Peugeot 403 Cabriolet Darl`mat
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Car producer : |
Peugeot |
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Model: |
403 Cabriolet Darl`mat |
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Year: |
1956-1961 |
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Type: |
Cabriolet |
The Peugeot 403 is a car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot between May 1955 and October 1966. A total of 1,214,121 of all types, including commercial models, were produced, making it the first Peugeot to exceed the one million mark.
The 403 made its debut in saloon body style on 20 April 1955 at the Trocadéro Palace in Paris. For several months before it was launched numerous 403s, their badges removed, were circulating on the local roads near the manufacturer's PSA Sochaux factory, becoming so familiar that the locals no longer noticed them, but still attracting from Paris motoring journalists and photographers to a town that usually was of little interest to the national media.
The TN3 engine size gave the car a "tax horsepower" of 8 CV (8 hp), which placed it a class below the soon-to-be-replaced 11 CV Citroën Traction, but at least one class above the small cars produced by the principal competitor manufacturers.
When it was first shown, and until after 1958, the leading edge of car's nose carried an angular, forward-leaning chrome lion bonnet ornament – the lion image being Peugeot's trade mark. That was removed for 1959, due to safety concerns, and the logo was incorporated into a shield-shaped grill emblem.
Subsequently the semaphore-style trafficators on the C-pillars were replaced with flashing indicators within the light cluster. The front lights were modified to conform to new standards and in 1957 parallel windscreen wipers were substituted for the original "cross hands" ones featured at launch.
Although the car was subject to various improvements during the production run, these were mostly very minor in nature. Improvements for 1959 included moving the nozzles for the windscreen washer from the strip of metal between the base of the windscreen and the bonnet/hood a short distance to the rear edge of the bonnet/hood itself, thus presumably improving the angles at which the washer water hit the screen. This was also the year that the semi-circular ring inside the lower half of the diameter of the steering wheel used to operate the horn was replaced by a full circular horn-ring, so that drivers accustomed to holding the upper half of the steering wheel did not need to loosen their grip in order to sound the horn.
Styled by Pinin Farina, the 403 featured ponton, three-box styling incorporating, except on the most basic models, an opening roof panel. The collaboration with Pinin Farina marked the start of a partnership which would see the Italian designer producing designs for Peugeot, including those many mainstream volume models, for more than fifty years. Regarding the 403 itself there were persistent rumours that the design was one originally intended for a replacement Fiat 1900 which had been rejected when Turin had decided to defer replacement of the Fiat for another four years.
Unusual in Europe at the time, but appreciated by customers, was the way that the rear doors opened wide - to a full 90 degrees. Also unusual were the windows in the rear doors that opened fully into the door frame to the point where they disappeared, despite the intrusion into the door frame of a wheel arch which must have made the fit of the window when opened very marginal.
The 403 came with an enlarged version of the Peugeot 203's 1290 cc petrol engine. Displacing 1468 cc, the straight-four unit employed pushrod-actuated valves and hemispherical combustion chambers and a crossflow cylinder head to produce 65 hp (48 kW) at about 5,000 rpm and 75 lb⋅ft (102 N⋅m) of torque at 2,500 rpm. An unusual feature at the time was the thermostatically controlled engine fan which cut out when the engine temperature fell to 75°C and reengaged when the engine temperature increased to 84°C. Claimed advantages included an improvement in fuel consumption of between 5% and 10% according to average speed and the avoidance, under many conditions, of fan noise. Another little noticed but ingenious feature involved a small hot water based heating device for the carburetor linked to the heater for the passenger cabin in such a manner that it operated only when the driver turned on the heater and not when the ambient temperature was high enough for the heater to be left off.
Upon the 203's discontinuation in 1960, a 47 hp version of its 1290 cc powerplant became available as an option on a reduced specification version of the 403, branded initially as the "403 Sept" ("7") and soon afterwards as the "403 Berline Luxe". Car tax in France was based on engine size, and the smaller engined 403 fell within the 7CV taxation class rather than the 8CV of the bigger version.
The 403 came with a manual 4-speed all-synchromesh transmission driving the rear wheels. The gear change lever stuck out from the right side of the steering column.
