Representing what the French automotive manufacturers could do with wood and steel, this 1948 Peugeot 202 Woodie wagon is for sale at a hefty $19,500 asking price. It is located in Grass Valley, California. They do not mention any VIN or miles, but they say that the car was imported into the U.S. from France in the ’90s and it has a non-op title. Thank you, Art, for the tip. You can view more on Craigslist.
What should be under the hood of this rare ride is a 1,133 cc engine that is connected to a 3-speed manual transmission. Sadly, the engine is not in the car and in pieces. Luckily the seller says things are labeled. When the seller bought it, it ran briefly before a coolant leak put it out of commission. They pulled it out to work on it and ended up realizing there is much more to do. The car does have a 12 volt electrical system.
The seller notes that rodents had a feast and lived in the interior. Thus, there is nothing inside. Thankfully the seller saved the headliner to allow for a reproduction one to be made by someone who would want to do it. It might be hard to source parts for this vehicle, so you might either want to take them from like branded vehicles, or get creative and come up with something completely unique.
According to the listing, they say that they are only aware of 2 other 202 models in the United States. They also give some more history about the 202 model including mentioning that this style was built for commercial use and that roughly 3,500 Woodie wagons were made. For the age and style, this vehicle will certainly set you apart from every other vehicle at car shows. The question is how much time and money will it take to get you there.
Wow! I love this car!
As much as I’m sort of a purist I could see putting a later Peugeot engine in it. Maybe a straight 6 if they made ‘em. New upholstery, simple buckets in front with a bench behind it and then drive the wheels off it!
Those of you who visited the French auction website a couple days back would’ve noticed a couple pre-war 202s in inventory.No woodie though…
Well, you won’t find Peugeot parts at NAPA, so how about a Poncho drive train. A lot more availability of parts. Try to restore the interior as much as possible.
This would certainly be the only one at Woodie meets and would add another layer to the history of Woodies..and an international one at that.
But………better take a trip to France and round up the OEM parts from block to seats etc………otherwise you might as well drop an SBC in it , some mud wheels and a Suzuki frame and go nuts!
With so much missing and damage done inside my opinion would be 350 Chevy motor and transmission since they seem to fit in everything and are cheap and plentiful. Use what you can find that fits the interior.
Obviously this Commerciale (utilitarian) 202 woodie deserves a modern hemi, circa 1960 that is. The Peugeot 403 1468cc with 80 mm bore and 73 mm stroke has a hemispherical combustion chamber. At 65 hp it more than doubles the original 30 hp. The 403’s synchromesh gearbox is a 4 speed with overdrive 4th ratio of 0.76.
Italian power by way of Fiat and Alfa twin cams and their 5 speed gearbox offer Euro solutions and plenty of power without the cost of hopping up the 403 engine (doable) or adding a supercharger to the Pug engine – 20th century period correct.
The 202 is 161 inches long and only 59 inches wide with a narrow track 47.9 inches. 105,126 202s were manufactured with 74,093 since 1945.
This Peugeot video history of 202 shows the various models and includes the Darl’Mat coupé which averaged 90 mph for 1000 kilometers (French & English captions).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZtYZaXvDmg
GREAT video, and would be even better if I spoke French, but that’s on my stupidity. What beautiful cars. Love the styling . . . . so Art Deco.
I imported a 1939 Peugeot 202 Decouvrable model from Norway about 10 years ago – spent quite a bit of time on getting the engine to run properly, the wheels to fit properly and on the re-do of the mechanical brake system. When all was right I found it underpowered and not a useable ride ….so I sold it to the Layne Museum where Jeff can now show it to the world.
I suggest if the owner does not have a ‘need’ to make it original a Peugeot 403 drive train or a BMC ‘A’ or ‘B’ series engine would be good alternates.
Restoration photos from forum-auto.caradisiac.com reveal the tapering frame design with independent front suspension and quarter elliptic rear springs and the standard Peugeot worm drive rear axle.
Scroll down to about mid page where Cor19pd posts his photos from August 2010:
http://forum-auto.caradisiac.com/automobiles-mythiques-exception/voitures-anciennes/sujet387125.htm
Note the hydraulic brakes which were introduced in Sep 1947.
PS: There’s still plenty of time to book a flight to Paris to attend the 2020 edition of Retromobile which runs 5 – 9 February.
$20K is so far over the top as an entry level to a MAJOR resto I would walk across the street without looking back. Cool vehicle for sure, but parts sourcing today??? I hope the seller is badly mistaken about Masonite panels and
“about 90% savable” is a tad more than optimistic.
Two of them in this country!!! Where would you get parts for this old girl????
eBay.fr or make em, retrogreg
Cool…..
What a great looking car! At first I thought the headlamps had been removed but quickly realized that they were behind the grill. Interesting concept. This would be a daunting resto project but a real beauty when completed. Based on other comments it does seem that repowering with a 403 drivetrain makes the most sense.
The video history of the 202 was very interesting. I like the wheel design a lot.
Too Cool– yet- my project list runneth over! Being so rare, and French- an OEM restoration would be an investigation requiring traveling to Europe. So, guys- this is your IN when this appears in your driveway and your wife says WTF!