The vehicle which might lead us on an adventure was looking magnificent in the autumn sun. Well, shade as it was parked under a sort of a large shed. Some other car in surprisingly poor condition were parked along side it. Why surprisingly poor, one might ask? Our dream car was in quite a good shape. It did start and even moved under it’s own power. The paint was quite shiny. Apart from the bonnet. It had some weird marks on it…
Getting acquainted
I think it’s best we get to know the vehicle. Slowly. The seller said the vehicle was made in 1990. It said 1993 in some papers, but never mind. It was imported form Italy then. This was partly confirmed by some stickers on the windows. The interior was well… 28 years old. And it looked like it. The plasticky bits had a lot of abuse from the sun. And the seats… The seats looked like they weren’t cleaned in all of 28 years. And that some strange things happened on them. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if tis interior was a scene of a terrible murder. It was almost rust-free and the ground clearance was huge. It was just perfect for us.
The seller also told us he was the second or the third owner. Which was, again quite surprisingly, confirmed by the official data. He also said he had some roof rack somewhere and that he would throw in some spare parts. Which was quite helpful as it would cut or costs.
And then the best information of all surfaced. This vehicle only had one fire in it’s past. Fire, you ask? Some hose came loose on the fuel pump, spilling fuel all over the hot engine. It all ignited and behold a lovely fire. The weird marks on the bonnet were caused by this incident. There was still some soot visible and a few plastic bits were melted slightly.
After hearing the story I knew this vehicle was perfect for the Mongol Rally. I liked the story very much. But Mateja heard the same story. An she knew the vehicle wasn’t at all suitable for the Mongol Rally.
It’s funny how the same information impact different people. For one they mean the vehicle is perfect, and to the other they tell the vehicle is a pile of garbage. The vehicle had very little creature comforts. No electric anything. Not even an antenna or speaker wires. It also had a manual cold start lever. The tyres were well past it, it wasn’t registered, but it had an MOT. Which wasn’t valid for a long time and would have to be renewed before we embarked on the adventure. It was neglected, but most importantly, rust-free. And it appeared to be running. Apart form one wheel bearing needing replacing a many many kilometers ago.
In short. It was imported from Italy, it had a hard life with 3 previous owners and one fire. It had no modern creature comforts in was extremely dirty and wasn’t registered. All that meaning we did no test drive worth mentioning. The seller also said we need to add the lead supplement each time we fill it up with petrol.
We took a minute or five to deliberate. I was in favour of buying it, but Mateja wasn’t convinced. The vehicle had a lot of pros which were invaluable for the Mongol Rally. It was basic, with great ground clearance and surprisingly spacious.
Mateja might not have been too excited about the car but I think she was too surprised over my excitement to oppose buying the vehicle.
We made a deal with the seller. We also made arrangement of when we’d actually drive the vehicle home.
Proud owners
With this we became proud owners of the Peugeot 205 GL (GL meaning no additional equipment whatsoever) made in 1990 (imported 1993) with only one previous fire on the record. We were both feeling proud (Mateja perhaps snot so much) we finally had vehicle which would take us on the Mongol Rally.
