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Nico KUIPER 203 |
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How it all started
In 1994 I visited a local Peugeot Dealer. Not for buying a car, no, for my Job. In a corner in one of the sheds
near the garage I found this car, a peugeot 203 C from 1958. According to the garage owner it was antique, worth a lot of money, but if I was
interested? I
could buy it for less money. It wasn’t driven for a long time. In that time it was not very
appealing. So I did not buy the car. Three months later I went
back, offered him half the money and he agreed!
I filled it up with oil, petrol and break fluid and it started the first time I
tried! Amazing. The car was running like
new. Later on I heard that the last owner completely rebuild the engine with mostly new parts. From that time I drove the car once in a
while.
The peugeot 203 compressor
A couple of years later I spoke a friend of mine, whome was living in chechoslovakia. He told: “ You know what? I
swapped a peugeot 203 for a colour TV!” So I made a joke: “Wow, maybe it is an compressor peugeot!” Well, one week later a called me and told me that it
was a peugeot 203 compressor!!!. Offcourse he had to hand over the car to me and I rebuild my car with the parts
of the compressor peugeot. Since that day it is driving better and faster.
The compressor
This compressor is really special. It is made by mr Alexis Constantin who drove in 1953 de 24 hours of Le Mans with a
modified peugeot 203 (2 doors) with compressor. He finished on the 25 place which was a very good performance
(There were 65 competitors!). This compressor
was for sale as an accesoire for the peugeot 203 and did cost 50.000 old francs. According to the documentation the car is 30 % faster when it is fit on a
original car. Very special is the sound: when the engine is running more revs, you cane hear the
compressor: it is making a loudly screaming sound. This gives
a real kick!
The peugeot 203 that was found in Chechoslavakia.
According to the last owner the car orginal belonged to a French
doctor, who was send to Chechoslovakia. So he drove the
car al the way to this country and lived there for a couple of years. Later on he sold the 203 to the last
owner,
whome drove in it till 1975. In this year the engine was frozen. No spare parts were available and the last 25 years it was a house for the local
chicken. (see photograph) A special detail is that the car was original a
decouvrable, but for some reason somebody welded a roof on it!. So what is so special about this car: it did have magnesium
wheels! The owner sold the wheels, but we tracked them
down after day of searching. Two were sold tho a farmer who was living two villages
away, and two were sold to a sheppard!! He did use them on his carriage (see
photograph). Also special is the aluminium sump. It fits on a original 203 engine and it has a build-in
oilcooler. Now there is going 12 liter (!!) of
oil in the 203 engine. A special adaptor makes it possible to connect a
oiltemperaturegauge, which was also a special. There is also an aluminium cylinderhead
cover and offcourse the compressor (see photograph). The compressor is driven by the crankshaft and makes the same amount revolutions as the
engine. Also the
car had a iron cast grill and telescope shockabsobers on the real axle.
Using the 203 for rallyes
The last four years the peugeot is mainly used for rallyes.
(see photograph) For about 8 times a year I drive national
and international ralleys. One driver and one navigator. Because of the compressor we can compete with all sorts of
sportcars, and sometimes we win a price.
Its good fun!
Offcourse we made somes changes on the car: modern chairs, which are
save, but also more comfortable. We built in a rollbar, some extra instruments
(see photograph) like a tripmaster which is accurate on 10 meter, atomclock, special magnifying glass with a light in
it, fire
extinguisher etcetera.
The engine has electronic ignition, which makes a real
difference. Also the chassis is stiffer by welding extra bars,
which improves the steering of the car. There still are some wishes: improving the breaks, instead of the solex carb a weber, change the exhaust manifold and
so on. Maybe next year.
Keep the running!
Nico Kuiper
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