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Peugeot 203 Convertible. Seven decades for this version with little success

When a massive brand like Peugeot introduced the 1948 saloon in 203, many were impressed. After all, times seemed to call for more modest and compact automobiles. However, Peugeot knew how to read the market well, hitting on this highly reliable model on which various recreational variants were made. The most striking is the cabriolet, which is now seventy years old.

Undoubtedly one of the events that has most marked the European XNUMXth century has been the Second World War. A contest with millions of dead and some of the most intolerable crimes in the entire history of mankind. Something to which we must also add the enormous destruction of the economic and industrial fabric. However, it is surprising to analyze the rapid recovery of societies still battered by the impact of horror and misery. In that sense, one of the leading sectors in reconstruction was the automobile sector.

Launched in the race for survival, its assembly lines went from assembling military vehicles to manufacturing industrial models. A transition in which family or recreational cars fell into the background due to economic factors. Logical situation when we examine the difficulties of the population to access consumer goods. Still impoverished despite being ready to gallop the rapid growth that led to welfare societies.

Thus, it is still striking that the Peugeot 1948 saloon was presented in 203. Representing the direct leap to the mid-range by passing over the small compacts so popular and necessary at the time. Something even more unheard of when we take into account the character of mass sales that Peugeot boasts. Which also dared to market recreational variants such as the 203 Convertible. Open-air version of the coupé model, pairing with the four-door body and retractable canvas roof.

PEUGEOT 203. AS UNEXPECTED AS CONTINUOUS

To stay in the market for more than two centuries you have to be reliable and not a friend of risk. Characteristics that we see in Peugeot, which has manufactured all kinds of mechanical gadgets since its first indications as a company back in 1810. A story that began with coffee grinders, passed through bicycles, and now stands at the forefront of the transition to electric mobility. Of course, always keeping the proper forms of any company designed by and for the mass market. That is why the appearance of the Peugeot 203 on the rubble of newly devastated Europe was so striking.

After all, there were still almost two decades left for the formation of the middle classes as we understand them today. And that's not to mention the urban professionals, who had been emerging since the 1920s but had received a serious blow during the rigors of battle. For all this, that Peugeot launched a saloon as the first design during the postwar period does not fit within the foreseeable logic. However, the truth is that despite the excellent appearance of the model, it hides a continuous mechanics focused on offering maximum reliability.

Goal that fully achieves. Since, despite its attractive aesthetics clearly inspired by American automobiles, The main virtue of the Peugeot 203 lies in its 1-liter 3CV engine. Without a doubt a sober mechanics, but so resistant that nobody can doubt the practicality of the model. Point at which he connects with the time and its needs without giving up an amazing sporting character that he showed off in the toughest and most extreme rallies. A place where power is not as important as reliability. Which is why the 203 is a prolific racing vehicle on the Safari or Monte Carlo.

VERSATILITY IN BODYWORK

Despite being marked by robustness, the Peugeot 203 has certain characteristics that reveal it as a more dynamic car than it might seem. For starters, your engine spins with joy. Something that blends well with the rear-wheel drive and the precision of handling given by the novel rack and pinion steering. In this way, Peugeot presented various versions with a sports or simply recreational aim throughout the twelve years in production and almost 700.000 units sold. To begin with, the curious Berline Découvrable is striking as a convertible with five doors.

After this, the first two-door version of the Peugeot 1951 arrived in 203. A cabriolet to which the coupe bodywork was added two years later. Both very attractive models for the current collector, but that at the time they were a total commercial disaster. And it is that its character halfway between the popular car and the most exclusive model did not finish convincing. All this because potential customers of the 203 were not looking for anything that was out of the purely practical and daily, while those who did want something more exclusive saw clear coincidences between these models and the saloon.

In fact they were not wrong. Although the finishes were done almost by hand at the La Garenne factory, the engine had not received any specific modifications. With this context, production of the Peugeot 203 Convertible ceased in 1957. A short life that was still considerably longer than that of the Coupé, which ceased production in 1954 without reaching two years in the dealerships. A fact that paradoxically has launched its value up among collectors due to the fact that less than a thousand units were manufactured. However, this failure established the celebrated tradition of the two-door Peugeot on a saloon basis. Road to success with the 504 1969 Pininfarina.

Photographs: Artcurial

P.D. To illustrate this article we have chosen a unit that speaks highly of the potential of the Peugeot 203 in endurance racing. And is that this unit offered by the auction house Artcurial received a deep set-up for the Peking-Paris. If you are interested in the process carried out by the Techi-Tacot workshop, you can consult the complete intervention by clicking on these words.

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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