For the Paris Motor Show in October 1957 the manufacturer offered, at extra cost, an electro-magnetic Jaeger automatic clutch, activated when changing gear
The wheelbase was lengthened by 240 mm (9.4 in) for the five door Peugeot 403 "Familiale" and "Commerciale" estate versions. The Familiale provided a third row of seats and was described as a 7/8 seater while the Commerciale offered a more conventional seat configuration for an estate car.
The lengthened 403 estate had a solid rear axle fitted to an aluminum differential case. It came with a manual column change gearbox and, in its "Familiale" guise, fully reclinable front seats. Sunroof and steel belted radial tires were standard. Reliability was considered excellent for the time.
A two-door cabriolet version of the car was also offered, with a luxurious interior featuring high quality leather upholstery. The car resulted from Peugeot's collaboration with the leading coachbuilder Pinin Farina, who designed the cabriolet version introduced at the Paris Motor Show in October 1956. In 1958 the 403 cabriolet cost 80% more than the entry level "berline grand luxe" 403 sedan, and presumably for this reason the convertible 403 was produced and sold only in very modest numbers. In the spring of 1961 production of the 403 cabriolet came to an end, in anticipation of the launch later that year of the manufacturer's 404 Cabriolet.
2-door pickup and 3-door van commercial variants of the 403 were also produced
Legere 2,880 mm (113 in) “short” wheelbase (1937-1940)
When the 402 was launched in 1935 there were just two chassis lengths, but for 1937 the manufacturer added a third “short” chassis, inherited from the short-lived Peugeot 302. The short chassis was used from 1937 for the Peugeot 402 Légère (“light-bodied”).
The Peugeot 402 Légère was first exhibited in July 1937 and was featured on the Peugeot stand in place of the Peugeot 302 at that year’s October Motor Show. The car combined the 2,880 mm (113 in) wheelbase and body from the Peugeot 302 with the larger 1991 cc engine of the Peugeot 402. Whereas the 302 had produced a maximum output of 43hp (32 kW) at 4,000 rpm, maximum power for the 402 Légère was listed as 55hp (41 kW) still at 4,000 rpm. That translated into a difference in listed top speed between 105 km/h (65 mph) and 125 km/h (78 mph). The simple formula of combining one existing body shell with another engine that was also already in production enabled the manufacturer to produce an attractively brisk car with minimum investment. Approximately 11,000 were produced.
From the outside the 402 Légère was initially virtually indistinguishable from the 302. However, on the front grille, whereas on the 302 the hole for the starting handle corresponded with the central digit in the car’s name spelled out on bottom part of the front grille, on the 402 Légère it was necessary to position the hole for the starting handle below the “402” name badge because the engine itself was positioned very slightly higher. An improvement over the 302 available to the driver, albeit only at extra cost, was the option of a Cotal pre-selector transmission, which could be controlled using a selector lever positioned directly behind the steering wheel, so that the driver needed to move his/her hand only minimally in order to change gear.
Although sources tend to refer to the 402 Légère as a single model, there was nevertheless a choice of at least three bodies.
Priced at 24,900 Francs in October 1937 was the four door “402 Légère berline” (saloon/sedan) using the body already familiar from the 302.[5] Not yet ready for presentation at the 1937 show, but nevertheless already priced (at 30,900 Francs) and advertised was the 402 Légère “coach”, which was a stylish thinner looking 2-door four seater car shaped somewhere between a sedan/saloon and coupe, with “glass on glass” side windows (allowing for the possibility, with the windows open, of a “pillarless” side profile) and front seats that tilted to permit access to the adequately spacious rear of the passenger cabin. Represented at the motor show by a prototype which differed in certain details from the cars that actually appeared a few months later was the 402 Légère “décapotable” (soft-top convertible), priced at 31,900 Francs. Both the “coach” and the “décapotable” bodied cars featured a slightly more streamlined look than the “berline”, and their stylishness was enhanced by “spats” covering the upper portions of the rear wheels.
3,150 mm (124 in) “normal” wheelbase (1935-1942)
