BEBE PEUGEOT RETURNS TO THE ROAD AFTER 38 YEARS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29263, 22 July 1960, Page 11

BEBE PEUGEOT RETURNS TO THE ROAD AFTER 38 YEARS

ONE day last month, the two brothers Stewart, garagemen of Kerang, a small Victorian country town, strode into a musty bam in Bairnsdale. Paying an undisclosed sum to elderly ‘ Ivor Dennis, they proceeded to unravel an aged heap of sacking and corrugated cardboard in a corner. It seemed to take an interminable time.

Gradually, however, the ancient packing material fell away to disclose a tiny, snubnosed car—a coupe whose leather-covered top, on casual dusting, was seen to be in new condition. Investigation showed that the rest of the car was in similar order. After 38 years, Dennis had finally sold his Bebe Peugeot. Ivor Dennis first bought the Peugeot in 1922 and used it to convey his bride around Victoria on their honeymoon. He recalls that it would cruise at 45 miles an hour, and returned a regular 53 miles a gallon. In Storage

As the miles rolled by he grew to love the little car deeply; so deeply that he decided, rather than wear it out, to wrap it up and keep it for his grandchildren. He rubbed it with oil, covered it was scrim, and wrapped the whole thing up in acres of corrugated cardboard—and there, in a forgotten comer of his shed, it had stood ever since.

Dennis’s daughter, long since married and now with a growing family of her own, travelled from her husband’s farm on the day the Stewart Brothers bought the car, simply to catch her first glimpse of the vehicle she’d heard her parents talking about, but which she had never seen. The Peugeot’s new owners, having levered the long-since perished tyres free from the board floor to which they had “grown,” hastened to remove the spark plugs and insert a few drops of oil into each cylinder. That done, and the petrol tank filled,, they

gave the tiny crank two rapid turns, switched on, tugged again, and drove the Peugeot on to a low-load trailer under its own power..

They intend to recondition it and use it as a sales promotion medium in their business of Peugeot agents.

Produced a year or two before Herbert Austin conceived his prototype Austin Seven, the Peugeot

has both an engaging personality and a host of fascinating features. For example, it has no differential; just a worm drive back end that rotates both wheels simultaneously in the same direction and at equal speed. It is tough on the tyres when cornering but magnificent in mud—and roads were mostly muddy in those days.

From the back of the same worm gearing comes the speedometer drive, from which a lengthy cable reaches up to operate the dash-mounted dial—now reading a genuine 8827. Beside the speedometer take-off and easily accessible by stooping are a pair of wingnuts which adjust the twowheel brakes. (The instruction book, still in the car, recommends that in the case of a suddent stop the handbrake should be applied simultaneously.) The gearbox—three speeds and reverse—is in unit with the rear axle and is operated by a floor

mounted lever with an interesting movement. It works fore-and-aft, with gear selections as follows, reading from the front: Reverse, neutral, first, second, third. Shifting is sweet and easy, and the twin-disc clutch works silkily. The engine which started so readily after 38 years’ idleness is a diminutive side-valve, with a 720 c.c. capacity. On a 3.3 to 1 compression ratio it develops about 10 b.h.p. It has an electric starter which is driven by an oddly shaped battery beneath the removable floor boards, and unlike- modern practice, the starter is mounted on the frame rather than on the engine. Handbook

The instruction book is specific about care and maintenance of the Bebe, and contains such gems of wisdom as: “ . . . the sump, which should be inspected regularly, holds only a little less than half a gallon of oil; sufficient for a run of over 125 miles.” Now it can be seen where the petrol economy comes from.

In a faintly rakish and unmistakably Continental way, the little Peugeot is an attractive car. A coupe, it looks like a roadster with hood up, and has folding plate-glass windows on each door. Upholstery is of genuine hide throughout . and both seat and rear squab are comfortably sprung. The hood is fully lined with soft, fleecy material, and the dash and door sills are trimmed with professionally inlaid timber. Generally speaking, the trim quality compares with that of Rolls Royce and Bentley cars of the day. Instruments are sparse but of good quality. A four-day clock still keeps perfect time. Although too young to classify as a veteran, the Stewart Peugeot is probably the only example of its model in Australia, and is certainly one of the most original old vehicles ever unearthed.