Our History
My
first 504, I bought it in 1992. I was looking for a reliable and not expensive
car (I was a student at that time), to travel with three friends of mine across
the Eastern Europe. Following my brother's advice (he has "already exported"
two 504 in Africa to discover the desert), I looked for a 504 carbu. But I fell
on a 504 TI, blue, of 1973, with the opening roof, the electric antenna, and
137000km. No rust, perfect interior. Magnificent. Its owner was a friend, Patrick,
who had put this 504 aside, because of its magnificent state. But, in front
of my obvious interest for the beauty, he agreed to sell it to me for 6000FF,
with a new clutch and new tires!!
Three days later, we left France for a fantastic 7000 km travel, up to Istanbul!
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only problem that appeared was a tendency to overheat as soon as we were
driving at more than 90km / hour, even down to 50km/hour when climbing...
We easily got along with this, by stopping for 5-10mn during the most selective
hills of this route, just to cool the beauty. As a result, we all perfectly
knew how to remove the cork of the radiator without burning! Adding to this, the security was widely increased since it wasn't possible to exceed the speed limits on this first trip! ;-) |
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Apart from that, I discovered during this journey
a FA-BU-LOUS car. A high level comfort, a very pleasant power, a sound volume
much lower than expected, plus the magic seats which can transform into fantastic
"beds" for a small dream in the middle of a field : the car is a dream
on wheels!
We had decided to sell the 504 once we got back from this travel, to get back
our financial investment. Helas, the injection pump went suddenly wrong, just
the week after our return home. 28 liters/100km, instead of 10, an impressive
black smoke at any speed, so many things which are not very attractive for the
potential buyers... So we decided to store it for a while in a dry place, to
let us time to take a decision on its future.
Eight months later, we do have tom make a decision. It requires 1500F to repair
it : the injection pump has to be changed... But in the meantime, I had realized
that this car was a part now of my history, and the urge to sell it had vanished.
However, 1500F was not a small amount, at that time... And there, my pals have
been really fantastic : they said to me " listen, we don't want to put money
again in that car. But it is clear that noone will be raedy to pay us more than
ppeanuts for it in its current state. Now apparently, you like it. Then, if
you want to repair it, we give you our part of the car. It's up to you! ". Guess
what I did...
Really, Sophie, Lionel and Emmanuel, thank you! if we had sold this car, I believe
I would have regretted it for a long time. Whereas now, it's here, and it's
a part of me, this is clear!
Since then, with an injection pump taken from another engine, and with a new radiator, it just runs prefectly. Saint Malo, Barcelona, Nantes, Lille, Beaune, Etouy, Alençon, Vernou, London, Edimbourgh, and so on... I added a radio with CD, and with that, hitting the road is a real happiness! Until now, I only found 3 defects in that car (to see lower)!
A little visit?
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Admire this typical inside of
the 70s. A real paradise! At that time, they knew how to use other colors
than black on the dashboard! And it is much warmer and cosy, with all this
blue (seats, carpet, dashboard, steering wheel), these chromes, and this
incredible steering wheel with its hyper fine rim and its gigantic diameter!
The small lion on this steering wheel is underlined with a chrome-plated bar. Three counters display all the useful information: speed, rpm-counter, temperature (vital!), battery load and gas. Total and partial milometers, and even, summum of the luxury, the intensity variator for the lighting of the dashboard!! When I tell you that one is cherished in the 504, I do not lie!
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| That's the beast, rear side. Note that the reversing lights are orange: at that time, in the French law, these lights were'nt derogatory (they were place only on luxury cars), and their color wasn't forced to be white. |  |
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Note that the car radio is also well dated from the 70s, with the loudspeaker hidden behind the nice chrome plate. I have to admit that I changed the autoradio, it is my only weakness (but honestly, the CD player in car, that really changes the life!) but I kept the chrom plate! |
| The engine? The 1.9l, Kügelfischer injection . A very big flexibility, a good top speed, brief, a very pleasant engine. It has the reputation to be indestructible, except for the injection pump, and I have to admit that no engine has created so few problem to me!! |  |
I found only three defaults in this car, all in all, which are the following ones:
direction is too much demultiplicated, which implies a far to high number or circles to do with the sterring wheel! If ever you need to control a skid on the snow, well, move your arms veeeery fast!!!
The heater: besides having rather unclear commands, it turns out to be totally ineffective... It's winter outside? Then, it's winter inside also... Always have a pair of gloves available! N.B. : some of my visitors told me that o their own 504, the heating was even too much efficient, so, my problem isn't general to all 504s!!
