Diesel Junkyard find! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

JordaanDMC-12 · #1 08-08-2009, 01:41 PM

Ok i'm asking this in the hopes of not getting massively shunned out

I was in the junkyard yesterday and happen to stumble across a clean, complete 1981 Peugeot 505 S Turbo Diesel. The interior was in great shape except for the back seats. Everything is there and complete, no rust and the body is in great shape. I was THINKING of MAYBE rescuing it and have it as a project car. I like it because it's a Peugeot and who has a Peugeot? Be cool having a "different" car.

The junkyard people said they'd let it go for 700$ which is an "LOL" so I'm going to try and see if they'll work down in price. Thankfully no one has ripped it all to pieces cause no one has a Peugeot!

Does anyone have an info on these bad boys? Experience? I've checked out the internet but thought i'd ask here ad see if anyone knows how the engines are. Please have mercy

dariod · #2 08-08-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JordaanDMC-12

Ok i'm asking this in the hopes of not getting massively shunned out

I was in the junkyard yesterday and happen to stumble across a clean, complete 1981 Peugeot 505 S Turbo Diesel. The interior was in great shape except for the back seats. Everything is there and complete, no rust and the body is in great shape. I was THINKING of MAYBE rescuing it and have it as a project car. I like it because it's a Peugeot and who has a Peugeot? Be cool having a "different" car.

The junkyard people said they'd let it go for 700$ which is an "LOL" so I'm going to try and see if they'll work down in price. Thankfully no one has ripped it all to pieces cause no one has a Peugeot!

Does anyone have an info on these bad boys? Experience? I've checked out the internet but thought i'd ask here ad see if anyone knows how the engines are. Please have mercy

Peugeot makes very good diesels in fact they used to be the best diesels in europe when I was growing up over there. That is indeed rare find but who knows what engine needs.

bluebenz · #3 08-08-2009, 01:57 PM

They're very nice cars. Seats are incredibly comfortable! Parts might be difficult to find though.

Not sure if the 81 has the NA or turbodiesel?

JordaanDMC-12 · #4 08-08-2009, 02:45 PM

Awesome!!

I was totally expecting to get "STAY AWAY, RUN AWAY FROM THAT CAR" ect ect! I might try and rescue it then.

I liked it and it's in good shape body/interior wise. I forgot to get a glimpse at the mileage. But I'm going back today so i'll get all the info from it! It even had the owners manuel and brochures in the glove box.

RML · #5 08-08-2009, 03:03 PM

I wonder if the junk yard folks would reveal who brought it in. It would be very helpful to talk to the PO. I wonder if you did a search on Craigslist if you could find an old listing for that car. I don't know if they completely remove the old listings or not.

$700 sounds like a lot of money for a car from the junkyard. Their market for parting out that car is probably very very limited so I doubt it is worth that much.

I'll be interested to hear what you end up doing. Post some pictures if you can.

Jeremy5848 · #6 08-08-2009, 03:19 PM

I drove a [gasser] Peugeot 304 in Algeria for a couple of months while I was there on assignment. Considering the "care" it got from the local mechanics and the roughness of some of the roads, I was quite impressed by its ability to survive.

Parts might be harder to get than a 123 Mercedes but it would be a unique possession. I'd negotiate the price down as far as possible, maybe do a little research, find out what might be wrong with it, use that as a lever, and buy it. And post pictures!

Jeremy

Oldwolf · #7 08-08-2009, 03:26 PM

Sounds like it might be neat project.

Quote:

The 505 was the replacement for the 504, available in sedan/saloon and station wagon/estate, including an 8-passenger Family Estate. The styling was similar to the 504. It is known as the "Work Horse" of Africa today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_505

Check the links at the bottom of the Wiki page. Seems to be a lot of information on this "work horse".

Actros617 · #8 08-08-2009, 03:47 PM

Rare cars = hard to find parts = expansive parts = very expansive to maintain. but its a diesel, GO FOR IT!!!

Roncallo · #9 08-08-2009, 04:01 PM

Peugeot was about about on par with MB in that time frame for diesels. But it is an old car now with a low tech diesel by today's standards.

derburger · #10 08-08-2009, 04:02 PM

You can buy lots of parts for this car from NAPA at fairly normal prices. I was going to buy a 505 wagon with the pushrod gas 4 cylinder, instead I got a Subaru XT. One drawback to the 505 wagon is that there is only one bolt or strap that holds the fuel tank on so the gas tank falls out sometimes.

JordaanDMC-12 · #11 08-08-2009, 06:58 PM

So what do y'all think? I REALLY like it! I'm going to try my best to rescue it. I have to start saving up. They said they might go down to 600$ but they probably won't go down to 500 because since the car has the motor and tranny they could get 500$ for that. But the car has been sitting for months and hasn't been touched. So we'll keep trying. The car is originally from Oregon and it's last service at the dealer was 1995 and at 69,000 miles. The car now has 93,000! I'm going to do more research as ALL the records are here. Going to check and see if the last place to service it is still open. Maybe I can get some info.

Here are the pics

JordaanDMC-12 · #12 08-08-2009, 07:07 PM

More Pictures

Jeremy5848 · #13 08-08-2009, 07:31 PM

What a fun project! Quick, buy it before someone steals the turbo.

pj67coll · #14 08-08-2009, 07:35 PM

In my experience, which is considerable, Peugeot's are crap. But for some reason they have a bizzarre cult following. Rather like british cars I suppose. My experience was with gas Peugeots and I'll state bluntly that they don't come close to Mercedes in any aspect with their gas engines. Considering how badly made the rest of the car is it would be a miracle if their diesel engines were as good as Mercedes.

Just a wild guess here but I'd venture to say that car wound up in the junkyard as a result of one too many instances of the thing overheating.

- Peter.

Brandon_SLC · #15 08-08-2009, 07:48 PM

Doesn't look too bad for it's age. Actually the interior is amazing for it's age! This is one of the cars I liked back in the 80s. I test drove many of them, but for similar money I preferred Audis.

Check for head-gasket issues. I seem to remember that being the common complaint. Our local Peugeot dealer in Bellevue Washington always had a long backup of fairly new cars waiting for service. I decided not to buy one after talking to many disgruntled owners. I remember one lady joking that she was just at the dealer to visit her car. I met more than one person who was upset to be making payments on cars they couldn't drive. The problems seem to have been that most cars needed warranty work, but there were not enough dealers to perform the repairs. The end result was that it sometimes took months of waiting.

There were actually a lot of them sold on the west coast, but they lost resale value quickly. Last time I was in Seattle I saw a well maintained 505 Turbo still running around.