1st Vote, 1st Comment..... Peugeot, because no matter how well it runs, it will be pure hell, and will never be worth anywhere near the money you will sink into it.

Broken French Car = Project Hell automatically. The Mi stands for Mission Impossible! The red color is nice, maybe the interior comes in the matching colors of sweat and tears! I hate to say it, but the car sitting next to someones woodpile has a better shot than the pretty red one in the driveway!

"He probably ran away screaming!"

Zut alors! Mon auto haz been possesséd by ze fromage-eating surrender monkeys!

Germans will always beat the French. It's the natural order of things.

I am sure the Peugeot comes with the standard Never drive transmission.

I'm torn. How long has it been since the Benz transmission became "all neutral"? 10 years ago? 20?

And if the Pug needs so little...why hasn't someone done it? It's so shiny. But then the guy said "for a viewing of the car." Isn't that like "viewing of the body"?! So I'm going Pug here.

What is with these no-brainers?? French = Hell. Do not pass go.

I should have snapped a pic of the beater 6.9 I passed yesterday in front of the feed store (yes..) I'm assuming these had air suspension in the rear, because this example's bumper was -on- the ground...no mystery there, I suppose.

Just thinking about what turn of events would lead to a 6.9 becoming a beater in the first place makes the Baby Jesus cry, so I shall not dwell on it...

Like British Leyland vehicles, French cars win PCH matchups by default.

The 6.9 could one day, and millions of dollars later, be a cool ride.

The Mi16, on the other hand, will always be a crappy French car. I'm sure new heads, valves, and pistons are EASY to source. Just call L'Autozone.

Risk/reward comes into play on this one. Which is more Hellish: to take on a project car with a theoretical financial upside that you will most likely never see (the 6.9) or to take on a project car that you KNOW has zero financial upside going in (the 405), but you do it anyway? Tough call.

I had to go with the M-B just for the "mysterious problem".

I like to think it's haunted.

Mon Dieu! How could you turn down an opportunity to own a piece (and I use that in the pejorative) of Surrender-monkey craftsmanship? The Benz will dominate your life like a nazi hooker, but you can always take solace in the secure, solid "thunk" of the door closure. And should the shit go down, you can always use it as a bunker.
Even if you get it running, the Mi16 will freak you out with its innate oddness and should you drive it anywhere, people will either assume you are a petulant turd, or some kind of loser who "thought it'd be cool". Now, I'm not getting down on all French cars, but this one has all the specious build-quality and parts availability but none of the character and class.
Better to use the money go buy a bottle of Cabernet, a loaf of bread, and try out some of that high school French on some lovely ladies.

405's had astonishingly bad build quality, but that pales next to their marshmellow driving characteristics. So even an Mi, er, uhm, >koff< "performance" example means no joy, even should it, by the grace of DeGaulle and Joan of Arc, run, who would WANT to drive it?

Peugeot makes great pepper grinders, not sportsy cars.

Ergo, 405 = PCH

Pug, of course.

Besides the 6.9, are there any other J"F"G cars that so regularly pop up in junkyards for prices cheaper than fill dirt?

Just something to ponder.

Actually, I had to give the 6.9 ad a 2nd look since its nearby & I enjoy the kraut tanks..
The mysterious problem very likely isn't so mysterious - transmission is done. My last 928 (which has a Mercedes-sourced transmission - likely the very same model) had this same problem - just quit without fanfare or warning, and required replacement. $1500 later, mystery solved!

I still want to see a Citroen SM vs. Jensen FF for the ultimate PCH showdown. Napoleon vs. the Duke of Wellington all over again.

Have to vote for the Pug. With the Merc. you could always just do this: [www.flickr.com] (Drop in a Chevy V-8)

Peugot. French, Hell, and for the extra frisson of pain, its name can be interpreted in two excruciating ways.

1) "My 16" -- the stark contrast between a gleaming straight-16ed roadster and this LePiece will have you weeping like you're a 16-year old princess who's just been dumped.

2) "MI6". -- If you've ever watched any James Bond movies or read any of the novels, this interpretation will positively leap to mind, which means that not only are you then channeling BRITISH hell and unobtainable suavity into the LePiece, every time you have to go in on a creeper you'll be quite literally lying back and thinking of England.

Nope, not tempted by either of them.

I crashed one of those Mi16s once, so it has a special place in my heart. I voted for it because it won't get the respect of the Mercedes and will probably by much more work.

@P161911: @P161911: I have an old magazine where the super comparo was between:

Lambo Jarama
Aston DBS
Jensen FF
Citroen SM
E Type Series II 4.2
AC Frua

Peugeot, because the 6.9 actually has a chance of increasing in value beyond it's $1500 purchase price.

Granted, neither car will recoup whatever you sink into it, but at least most people know what the hell a Mercedes-Benz is. Not so much with a Peugeot, unless you run into a fellow French-car owner/masochist.

Recently, on Jeopardy, there was a question that involved identifying the Peugeot logo. I knew instantly, of course, but my girlfriend had never heard of them, and no one on the show knew either.

I voted for the Peugeot, but I'm having second thoughts.

The Pug has little chance of ever being worth fixing.

The Merc will go up in value if you just don't let it get any worse.

However, the Peugeot is a perfect candidate for an engine swap. And that could be done with far less hellishness than trying to bring the Mercedes back to its former glory.

