Antique Cars

The general definition of antique cars in the United States refers to cars that are over twenty five years old and those driven before the world war two but in the United Kingdom they refer to cars that are almost one hundred years old and also known as veteran cars. Antique cars are also known as classic cars and date way back to when the motorized system included the manufacture of auto mobiles. According to the American Classic Car Club, antique cars refer to distinctive automobiles. The club rates the classic cars to full classic and CCCA classic. The antique and classic term meant that the cars were very expensive and very few people were able to afford them, this made their production be in small numbers.

Some of the factors that accord cars the antique status include the general and distinctive luxurious accessory and custom coachwork features such as the power clutch, the power brakes and an automatic or one shot lubrication system and the engine displacement. The twenty five year or more time frames of the antique cars is quite astonishing since the modern cars can have a half of that life span. This rare and long survival makes the antique cars not be used for regular transportation as it is very expensive to maintain. However, due to the prestige that comes with this type of cars, most people many antique cars are kept restore, collect and own antique cars as a hobby or as an art collection or for commercial purposes.

Initially antique cars were propelled with steam and they were horseless carriages which could move at a speed of 12mph when going up hill and on level roads. The steam engine saw a major but gradual development over the years and by 1860 the antique cars had an internal combustion engine. The four stroke engine became characteristic with the next set of antique cars but was quickly overtaken by Benz which had a tabular chassis which was framed and had three wheels. The styles used on antique cars may vary but most of them have removable headlights, trunks fenders and headlights. In addition they have a grill treatment which is vertical in nature. Some examples of antique cars include Kaiser-Frazer, pierce arrow, 1910 Ford Toure and Duisenberg.

Antique cars do not normally have safety related features such as roll over protection, seat belts and crumple zones. In addition most of these cars still use the ancient and outdated standards of vehicle handling. This is mainly in the performance of the brakes, suspension and steering of the car and this therefore demands that one is highly alert and aware when driving to avoid any accidents. In some countries the use of antique cars for daily transportation is either prohibited or discouraged. Most antique cars qualify for the motor shows due to their originality and traditional designs. Some owners refuse to fit in seatbelts or redesign their antique cars so as not to make them lose their originality.

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An Overview Of The Peugeot Models

The Peugeot 206 was created in the early 1990s with the replacement of the preceding 205 model. Peugeot changed their model under the idea that super mini cars were no longer profitable, therefore a change was in order. The Peugeot 206 did not immediately follow the 205 as the Peugeot 106, 306 and 309 models to capture different levels of sales from prospective customers. The Peugeot 106 was rivaling the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo with the 306 and 309 models taking the mid and top end sales from the discontinuation of the 205. Because of this, many Peugeot enthusiasts believe the 206 should have been named the 207. The 206, although created early was not released until 1998.

The Peugeot moniker indicates that the 206 immediately followed the 205, but this is not true as other models were released before the 206. The eventual successor, the 207, was finally launched n 2006, but Peugeot recently announced that the 206 will stay in production until the year 2010. The 206 is the best selling Peugeot of all time but the end of the model in the upcoming years will end the 06 generation of Peugeot cars in almost 20 years. The 206 was initially produced in France and England but production switched to Slovakia. The closure of the British plant matched with the closure of the Ryton plant, which Peugeot took over when Peugeot bought Chryslers European division in 1979.

The Peugeot 306 replaced the 309. The 306 is very similar to the Citroen ZX, which was released to the public two years before the 306 model. Both cars used the same structure and floorplan. The 205 was styled after the Pininfarina styling and has been a better seller. In the 1974 oil crisis, Citroen went bankrupt and Peugeot took over Citroen. This led to the similarities and identical cars produced by both manufacturers.

The 306 Phase 1 came to the market in March of 1993 as a 3 and 5 door hatchback with three different models being offered. The five door was more of a station wagon and was dubbed the sw for station wagon. Although not nearly as stylish as the 205, the 306 offered many practical uses in the vehicle. The sw estate model was not a hatchback station wagon, but a sedan with luxurious European styling to accompany the Peugeot racing spirit.

The engines used in the Peugeot cars were offered both in a gasoline and a diesel model. The gasoline engines were four cylinder units, which gained their outstanding reputation from being the power plant in the ever popular Peugeot 205 model. The idea for the Peugeot engines was to have a fair trade off between performance and excellent fuel economy. Three larger capacity engines were available but were restricted to automatic and performance models.

The diesel engines in Peugeot came with an excellent reputation and were largely available in turbo charged models. The original engine displacement for the diesel engines came in a 1.8 liter, but was soon upgraded to a 1.9 liter. The turbocharged Peugeot diesel became an excellent fitting engine to match the 306 as the performance matched similarly sized gasoline cars. The considerable extra weight was overcome by the turbocharged performance.

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