Peugeot 404 Coupé And Cabriolet

[MikeT 744]

Well now that I've cut my teeth for nearly five years (!) on a smart VIN registry, I thought it'd be time to reach back in time 39-49 years and try the same thing with my greatest love in cars (yes, smart included, I'm sorry to admit that here), the Peugeot 404 Coupé and Cabriolet (404 C).

This poses some challenges:

• the serial numbers of these cars are not visible through the windshield
• even if they were, there are only about three or four of these cars near me and they rarely appear on the road
• so "spotting" à la smart is out
• nearly a half century has passed since these puppies were made
  

On the other hand, the VINs were dead simple back then, being only a sequential 7 digit serial number. Peugeot assigned number ranges to the 404 C, quite different ones depending upon whether the car had fuel injection or a carburetor. Coupés and Cabriolets are not identifiable from the serial number.

So the methodology is very different than the smart spotting: I get into contact with a 404 C owner and ask them to send me their VIN. You might think I'd get no response, but so far I have had people share over 50 of these numbers with me. When cars get to this age, I guess the owners are somehow closer....? I wonder if I did that with all club members here I'd be banned for spamming Best not to think of that,

Finding the owners is interesting. In pre-Internet days, it was nearly impossible. If you saw one at a car show I guess you could ask to see the engine and then have a peek at the serial number. Now with the Internet, a lot of owners find it easy to share information and that includes the VINs.

So......17,223 of these cars were assembled in Italy and then finished in France back in the day (1961-1968). With 55 in my records so far, the raw percentage is pretty poor, .03%. But I would hope that perhaps as many as 15 or 20% of these cars still exist, so my percentages are getting better, maybe 2% have been spotted already!

Anyhow, I thought I would share my latest obsession and maybe also put out the word to all that if you know anyone with a 404 C (yeah, right), please let them know about my list!

Cars found so far

Carbureted:
4495784
4496096
4497320
4498184
4498203
4498223
4498412
4498457
4498736
4498738
4498879
4499232
4499371
4499847
4499883
4499956
4670032
4670938
4671036

Fuel Injected:
4590120
4590175
4590219
4590936
4591027
4593113
4595579
4596027
4598544
4598557
4598609
4598615
4598700
4598867
4599100
4599167
4599493
4599598
4599740
6800274
6800519
6800984
6801278
6801658
6801663
6801894
6801986
6802060
6802283
6802292
6802340
6802594
6803095
6803319
6803410
6803412

Mine is in the latter grouping, somewhere

Cheers

[bilgladstone 13]

Just wondering what purpose this recording serves?B

[MikeT 744]

Read the title again, I'm CRAZY!!!!In all seriousness, the Club 404 in France tried to complete an inventory of all remaining 404 C cars a few years back. They had a high participation rate in France among their 700 members (only some of whom have 404 C cars), but not elsewhere. I am the "elsewhere". They are trying to maintain a critical mass and knowledge/spare parts base for the remaining 404 C cars and their trustees (the cars outlast the owners, often). I am in touch with 404 C owners in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa (where more than ten are known), USA and Canada of course, the Netherlands and Germany and I am trying elsewhere where English is the predominant second language.

[MikeT 744]

Just a wee note before I hit the sack this evening....I got a little email at 11:30 PM from my friend Michel Verdier in the Club 404 in France, and they have over 1500 serial numbers of 404 C cars in their database. These cars all still exist (that's 8% of this model's total production) and a copy of that database now resides in my computer. Most of my 55 cars are not in that database, yet. WOO-HOO! It seems as though there is a fairly high survival rate for these 39-49 year old cars, maybe even over 20%! Lots of work ahead of me......

[MikeT 744]

After weeding through the database and removing duplicate entries (by different owners) we are left with 1245 404 C cars in the registry, so far. Probably 1200 of these, if not more, still exist.

One of our local heroes here at CsC will be helping me and the Club 404 get an online 404 C serial number form up sometime later this year, to help us celebrate the 50th birthday of the 404, which is next year.

Meanwhile I'll be doing my best to get up to 1700 entries (which would be 10% of the original production). Might take a fair while....."only" 455 more cars are needed for that

[PrairieBoy 1]

I've never owned a Peugeot Mike.Is it true they all have a long-travel suspention for a very supple ride,or am i thinking of some other french built car?

[MikeT 744]

In the old days (of the 404) it was true the 404 had something like 8 inches of travel from rest to maximum compression front and rear. Not counting extension..... They were super-capable on rough roads, which is why they won the East African Safari 4 times with the 404 and why - to this day - 40 to 45 year old 404s are still in service in Africa as bush taxis.Even my 405 is quite good for suspension travel.

[MikeT 744]

Here is a 404 Coupé Injection (my friend Tim's car, in Victoria):

[PrairieBoy 1]

Nice 404 Coupe` Mike. I like the slightly raised body work above the reasr wheel, and the very slim/sexy(?)roof pillars,especially behind the rear side glass.

