Start with what the Peugeot 404 is: a 4-door saloon / 5-door estate / 2-door coupé / 2-door convertible / 2-door coupé utility (pickup) with Petrol engine, built from 1960 to 1975, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Pininfarina.
How it came about
The Peugeot 404 is a large family car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot from 1960 to 1975. A truck body style variant was marketed until 1988. Styled by Pininfarina, the 404 was offered initially as a saloon, estate, and pickup. A convertible was added in 1962, and a coupé in 1963. The 404 was fitted with a 1.6 litre petrol engine, with either a Solex carburetor or Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection or a 1.9 litre diesel engine available as options. Introduced at the Paris Motor Show as an option was the inclusion of a 3-speed ZF automatic transmission, similar to the unit already offered on certain BMW models, as an alternative to the standard column-mounted manual unit. Popular as a taxicab, the 404 enjoyed a reputation for durability and value.
The 404 was manufactured under licence in various African countries until 1991 (in Kenya) and was manufactured in Argentina by Safrar/Sevel in El Palomar; in Québec, Canada at the St-Bruno-de-Montarville Sociéte de Montage Automobile (SoMA) Ltd. plant (1965–1968); in New Zealand by Campbell Industries; in Australia by Renault Australia Pty. Ltd.; and in Chile by Automotores Franco Chilena S.A. in Los Andes. Peugeot's French production run of 1,847,568 404s ended in 1975. A total of 2,885,374 units had been produced worldwide at the end of production. As the model was designed by Pininfarina, the bodyshell is very similarly styled to the one used in the 1959 Austin Westminster.
The hardware
The engine is Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 1060 -. Drive goes through a 4-speed manual / 3-speed ZF automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2650 -. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the Peugeot line-up the Peugeot 404 has a clear place: it replaced the Peugeot 403; it handed the line to the Peugeot 504; the factory was Sochaux (PSA Sochaux Plant. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan Patrol, the Mini Mini, the Jaguar E-Type. Its Peugeot stablemates include the Peugeot Onyx and the Peugeot Pars.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Peugeot 404 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.