@P161911: to be fair, the Citroen SM has the edge: France + Italy > England

plus, Jensen's usually had bullet proof TorqueFlite trannies and Hemi engines, which even when tempermental, have scads of parts laying around.

Did Triumph ever make something with a Russian-sourced engine? THAT would be a fair PCH duel.

I went with the Pug, and heres an intelligent, intuitive witty explaination of why.

Old mercs were basically carved from big slabs of german schteel. The 6.9 has a bunch of rediculously complicated and expensive bits in it though. But remember, when you get rid of all those parts, its still a block if schteel.

The Peugeot Mi16 is a great car, dont get me wrong. But is is basically assembled with cardboard and tape, french cardboard and tape at that. Which means, however many lonley hours you spend with your new-looking Peugeot, it will still be a pile of French tape and cardboard. The merc, on the other hand, will be a block of schteel, albiet one having lots of fun with oxygen atoms.

Does my decision make sense? No. But, frankly,my dear, I dont give a damn. . .

I'm waiting for Franzouse's verdict. Until then, I'll go doodle some 205 GTis

The Mercedes, any time of day. People so easily forget that the suspension is not the air suspension like in the 600, it is a hydropneumatic suspension licensed from Citroen! It's half German, which means parts will be desperately expensive but the thing will go like a bat out of hell, and half French, which means it's got the next best ride to a Beechcraft Starship, but will likely stop working every few thousand miles. Completed, it would be about as cool as they come, which is all the more temptation to do the Sisyphus Shuffle with it, but you'll be paying German prices for parts that you'll go through at nearly the rate of a French car.

@KazukiFennec: Wait, Its half German and half French?? So, It surrenders to itself???

Gotta go with the Benz. The only way the finished French project would be any fun to own was if it ended up with a blown hemi sticking up through the bonnet. And that would side-step the hell aspect of the challenge.

I've had the pleasure ('pleasure'?) of re-motoring a Rénault Encore, and, while that little project did get me laid, I'd go straight MOPAR were I to attempt it again.

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It's the natural order of things. French make bread, Germans make machines.

While the Benz will set you back about four suitcases of money, and that's just putting the interior right, the Peugeot wins...easily. Once a heap-O-shit, always a heap-O-shit.

Now if I could just find a 12-passenger late-60's/early-70's station wagon....

Grrrrr. I'm too young to be losing my mind....

I think this PCH really revolves around how much hell learning French would be for you. Thanks to the Canadian school system, I took it though grade 10, and even though I only remember a couple sentences, I could at least learn enough more to handle tracking down whatever parts I'd need on the Peugeot. The rusting, complex Benz is more of a challenge, initially at least.

the 6.9. No replacement for displacement.

This PCH is misnamed. That's project car HEAVEN right there. I've wanted an '89 Mi16 ever since i used to own a 505. I love the look of that car, and i've come so close to buying 2 or 3 but always backed out.

Make mine black please. Even if I can't make it run it's gorgeous yard art.

@Maymar: Canadians & Americans can fix anything. We come from the land of bailing wire and bubblegum.

Get the Mi16 and slap a turbo in there to drag it up to T16 levels of luancy and beyond. Then hit the backroads, find a hill and recreate...

+ Watch video

I vote no, non, and nein for this one. You couldn't pay me to take either of them.

hey!
that 405 was for sale on sf bay cl from capitola.
i love peugeots, i am a proud 505 owner.
but sadly, the 405 does not even compare to the 505.
its wrong wheel drive, and no where as sturdy, or comfortable as a 505. plus, 505turbos are fast as hell.

i know where that cars from, capitola.
im a 505 owner, and even though i have to go with the peugeot, 505's dont even compare to 405's. 405's are wrong wheel drive, and build quailty is le shit lol.

I was wondering when a 405 would make it to PCH! ANY Peugeot gets my vote. Owning a Peugeot is a certain kind of hell few know, but all should, it builds character. Because of my Peugeot, I understand a suffering similar to that of starving children in third world nations. This car would give it's owner a unique perspective on the cruel, bitter, unfairness of this world. A true glimpse into Hell. God Bless Peugeot.

This should have been a 3-way battle.

You gotta include Italy, if for no other reason than to complete the 3 major European WW2 'powers'. To keep the parallel going (like the US and UK stepping in to the Big One) you'd have to handi-cap the Germans by picking something sehr wacky and completely unreasonable like a C111. Forget about finding parts for one of these, first you'd have to actually FIND one of these.

Since we're going modernish sedanny for the Phrench, lets pick a 164 Alfa V6, suitably hopped up with aftermarket ground effects, rims, lights, stereo, chip, the works.
The Alfa kills the Peugeot on 'cool', so it'd have to be so hideous as to require a total resto to bring back to stock (unless the driver is wearing a Pope hat, one can't improve on stock alfa coolness, and I will not argue about this).

@STORC: I think you nailed it. The one thing I've never figured out is how these things run 300,000 or more miles reliably everywhere in the world, but I never got more than 40 days w/o a trip to the mechanic!

I went from the 505 to a Neon. After the 505, I never bitched ONCE about Dodge reliability. ;)

Funny most of the comments go for the Peugeot, but the Merc is "winning". WTF!? For repairability, I'd have to go junkyard German over driveway French every time (regardless of price difference).

@Mike the Dog: Which is why, of course, I voted for the Peugeot...

Peugeot, Peugeot, uber Alles!

Peugeot -- the fact that most Americans can neither spell nor pronounce it properly