Peugeot 104 ZS 1.4

I had a Peugeot 104 in the early 80's and I liked it very much. I bought it from a scrap dealer who had just collected it as scrap! It was solid, complete and in reasonable condition but needed a new Flywheel of all things!

Blasting round the country lanes of the Yorkshire Dales was when the car was at it's best - a real point to point flyer and of course it laid the foundations for the development of the brilliant 205GTi.

Noisy on the motorway and lumpiness round town were small issues for a young man. I competed and won my class in a few autotests in mine and was sad when I eventually saw it go . . . . . back to the Scrappers!

If you want a cheap everyday classic car that is almost sure to provoke cries of "What is THAT!" then the Peugeot 104ZS may be the car for you, if you can find one.

The ZS is the sporty coupe version of the supermini sized 104 range, (Non sport coupes with smaller engines are also available, ZR 1124cc and ZL 958cc) although size wise the ZS pretty much redefined the definition of mini, being only fractionally smaller than a real mini!

With a microscopic boot and almost no rear leg room, this is definitely not a family car (it is a coupe after all) and from the side it does look as if half the car has been chopped away, making the styling an aquired taste. However it does look smart in a 70's retro way, especially the standard Amil alloy wheels.

Peformance is good for a 1360, mostly due to the tiny weight and roadholding is also excellent but in a rolling French manner. Only the last year of production had a 5 speed gearbox and this makes a world of difference of longer journeys.

The 104 suffered from an image of unreliability, mostly due to lack of care from owners, but the cylinder head gasket is always going to be suspect and the clutch can be a bit fragile. All ZS's rust like mad if allowed to which is why there are only a handful left alive in the UK now.

The bodyshell of the ZS begat the far blander Talbot Samba in the 80's but despite many similarities the ZS is actually a shorter car, and certainly more stylish.

With parts being more common in France there is plenty of life left in this older Peugeot and tuning options are easily available as mechanically Samba parts fit, and the Samba was very popular in continental rallying.

Largely forgotten now in the UK the 104ZS directley inspired and influenced the 205GTI and deserves more recognition than it gets.