Since Dad bought this Peugeot 205 36 years ago, John is now 48 years old

John Bacon, 48, looks fondly at his 1987 Peugeot 205 1.4 “This car is a piece of history. It represents exactly three-quarters of my life. And this calculation is correct, because when the Peugeot was allowed on public roads for the first time in 1987, John was 12 years old. He also witnessed that beautiful moment, on the face of Selection from the back seat: “Our dad bought this Peugeot in 1987. It was brand new at the time, and my dad was very proud of his new car and I was sitting in the middle of the road. “Back seat. Watching my dad drive her home.” It was already determined before he was born that John would become a car enthusiast. “Our love of cars is passed down from generation to generation,” says John. “My grandfather was a mechanic and a big car fanatic. This hobby was passed down to my father who passed it on to me. The first car I remember from our father was a Ford Capri. When my parents started building a house, they had to make room for something more economical, so a Mini was built. Then a Mini was built. Two Ford Fiestas came, one from the first generation, then one from the second generation. I didn’t like it anyway. I never found that round nose successful.

John was twelve years old behind the wheel of a brand new Peugeot 205.

John was hoping Dad Bacon would buy a 205 GTi

So John was pleased when Dad Bacon announced sometime in 1986 that he was looking for another car. It was a battle between a Golf and a Peugeot 205. John: “I was hoping he would buy a GTi, but it was too expensive. At the end of 1986 we went to the motor show in Ghent and there we saw a Peugeot 205 XS. It was new at the time and had the appearance of a GTi, but with a smaller engine. This means that it was possible to reach XS. So I explained to my father that he should take it. “It drove him crazy, I’ve said that many times.” John’s father Eric had a change of heart, partly under pressure from his wife Nadine, who also loved the Peugeot. On March 12, 1987, John Bacon ordered 205 by trading on the holiday that John hated, he still had to pay 242 thousand francs. The Peugeot was equipped with a free radio cassette player with Bristol boxes and a ‘Hits Album 5’ cassette tape, which would be completely out of use in 205 in the following years, says John. “The first song was Europe’s ‘Final Countdown.’ I can’t hear that song without thinking of the 205.”

For the young ones among us: This is a cassette tape. That turned gray on the Peugeot 205.

The first trip with the Peugeot 205 is etched in John’s memory

In the years that followed, initially sitting in the middle of the back seat, John developed a strong bond with the little Peugeot, which became unbreakable the moment he moved from the back seat to the driver’s seat. His first trip is etched in his memory, because armed with a temporary driving licence, he was able to drive the 205, with his father next to him and his mother in the back seat. “The feeling of suddenly driving such a car yourself is very special,” says John, “but it left me wanting more, especially for the Max Verstappen in me. It was a shame for my parents that I had to take to the motorway.” On my first flight, I ascended and suddenly found myself in fog, with a maximum visibility of ten metres. They were white with fear, these poor people.

Fog or not, John got his driver’s licence, and then faced a plan his father had been pursuing since 1987. “He kept driving the 205 for a remarkably long time. It wasn’t until I got my driver’s license that I understood why: he had been planning all along to donate Lee got the car and then bought another car himself. “It’s a wonderful gift, there’s no better gift,” John says. “The older I get, the more I realize that. I’m a lucky man to have a father like that.” John would grow up in the 205 and – as with the first car – we were tired of it again.

John tricked out a Toyota MR2, 205

That moment came in 2000, when he discovered the Toyota MR2, with more horsepower, rear-wheel drive and no roof. Much cooler than the 205. “Registering two cars was too expensive for me, so I had to do something with the 205. My dad thought I should get rid of it, but me?” I couldn’t do it. I mean: My dad gave me that car, and you wouldn’t throw something like that away, would you?” Without knowing exactly why, John convinced his parents to build a wooden garage on their property to store the Peugeot: “Don’t ask me why, but I was sure I would keep using that Peugeot “The car.” What he didn’t know was that this would take a long time. Eighteen years to be exact. The Peugeot had been a bit forgotten. “How is that possible? I guess the hustle and bustle of life,” John admits with a blush on his cheeks. I became a father and had a job with irregular hours. Then there was very little time left. Then my father suddenly said that he looked in the “room” near 205, and there was a layer of dust 5 centimeters thick, and that the mirror had fallen and the four frames were flat “Then I got up and went to have a look. I was shocked by what I found. The rats or mice had hidden an entire winter’s supply of acorns under the blanket. I really thought things weren’t going to go well with the 205. But partly because of my wife and parents’ insistence, I started it anyway .

1.4 with carburetor helps Peugeot 205 to 80 hp. This was really something at the time, although the 1.6 GTi had 105 or 115 hp, the 1.9 GTi first produced 130 hp and later with a catalytic converter up to 122 hp.

New spark plugs, filters and fuel lines: Peugeot is back in business again

With his companion, John quickly managed to bring Bijou back to life for the first time in eighteen years. “The engine wasn’t stuck, and with new spark plugs, filters, some air in the tires and a few feet of new fuel lines, the engine was running as normal. That was an emotional moment!” John remembers. He took the Peugeot to a mechanic who checked the brakes and prepared the 205 for inspection. Once John received his new old car’s license plates, he took his first trip. How could it be otherwise he went to his parents. On that trip, the 205 captured his heart again, this time forever.

Peugeot 205

When the weather is nice, John drives the little Peugeot as much as he can, and every time he drives it he feels eighteen again. Sometimes he crawls back for a moment, and then he looks like he’s twelve again. In the meantime, he has discovered that the 205 Feeling, that’s what’s important. “Looking back, I know that saving the 205 was the best idea I ever had,” he says. I couldn’t bear not having him here anymore. The best thing about this car is that it stays the same with age. My mother passed away in 2020, but I’m so glad she lived to see the Peugeot have a new life. In fact, I’m a little mad at myself for neglecting the car for so long. This Peugeot will stay with me forever, that’s for sure. My dad would understand if I wanted to sell it, but I feel like I’d be kicking his ass by doing so. I may be bald now, but not a single hair on my head thinks about it. This is unlikely. “I love this car, it’s that simple.”

John put GTi 1.9 wheels on his Peugeot 205 XS. Has the GTi dream come true after all?