Jalopnik
Wouldn't you know it, the 60s BMW coupe beat the 80s one in our last Choose Your Eternity poll. Sure, the 633CSi is more complicated, but you might be able to find a parts car or three in your local wrecking yard... and where's the Hell there? Today we're going to return to the perennial France-versus-the-world battle for the All Time Global Project Car Hell JiggaChampion Trophy (which leaks rusty water and has to be jump-started), and- just because we love an underdog- we're going to let Japan take on the mightiest of PCH Superpowers!
We really dig the Dangel 4x4 conversions for the Peugeot 504, and we'd totally drive one... but we Norteamericanos can't get them, thus sparing us the agony joy that is French four-wheelin' action. Or so we thought, prior to Kleinlowe sending us the tip on this Dangel-ized 1981 Peugeot 504 wagon (go here if the ad disappears). As Kleinlowe says "check out the angle of the Dangel," and we have to agree there's something a little off about the extreme nose-high stance of this car. Does it have any engine, much less the turbodiesel the seller claims? And a station wagon! Reet! Best of all, the seller states "As far as I can tell this is the only one in the USA" like that's a selling point! Better brush up on your French Parts Guy slang, because you'll be needing it!
A diesel- even a turbocharged diesel- is just too slow for serious Hell Project hoonage; what's the point of wrenching for years on a project if you can't wrap it around a tree 50 yards from your garage? That's why you need a tiny sports car with a big rip-snortin' Detroit V8. But not a British sports car; ever since the Cobra, we've seen all manner of British machines getting all sideways and backwards with Ford and Chevy V8s. What you need is a Japanese sports car with a V8, and what better choice than this '68 Datsun Fairlady (go here if the ad disappears)? Just $1,500! What are you waiting for? It's got $6K in "professional chassis work" already, yet there's "much work left to do." We don't doubt it, and we also don't doubt that the 302/5-speed combo won't give you a deadly respectable power-to-weight ratio if when you finally get it running. Just be sure you understand that "this is NOT a running car!" and everything will be all right. Thanks to Brian B for the tip!
Comments
is there even supposed to be a question on what everyone is going to vote on for this one?, really jalopnik...
Doesn't France always win, except in real life?
What hell is in an American V8?
Converted 4x4 french deathtrap for hell's hills.
@DannyBN: yes, unless its the mega-track
a 4x4 peugeot driven by Dangle is even more hellacious.
Peugeot FTW. The Datsun looks like it's already headed to the scrap yard, and really, who would give a shit if it did. But the 4x4 Pug, with a NOS transfer case, that you KNOW is filled with sawdust and 50W. Not only would it be a total PCH, but despite all the time you were investing in it it would still just be a 4x4 504 (would that be a 20016?). Why not save the hassles and find a nice Eagle wagon? Or one of those nice BMW X6s all the kids are talking about? You gotta' wonder what gypsy the present owner insulted to get saddled with this beast.
Um, France is well, France.
Needs some truck nutz to do some dangling too. . . .
Fairlady. Because I almost duped myself into this exact project about a year ago when one of these showed up for sale and I had a leftover small block.
The Datsun is intriuging with the complete lack of a steering column. Must be one of the many modifications still needed. Buy the Datsun, use the 302 and 5 speed somewhere reasonable, like the mid-engine Mustang II and sell all the Datsun parts on ebay. The bigger hell would of course be the Peugeot. Maybe if the Datsun had a Packard, AMC, or other off-brand V-8 it would have a chance.
The Datsun is far too easy to finish... that Pug is the definition of Hell.
The Sunbeam Tiger-san (or Fairlady, however you'd rather look at it) is pretty cool. But it's no obscure French offroader.
The good part about the Fairlady is that it's been sitting in So Cal, so rust isn't going to be an issue....
$6K worth of chassis work? All we saw was
3 shots of the trans sitting out in the open... I want to sell this guy some more chassis work!
A Dangel gasser? (Or is it Dangle Gas-Her?) Just the thing to go roaring across the Maginot line.
I love how the seller claims 'all parts are Peugeot' except the transfer case, conveniently forgetting all the little bits that attach the transfer case to the rest of drivetrain and the car itself... Probably the entire suspension needs parts that are just a -little- different from anything available anywhere in the States, too. I wonder if it has an econometer.
The Peugeot 4x4 is a french off-road modified diesel-fueled 4x4 turbocharged station wagon. Replacement parts are more rare than honest politicians, and nobody - quite simply nobody - has anything approaching this level of awesomeness.
The Datsun, on the other hand, is a British sports car, except that it wasn't built by communists. A garage that knows everything there is to know about small-block fords (they race them!) is within walking distance of my house. And, even when it's done, it won't be anything terribly special.
So why on earth do I think the Fairlady is simply so much better?
@Spasticteapot: That's just your survival instinct kicking in.
Dig the Pug's gasser-ready stance! All it needs is big meats on the back, 4- or 5-inches chopped out of the wheelbase, a blown and injected Nailhead under the hood, and some witty name (Napoleon's Dynamite?) painted on the sides.
You know you're breathing rarefied air when a non-running Fairlady-cum-Sunbeam Tiger* is the simpler (and less awesome) option.
I bet the Peugeot smells like cheese and cigarettes.
*No, that's not a sex act.
Went with the Datsun. The thing to remember is... with the Datsun, even if you get it finished, Japanese cars from that era rust to pieces if they just get a whiff of salt.
So you will never be done.
And even if it isn't in an area where it'll rust, the chances are, you'll still be in hell because the first time you'll apply max power or hit a speed bump, you'll probably deform the chassis.
As usual, I vote for the one I'd want to drive. A very fair lady she is!
Rarer = harder = more hellish.
End of story?
@Mad_Science:
"..You know you're breathing rarefied air when a non-running Fairlady-cum-Sunbeam Tiger* is the simpler (and less awesome) option. I bet the Peugeot smells like cheese and cigarettes.
*No, that's not a sex act..."
The Lady or the Tiger?
Perhaps, perhaps.
But the Peugeot smells like cheese and cigarettes. And that spot on the carpet in the back IS from sex acts.
Fairlady here, I have seen these rust, it's not pretty. That combines with the frame cracking 302 in it and your in hell.
As for the Peugeot Looks like the engine is in the same place as it was in my friend's old escort, in the back seat.
Since the 504 is winning at the moment, here is a broken emblem to go with your broken dreams:
@Mad_Science: Cheese and cigarettes is better then cheese and sex.
Ew
I threw up into my mouth a little.
Oh and Dangel Peugeot all the way. Wonder if she's Trail Rated®. ;)
As always, true hell is only entered if you actually WANT to drive the thing when done. A 4x4 French station wagon is of no interest.
@JoeWoodsprite: A 4x4 French station wagon--one which competed honorably in the Paris-Dakar Rally-- is of no interest? I think I found a car site that might interest you more than Jalopnik: [www.consumerreports.org]
Fairlady, because as you note, "what's the point of wrenching for years on a project if you can't wrap it around a tree 50 yards from your garage?"
@vwminispeedster: Ugh! Dangle haunts my nightmares. One of my deepest regrets, is seeing that movie!
How is the Fairlady a PCH contender? This is not Hell, this is FUN!
......once its running.
@Mad_Science: but it does sound like the title of an Anime porn episode.
Votin' Datsun, if only to keep the name alive. