Lot 208 - 1987 Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 Ex Sir Stirling Moss
| Lot Number | 208 |
| Registration | D49 JUC |
| Chassis Number | VF3741C8607778674 |
| Engine Number | 1CW44011090 |
| Odometer reading | 137,200 miles |
| Result | Sold - £20,160 |
- First owned by Sir Stirling Moss
- Great provenance
- Featured in magazines
The Peugeot 205 was produced between 1983 and 1998 and was declared 'Car of the Decade' by CAR magazine in 1990. The styling of the 205 is often thought to be a Pininfarina design, however Gerard Welter, Peugeot's chief designer, claims it as an in-house design. The car is often credited as the car which turned Peugeot's fortunes around. The GTi version came in 1.6 litre and 1.9 litre engine derivatives and is considered one of the very best hot hatches of all time. The 205 GTi is still known to offer a very rewarding driving experience and is still mentioned to this day in group car tests of the newest GTi models or equivalent. Peugeot itself never truly recreated this success in subsequent GTi models, although they came close with the highly regarded GTi-6 variant of the 306. Increasingly stringent emissions regulations meant the 1.6 GTi went out of production in 1992 whilst the 1.9 was sold for a couple more years thanks to re-engineering of the engine enabling it to work properly with a catalytic converter.
This very special example was delivered new to Sir Stirling Moss (no introduction needed!) who used this ‘pocket rocket’ as his everyday car and even commented on how it was ‘exciting to drive with excellent performance’. As such, it comes with great provenance including magazine articles featuring the car and its famous owner, and DVLA confirmation of the 7 SM registration number – the 7 referring to his lucky race number. His son Elliot wrote a letter reminiscing about the car and this too can be seen in the history file. The car also retains the towbar that Sir Stirling Moss fitted to tow his bike and his BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) sticker is still on the back windscreen. This wonderful little ‘hot hatch’ has recently been featured on Piston Heads and has just been photographed for Practical Classics. Finished in silver with grey and red interior, this Phase 1, non-sunroof, pre-ABS car is really the one to have! The car underwent a light restoration in 2015 and has recently been serviced along with having a new sump gasket and battery fitted. A major service was completed 1000 miles ago including a new cambelt, water pump, brakes and pipes, starter motor, fuel pump and wheel refurbishment to name a few of the items carried out (a top end engine rebuild was carried out in 2006). The bodywork and exterior plastics are all in good condition as is the original interior. It is indeed telling that one of the greatest drivers in the world chose this little sports car as his daily driver and this is the perfect opportunity to own a piece of motoring history – don’t miss it!
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