Without key experience, these brothers restored fathers Peugeot 404

“What side are you doing?” Denis Cnudde cringes a bit at those words, spoken by a policeman. Understandable, because at that moment he is sitting in a Peugeot 404 without doors, with only one seat and a bottle of diesel at the fuel pump, while the diesel enthusiastically leaks onto the street. It’s October 2010 and Denis takes the first test drive with the 404, on which he and his brother have been working for about seven years. “That ride was a complete drama”, Denis sighs. “We had a lot of trouble getting the car to start, it just wouldn’t turn. So we attached a water bottle to the fuel pump to bypass the filters. Then the engine was running, so I decided to take a 100-meter test drive down the street. So within those hundred meters I was stopped. Fortunately, because we are postmen, we know everyone and see everything. Not only do we know the police, we also regularly provide them with useful tips. That’s why the cop was kind to me, but I’ll never drive without a license plate again. I was shocked!”

Peugeot 404 from 1973 was a diesel, because it was stable

This Peugeot starts its life in 1973 as an ordinary family car with an ordinary family. Rudy and Denis remember why their father opted for a diesel at the time: “Father drove trucks. He transported fuel and building materials. Because of his work he knew that a diesel engine was a stable factor.” In this Peugeot, that factor appears to be slightly less stable; the 404 undergoes an engine change twice. Nevertheless, the Peugeot happily chugs on until 1989. In that year, 16 years old, it is stopped, after a long and at times difficult life. “During the time we had the Peugeot, my father built two houses, so the 404 pulled a lot of trailers,” says Denis.

The purchase invoice of the Peugeot 404.

404 is parked

Father Cnudde wants to sell the Peugeot, but at the urging of his sons he parks the car at the family’s home. “Love for the Lion”, otherwise Rudy and Denis cannot explain the urge to keep the Peugeot. While the Peugeot enjoys its rest next to the parental home, time ticks by. Father and mother Cnudde get older, get health problems and father Cnudde dies quite suddenly. Instantly, the parked Peugeot changes from a wreck into a loving memory. Denis and Rudy don’t know how, but they are sure that the 404 must be restored to its former glory, if necessary with their own hands and without knowledge. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

“Love for the Lion”, otherwise Rudy and Denis cannot explain the urge to keep the Peugeot.

Patience and books help the 404 recover

September 13, 2003 is an important day for the Cnudde brothers. It is the day when the 404 emerges from the sleeping place where it has been for years with the help of a tractor. From that moment on, many weekends are dedicated to the old Peugeot. For the first two years, the whole family throws themselves into what they call “the big cleanup.” That is a bit more complicated than it sounds, because it is not only a matter of cleaning, but also, above all, of removing rust and restoring the bodywork. “The lower door edges were very rotten,” says Rudy. “But we also had to completely redo the edge of the boot lid. That was quite a challenge.”

In 2007 the 404 is back on its wheels

In 2007 the Peugeot is back on its wheels for the first time and in 2008 the engine is mounted again. Then the project takes an unexpected turn. Denis: “At the end of 2008, our mother went to a rest home and we had to sell the parental home. The problem was that we immediately lost our workspace.” With the necessary pain and effort, Denis finds a place for the 404 at his own home and the brothers can continue with filling and finishing. “It has not surprised anyone more than us,” the brothers say. “But with patience and a mountain of technical books, no problem actually turned out to be unsolvable.” That doesn’t mean nothing goes wrong. Denis and Rudy use different donor 404s and install a petrol tank in their car, for example, which is precisely a diesel. Not insoluble, but a lot of extra work. Fortunately, the brothers are not averse to that, not even double work. “In 2009 we were already well on our way, but with luck we were able to buy a 404 Diesel that, although it had been in an accident, had only run 12,000 kilometers and was rust-free. We were able to get a lot of good parts out of that. That was sometimes double work, but we just think positively. After all, we have achieved something beautiful in those years, especially for two postmen who have only tinkered with cars as boys.”

Looking for the right sun visor for a long time

After the test drive and the infamous conversation with the police officer, little stands in the way of the 404. A retired bodywork repairman, an acquaintance of the brothers, expertly carries out the painting. In the middle of 2016, the Peugeot will finally go for inspection and in the summer it will make its debut on Denis’s wife’s sixtieth birthday. It is not yet perfect, says Denis: “We were looking for an orange sun visor for the sliding roof, but it is difficult to find. Until an acquaintance of ours came across the wreckage of a 404 at a public sale, which had an orange sun visor on it. He knew we were looking for it and gave our address to the curator, who passed it on to the buyer of the 404. He contacted us a long time later. He only wanted €30 for that sun visor. Connoisseurs know that this is a very good price.”

Diesel, but they keep driving

It is the conclusion of a project that the brothers manage to complete with a very limited budget anyway. “What we spent?” says Denis. “A few thousand euros, at most. For an expert, this car is certainly not perfectly restored, but we are amateurs and are not ashamed. And that is not necessary, because it is unprecedented how many people appeal to us. A Peugeot 404 has a certain cachet that the Citroën DS also has. It naturally evokes nostalgia in people. Countless times we have been approached by people who tell us that their parents also had a 404 in the past. That’s exactly why this car is so important to us. Perhaps the best part is that our mother saw how we started the restoration. She really liked the respect we have for this car. It is and will of course remain an old diesel, but as long as it does not become a real problem with the regulations, we will continue to drive it. The smell of the past is still there and it is simply priceless.”

This story was published in AutoWeek Classics 03 2020