Spotted: a Peugeot 505 Break

The Peugeot 505 entered the market in 1979 as the successor to the very popular 504. The 505 was designed in collaboration between Peugeot’s own design department and the famous Pininfarina. The car was available only as a four-door sedan. A two-door coupe, convertible and pickup did not get beyond the prototype stage. A five-door station wagon was also added to the lineup in 1982.

The Peugeot 505 station wagon

The station wagon came in two basic versions: the five-seat Break and the Familiale with eight seats thanks to a third row of seats in the luggage compartment. Compared to the sedan, the station wagon distinguished itself with a slightly longer wheelbase and a rigid rear axle instead of independent suspension.

Engines Peugeot 505

The Peugeot 505 came with a wide range of engines. That consisted mainly of four-cylinder gasoline engines of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 liters. That included a sporty GTi version. There were also 2.3- and 2.5-liter four-cylinder diesel engines. In later production years, even a 2.8-liter V6 gasoline engine was among the options. Depending on model year and engine choice, you shifted manually between four or five gears or with a three- or four-speed automatic. The drive always went to the rear wheels. This made the 505 the last Peugeot with only rear-wheel drive.

International career

The Peugeot 505 soon received compliments for its handling, especially on bad road surfaces. Therefore, the car managed to find many buyers outside Europe as well. The 505 is also one of the last Peugeots still sold in North America. Sales were modest, but the very diesel version of the Peugeot 505 even served for a time as a New York Yellow Cab. Also in modest numbers, but still.

Offroad with the Peugeot 505

Although the 505 had a fairly large ground clearance by itself, there was also a superlative. Dangel, known for its four-wheel-drive Peugeots, also supplied its own version of the 505 Break and Familiale. The Peugeot 505 Break/Familiale 4×4 Dangel not only had all-wheel drive, but also a large ride height and tough black fender extensions. Coincidentally, we came across a 1990 copy of it in new condition at the EMWalhalla last year, see below.

Facelift and (no) successor for Peugeot 505

A subtle facelift followed in 1986. When the smaller Peugeot 405 was introduced a year later, European sales of the 505 did begin to decline rapidly. European production of the 505 continued until 1992, but worldwide production of the model continued through 1997. A direct successor did not come; the aforementioned 405 took over. A direct successor to the Peugeot 505 did not actually appear until 2010, in the form of the 508 line that we are still familiar with.

Second life in Africa

The 505 never managed to match the success of its predecessor 504, but with over 1.3 million units produced, the 505 can still be called a great success. Only about 230,000 of those would be a Break or Familiale, making that body style relatively rare. Although the station wagon was sold mainly in Europe, many were exported to Africa over the years. Also from the sedan, by the way. The 505 is still called “the workhorse of Africa,” and in some African countries it is also still a common model.

The spotted specimen

As mentioned above, these days it is searching to come across another Peugeot 505 in the Netherlands, let alone a Break. So when we came across this still very nice specimen in Leiden, we really had to make a photo stop. Here we see a late specimen from 1991, which has been in the Netherlands since 2008. It’s just a bit of a question of which version we have in front of us.

In any case, the spotted 505 is a Familiale. The third row of seats may fold down very flat, but the extra belts at the very rear leave little room for doubt. The exact equipment level does remain a question mark. In fact, according to the tailgate it is an SX version, while according to the RDW this is a Familiale GL.

Any more youngtimers?

See more youngtimer spots? Then also take a look at the Instagram channel @dutch_youngtimers. The Peugeot 505 we spotted is now also on display there.