepared the 205 for inspection. As soon as John received his new vintage car license plates, he took his first ride. He went, how could it be otherwise, to his parents. On that ride the 205 captured his heart again, this time forever.
Peugeot 205
When the weather is nice, John drives the little Peugeot as often as he can, and every time he drives he feels eighteen again. Sometimes he crawls into the back for a moment, then it’s like he’s twelve again. In the meantime, he has discovered that the 205 XS has become quite a rarity, but the increasing value of his Peugeot is completely secondary. The feeling, that’s what counts. He says: “In retrospect, I know that saving the 205 was my best idea ever. I couldn’t bear him not being here anymore. The best thing about this car is that it stays the same as everyone ages. My mother passed away in 2020, but I am very happy that she lived to see the Peugeot given a new life. Actually, I’m a little angry with myself for neglecting the car for so long. This Peugeot will stay with me forever, that’s for sure. My father would understand if I wanted to sell it, but I feel like I would be kicking his ass with that. I may be bald now, but not a hair on my head thinks about it. That is excluded. I like this car, it’s that simple.”
John did put the wheels of the GTi 1.9 on his Peugeot 205 XS. Has that GTi dream come true after all?
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl