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Once again, when we talk about the pieces of automotive history housed in the Andorra Automobile Museum, we are referring to cars that stand out for their power, their beauty, both, or even much more, as is the case with the Peugeot 201 we are about to present. When I say “much more,” I mean that…
Once again, when we talk about the pieces of automotive history housed in the Andorra Automobile Museum, we are referring to cars that stand out for their power, their beauty, both, or even much more, as is the case with the Peugeot 201 we are about to present.
When I say “much more,” I mean that some models stand out for being key pieces in an important episode. In the case of the 201 from the French brand, beyond its age, it is an important car because it allowed its brand to recover during very delicate times.
The truth is that the Peugeot 201, more than just another means of transport, was the anchor that allowed the house of the lion to survive the global economic crisis that emerged from what is known as the Great Depression. In this delicate context, the Peugeot 201 allowed the brand to establish a new design language that would largely define the brand's evolution to this day.
We could say that the 1898 De Dion-Bouton quadricycle presented here is one of the foundational pieces in the history of the automobile. We are not talking about just another ancient vehicle in the Encamp museum; we are talking about one of the machines that, straddling a carriage and an “infernal…
“Quan l’automòbil deixa enrere el carruatge”. Aquesta és la millor forma de començar el reportatge del Chenard & Walcker Type TT que trobareu exposat a la planta baixa del Museu Nacional de l’automòbil, doncs simbolitza precisament això ! Tot i que podríem dir que Chenard & Walcker va ser…
A principis del segle XX l’automòbil encara no era el producte industrial que coneixem avui. Cada vehicle era, com és el cas del Doriot Flandrin & Parant Type A que us presentem en aquest espai, una peça construïda gairebé de forma artesanal, fruit d’una combinació d’enginyeria, experimentació…
Presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1929, just as the world was plunging into the Great Depression, the presentation of the Peugeot 201 was a masterful move: it was the first model to adopt the famous three-digit nomenclature with the central zero, a trademark that Peugeot quickly registered and has maintained as a hallmark for almost a century.
In 1930, the Peugeot 201 did not aim to compete with luxurious large-displacement cars, but rather to offer a versatile, solid, robust, practical, and very affordable solution, designed for a middle class that needed reliability and did not have many options available.
The 201 included everything from sedan versions and racing units to professional utility models (like the Boulangère van), being a model that adapted to many needs and usage profiles, a very novel detail in those years.
Its powertrain features a 4-cylinder in-line engine, 1,122 cm³ and 23 HP of power, with a rear-wheel drive setup. The car could reach nearly 80 km/h, mainly because it weighed less than 900 kg.
Although the first units were mechanically quite conventional for the time, we could say that the 201 was the testing ground for solutions that would later become standard resources for the market in general. Moreover, Peugeot understood that the key to success was not just the price, but improving the driving experience reinforced with technological innovations. For example, shortly after its launch, the brand introduced independent front suspension, a revolutionary innovation for the 1930s that offered more stability and much more comfort compared to rigid axles.
Today, finding a 1930 model like the one in the museum is finding a very important piece, for much more than just the car itself.
Its simple mechanics allow for accessible repairs for restoration enthusiasts, and its aesthetics, with those "pre-war" lines, as well as the so-called "suicide" doors that open facing each other (against the direction of travel) reveal a lifestyle and an era that, at the very least, should make us imagine how the old continent and with it the rest of the world became motorized.
In the case of the unit exhibited in the Andorran museum, the SE acronym indicates that it is a specially developed engine, or in this case possibly adapted for competition. This aligns with the fact that it was a training unit at the mythical Autòdrom del Garraf, near Sitges.
It should be noted that some versions equipped with the SE3 engine, an 1,084 cm³ engine with 30 HP specifically designed for competition, were released later.
Enjoy the Peugeot 201 SE and the rest of the automotive gems of all time by visiting the National Automobile Museum of Andorra. You will find it in the heart of Encamp.
On the other hand, if you want to see more entries like this, from this other link you will directly access the blog section.
