Peugeot 304 (1973) – Enthusiast Wanted

With its modest dimensions and technology, the Peugeot 304 is an ordinary family car from a time when driving became more and more accessible to the masses. The somewhat older AutoWeek reader will immediately recognize the model and will probably be reminded of the car of – let’s just name it – his or her neighbors of yesteryear. Peugeot made almost 1.2 million copies of the 304 between 1969 and 1980, a large part of which was allowed to serve in its home country France. This car could just be one of those ‘stayers at home’.

It is not originally Dutch. The car was introduced in 1998. License plate experts see this from the letter combination on the (officially therefore not allowed) blue plates. Since the import, he has known four private owners. The first drove it from 1998 to 2015, the second and third had it only briefly and the fourth enjoyed it from October 2015 until recently. In its nearly fifty years of existence, the 304 has covered 91,560 kilometers – according to its odometer, anyway. It only has five digits, so the total may be more. However, based on the condition of the car, that is not immediately a given.

The Peugeot seems to still be fine. The dark blue paint, which the model can have very well, still seems to be in neat condition. The seat cover also still looks very neat: so neat that we suspect that it may have already been replaced. If you take a seat on it, you have to operate the car with a control element that we no longer know: a lever mounted on the steering column for the manual gearbox. Another thing we know from earlier times: the ashtrays that seem to be in the rear side doors.

Back to basics

We mention those ashtrays especially, because they are one of the very few things that can be pointed out on board the Peugeot 304. Apart from an ashtray and a few sliders for the temperature and the direction of the ventilation, there is actually nothing on the dashboard. To the left of the counters we see buttons for the lights, the yellow ones of which were probably mounted on the Peugeot nose at a later stage.

We doubt the extra yellow bulbs are original, but they do match the 304.

Those extra lights are quite nice on the car, which it must have mainly from its appearance due to its color combination and relatively large amount of chrome work. There is also not much to complain about mechanically: the 1,288 cc four-cylinder in the front produces 69 hp, which means that the 880 kg Peugeot can probably still keep up with modern traffic. In addition, according to the advertiser, the car is still rust free and the technology (probably under the last owner) has had some maintenance.

With that it should be able to yield €4,950, the advertiser thinks. You buy one unlikely basic piece of folk history from the 1970s. Is that for you? Then you have to go to the center of the country: the car is at a car dealership in Maartensdijk, just above Utrecht.