The French words for ‘Sports Saloon’: Peugeot 402 Légère

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You may know we have a soft spot for saloons, and even more when they are nicely rounded and swift. When you are not familiar with the type pictured you should know that Peugeot’s famous headlights behind bars type basically came in three varieties. The compact 202, the midsize 302 and the 402 ‘grand routier’ which is really a large car. The car pictured here is the best of three worlds. It was marketed as a lighter 402, but facts are more interesting. It is based on the 302-chassis of 2880 mm (also used with the Darl Mat). It has the compact four-door coachwork of the 202. And the strong 2.2 litre of the big 402. So basically what we have here is a sporty package of the late thirties. And 80 years later it still shows!

The owner was kind enough to ask us to drive the 600 kilometers from Paris to Amsterdam in order to get the know car better prior to selling. We picked up the car at Issy les Moulineaux, just outside the Périférique and not too far from the location of Rétromobile. The car was parked there last August after a summer trip from the UK to Angoulême and had not moved since. After checking the fluids we give it a try. With a little bit of patience and choke the engine comes to life with some hesitation, but hey how quick would you be after eight months in bed? Five minutes later we leave garage Gambetta close at the tail of a battered Smart as we missed the original entrée ticket…

Outside Paris is behaving like Paris, not interested at all in the vintage of our motorcar. You just need to go with the flow and don’t be slow. Immediately we are glad the car doesn’t have the Cotal upgrade but the very easy shifting three box. And wow it goes! Lots of torque and little weight, that’s the trick. It’s certainly not a high revving car yet the ample available power between 2000-3000 rpm is so nice that you don’t feel the need for anything else. Well, to be honest, perhaps the dashboard could have an extra pass at the ergonomics department. During the two day trip, I keep thinking and thinking about the meaning of the six buttons around the central cluster gauge with speed, total and day counter, time, petrol and amps. The good thing is that basically everything works. Trafficators (quite handy in Paris), horn, wipers, lights (…after finding our way) and even the small wind-up clock.

The steering is not super light, but firm and also at high speeds very stable. At routes nationales, we happily cruised at 100-110 km/h. Top speed is around 120-130; we didn’t go further than 120 but interestingly, whatever you do with the car you will always have throttle and power left. After a few hours, we forgot about driving an 80-year-old but still were quite happy to find a pleasant hotel halfway Paris -  Amsterdam. Just before dark.  Ah... for tomorrow another 200 miles of route nationale are waiting to be devoured. Sporty salooning, yet served by a French cook.

Words and photographs by Joris Bergsma.

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