It's The Little Details That Count

"Reborn Pyrrhic" (pyrrhic) 07/12/2014 at 19:30 • Filed to: French Cars, Peugeot, 205 CTI, CTI, GTI, yellow, Pininfarina, badge, logo, sticker, eBay, rpiereck

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I wonder if Peugeot ever made a dime in each Peugeot 205 CTI they sold. I say this because this is how the car was made: each body started life as a run of the mill hard top hatchback, just like any other 205, in Sochaux, France. The blank bodies where then removed from the production line, put into rail cars and after a 22 hour ride through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy they arrived in Cambiano, near Turin, the site of Pininfarina's factory.

There the French econobox would enter the production line, and Italian workers would take a break from manufacturing Ferraris, and spend some time chopping the roof off the French car, then weld in numerous pieces to strengthen the body and to turn the body shell into one for a convertible car. It was then loaded back on rail cars, and after another day it was back to Sochaux, where the French now had to put the car back into production, and finish making the little convertible.

That is a whole lot of moving around a small convertible! And not all of of them were the more expensive and sporty CTI like my car. Some were CJ and CT models, with small economy engines, and rather frugal interior. I imagine Peugeot had to keep the price down to a point to sell the car, and I also imagine they lost money on each and every 205 cabriolet they sold.

So why do I title this piece "It's The Details That Count"? Well, the 205 rag top cars got a neat Pininfarina badge on the rear quarter panels, right below the soft top, as it was the only 205 that was designed and built by Pininfarina. There is a misconception that all 205 were designed by the Italian coachbuilder, but the car was in-house design, and the Italians only designed the convertible. My car happened to be lacking those Pininfarina badges. It was a sight for sore eyes for me, and every time I met an owner of a 205 they would remind me about my missing badges.

But today I got them in the mail, courtesy of French eBay. They cost just 7 Euro, and look great in red over yellow on my car. I took the time to take it to my favorite car wash and clean it well before applying the badges. Now they are there and they belong! The car looks much better showing it's part-Italian provenance!

jkm7680 > Reborn Pyrrhic 07/12/2014 at 19:33

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I'm starting to fall in love with your car. The sticker looks pretty damn great back there, that's a good shade of yellow also.

Reborn Pyrrhic > jkm7680 07/12/2014 at 19:37

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Thank you! I am finding that yellow is a real tough color to get right on pictures. None of the pictures I have are a true representation of the actual color. Sometimes it's too bright, sometimes too green, sometimes too orange. The ones in this page are too green for me. I think of all my pictures of the car the one that comes the closest to the actual color is this:

ly2v8-Brian > Reborn Pyrrhic 07/12/2014 at 19:43

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jkm7680 > Reborn Pyrrhic 07/12/2014 at 19:45

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Nice, Either way it's a great looking yellow. I also noticed a slight hint of green in the first few pictures. I'd love to see it in person!

When you bring it over, will you take all of your sets of wheels with you?

Reborn Pyrrhic > jkm7680 07/12/2014 at 19:58

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Yes of course! Women have shoes, men have wheels!

ptak appreciates old racecars > Reborn Pyrrhic 07/12/2014 at 20:49

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Such a cool car!

Reborn Pyrrhic > ptak appreciates old racecars 07/12/2014 at 21:20

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Thank you.