The replacement for the 504, Peugeot’s 505 saloon went on sale in 1979 with the 10-inch longer Familiale (Family) estate version joining the saloon in 1982 after being unveiled at the Geneve Motor Show. As this example was only registered in April 1983, it’s an early example of the pre-facelift model.

One of the unique things about the 505 Familiale was that it offered two rows of triple-belted seats in the rear, making it a big hit with families and even today it is one of the few cars that can seat eight people without having to resort to a minibus. Most modern MPVs only offer seating for seven.

Renowned for its durability and famed for being the vehicle of choice in the rutted roads of Africa, the 505 is something of a legend in many third world countries. As so many of these big estates were treated as workhorses, few survive today, let alone in good condition with pristine interiors. As of 2021, according to the How Many Left website, there were only 5 licensed examples of 505 GR Family’s in use in the UK. So this model represents a fifth of the UK stock of them! Best of all it will be tax free in 2023.

This 505 has a fully documented history with it and was first bought by its original Sri Lankan owners in 1983, with the original invoice detailing that it was supplied by the Cathedral Garage in Bristol in April 1983 at a cost of £8,200 (£8,635 on the road). The couple lived in Derby at the time and used their house as a holiday home – the gentleman is thought to have worked at Rolls Royce hence the choice of location (Derby is home to the company).

The couple kept the car garaged and would fly over for around two months in every year. This explains the condition of the car and its remarkably low mileage of 64,982 miles. It has averaged just 1,665 miles a year in the last 39 years!

Until about 2000, the couple would use the 4.9m-long Peugeot for trips around the UK and often used to camp in it. With both rows of seats folded flat, a huge space can be created.

The current owners were neighbours of the first owners. When the original owners decided to return permanently to Sri Lanka in 2019, they sold their house to their neighbours including the car as part of the deal!

A large pile of invoices details the work carried out on the car, including the restoration work carried out by the second owners. The original handbooks are included, together with Peugeot price lists from January and March 1982, as well as the 1982 Colour and Trims brochure. This example is finished in the exotic sounding Antelope Beige with matching brown tweed interior.

The V5C is in the current owners name and the vehicle has an MoT valid until 22 September 2022. It will be exempt from road tax in 2023.

The interior of this car bears testament to being garaged for many years and having such low mileage. It is in exceptional condition and would not look out of place in a museum. The seats are original and even the drivers seat shows no sagging or fraying of the material or any signs of wear on the backrest bolster or seat squab. 

The rear seats do not look as if they have even been used (the couple didn’t come over with any children so this may well be the case). The middle row of split-folding seats offers two three-point lap belts while the rearmost bench seat has three Britax lap belts.

The original dark brown dashboard is uncracked and unmodified, while the only traces of wear is a single minor crack on the cream-coloured bezel surrounding the heater controls. There is some minor discolouration to this light-coloured trim around the ignition barrel, while the pedal rubbers show a minute bit of wear. The carpet is unworn so must have been protected by overmats. The only other evidence of age is that the window winders have gone grey with age (don’t we all!).

It's the originality that shines here – there have been no nasty holes cut in the dashboard or to house aftermarket speakers and even the Philips Music Sensor 400 radio cassette looks like it was fitted in period. 

The door cards are immaculate, as is the headliner and brown carpet. Even the boot carpet looks like new and has no evidence of any marks, tears or discoloration – this car has clearly been looked after with great care.

The current owners acquired the car off their neighbours in 2019 and then decided to carry out some restoration work on the car. It has been resprayed to tidy up the ageing paintwork and to deal with some rust at the edges of the sills. The paintwork is generally pretty good, but there is some filler evident on both inner rear wheel arches and around the lower rear edges of the front wings. 

Paint overspray is on some of the trim rubbers and there’s a paint run on the front edge of the bonnet. It would benefit from having these areas tidied up to make the exterior commensurate with the interior. Given that most pre-facelift examples of the 505 have long since been made into washing machines and fridges, this one is doing well!

Underneath the structure looks solid with no evidence of welding and lots of underseal to protect the floorpan. There are a few areas where the undersealing would benefit from being redone and traces of minor surface rust but this could easily be sorted by a garage. The chassis looks remarkable damage free and the exhaust, axle and spare wheel hanger all appear in fine order. The sills appear solid but it would benefit from being smoothed and repainted.

All the original trim, glass, mirrors and badging appear to be in place and the only negative is a bullseye crack in the nearside headlight. The rest of the indicators, sidelights and tail-lights appear uncracked and original. The original pressed metal dealer plates are still fitted to the front and rear.

While the original steel wheels and centre caps are present, they would benefit from being repainted or powder-coated. A Maxxis MA-701 185/80 R14 tyre is fitted to the offside front, with a Delta Sprint on the nearside and the offside rear. The nearside rear is a Uniroyal Rallye 280 and the full-size spare is a Goodyear.

While all these tyres passed an MoT and have plenty of tread and no obvious cracking, it would be wise to update them with a matching modern set.

The original 1971cc four-cylinder engine offers 96hp but delivers its maximum torque at a lowly 3,000rpm giving it plenty of low down pulling power. With a compression ratio of just 8.8:1 – low by modern standards – it’s an unstressed unit designed for durability. Being fed by a basic carb system makes it also a DIY friendly car for those that are handy with the spanners, which probably explains the enthusiasm for the model in less-developed countries.

Mechanically the car didn’t need a great deal doing to it but has benefitted from a service with fresh oil and fuel filters, as well as having its fluid lines cleared out. The carb has also been rebuilt with new gaskets.

The engine bay looks remarkably original with all the original warning labels, paint codes and VIN numbers in place. There is no evidence of any accident damage and it looks honest and original. It would benefit from a deep clean to make it perfect, but it’s all there. There is some very minor surface rust that could easily be touched in on the slam panel and underside of the bonnet.

The current owners have only been driving the car since January 2022 and have only used it for short trips – the longest being a four hour trip on the motorway. They particularly like the sofa-like comfort of those plush tweed seats. Combined with long-travel coil springs all round and 80-series tyres should make the ride quality sublime.

They say the only issue is that the radiator fan isn’t working correctly due to a small brush on the fan that is meant to clean it as it rotates. That brush is no longer working and while the sellers have been looking for a replacement this seems to be a hard part to find. According to them, this doesn't seem to affect the driving in any way unless the car would be idling for a very long time. They also point out that the boot tailgate struts are a bit weak.

This is as close to a timewarp Peugeot 505 Familiale as it is possible to get and the interior is in exceptional condition. The exterior needs a little tidying up to be perfect but is in fine working order and mechanically it’s already to go with a current MoT.

It is rare to find an example of this eight-seater behemoth at all, let alone one that has covered less than 65,000 miles in the hands of just two owners.

The entire history of this car is fully documented and it is as original an example of the first generation pre-facelift 505 that you will find outside of a museum. Whether you use it to ferry seven friends to a car show or want to use it as a camping car like the first owners did, is up to you. One thing is for sure, though, you’ll not run out of room – this is a properly large estate car built for comfortable touring. They really don’t make them like this anymore.