[MikeT 744]

Here is an updated list of the countries where the 1286 404 Coupés and Cabriolets have been spotted:

1059 (France)

65 (Germany)

49 (Netherlands)

19 (Switzerland)

16 (Belgium)

9 (Canada)

9 (USA)

7 (Great Britain)

7 (South Africa)

5 (Italy)

4 (New Zealand)

4 (Greece)

3 (Spain)

3 (Australia)

3 (Austria)

3 (Luxembourg)

3 (Portugal)

3 (Sweden)

2 (Norway)

2 (Morocco)

2 (New Caledonia)

2 (Serbia Montenegro)

2 (Denmark)

1 (Costa Rica)

1 (Colombia)

1 (Finland)

1 (Tunisia)

1 (Madagascar)

1286 TOTAL

__________________

[charlesbronson 0]

Why can't they just get back into the NA market. I would be the first in line to get a 407.

[MikeT 744]

Not me, I hate the 407. The 406 Coupé was great but alas is no more, replaced by a butt-ugly new Coupé.

[Gent 1]

Read the title again, I'm CRAZY!!!!

Shoulda called it "I'm a VINO"

[MikeT 744]

That's about right.

[Kofångar-Lasse 2]

Just one more thing,

- does Columbo still ride

his Peugeot 403 RagTop ?

CcL

[MikeT 744]

Yes sir he does.

[MikeT 744]

I got a new 404 Cabriolet in the registry tonight from the Turks and Caicos. These Islands could have been part of Canada......what a lost opportunity! Anyway, our total is up to 1295 cars spotted, which puts us over the 7.5% mark for total 404 C production spotted.The smart 450 cdi total for spotting in Canada is a bit over 20.5%, and that's for a very new car where anonymous VIN spotting is possible.I doubt we'd get to 20% on the 404 C (which has an invisible VIN from the outside) but we can certainly ideally aim for 2000 cars, which seems reasonable, and would be close to 12% of production at that point. I'll take each new one with great delight, but it would be a long slog to hit 2000 I think.

[MikeT 744]

Got five more today, including one in Paraguay! This is fun, we are at 1300 cars!

[smartzuuk 167]

Poo Joe would be pwoud.

[deezle 0]

Poo Joes in Paraguay. Sounds like the title of some kind of novel.

[MikeT 744]

It's a pretty decent survival rate for a 39-49 year old car, and we haven't got them all yet, not by a long way!

[MikeT 744]

1312 cars are now inventoried. What the heck, below is the long list of the serial numbers of 404 C cars we have identified as to their whereabouts, by chassis number. Ten of these are confirmed to have been scrapped and 1302 still exist.

We also have the following other nine 404 C cars identified only by their Carrosserie Peugeot (body) number: 6599, 10454, 10825, 14591, 14675, 15135, 15397, 16551, 17120.

The 1303 Peugeot 404 Coupé and Cabriolet serial numbers that we have:

4495045

4495046

4495066

4495086

4495115

4495119

4495124

4495129

4495130

4495137

4495149

4495156

4495201

4495227

4495240

4495247

4495259

4495263

4495314

4495345

4495386

4495389

4495429

4495444

4495450

4495454

4495463

4495491

4495514

4495532

4495542

4495543

4495595

4495601

4495607

4495643

4495668

4495682

4495692

4495714

4495723

4495760

4495765

4495784

4495808

4495816

4495845

4495874

4495902

4495911

4495916

4495986

4495998

4496044

4496060

4496095

4496096

4496128

4496142

4496145

4496154

4496206

4496224

4496225

4496258

4497015

4497028

4497049

4497058

4497060

4497093

4497096

4497113

4497155

4497160

4497168

4497173

4497188

4497203

4497211

4497237

4497249

4497295

4497310

4497320

4497328

4497363

4497392

4497466

4497538

4497547

4497552

4497585

4497589

4497599

4497600

4497619

4497622

4498009

4498053

4498067

4498080

4498090

4498096

4498134

4498137

4498184

4498190

4498203

4498212

4498220

4498223

4498258

4498260

4498280

4498284

4498297

4498301

4498302

4498310

4498328

4498358

4498363

4498366

4498384

4498396

4498406

4498412

4498419

4498426

4498428

4498431

4498445

4498457

4498465

4498466

4498483

4498518

4498522

4498523

4498530

4498547

4498558

4498562

4498581

4498661

4498667

4498671

4498676

4498695

4498722

4498727

4498736

4498738

4498744

4498760

4498774

4498790

4498807

4498812

4498823

4498836

4498837

4498842

4498876

4498879

4498899

4498900

4498903

4499016

4499020

4499046

4499067

4499068

4499091

4499095

4499096

4499102

4499111

4499114

4499116

4499120

4499121

4499136

4499152

4499155

4499160

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4499176

4499205

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4499232

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4499246

4499255

4499270

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4499324

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4499353

4499356

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4499503

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4499528

4499534

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4499552

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4499576

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4499634

4499636

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4499643

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4499685

4499695

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4590004

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4597662

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4598131

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4598195

4598216

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4598286

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4599536

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4599661

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4670004

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4670032

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4670047

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[MikeT 744]

I've found three more since then, so 1315 is the new total. 10 have been scrapped.I treated my 404 C to a new right hand turn signal assembly off eBay last week and now I think the car is actually "thinking" that I might restore her in the next 5 years.....PMA!

[MikeT 744]

Two more in the last two days: 1317 found! I am having a great time with this!

[MikeT 744]

1320 and more on the horizon!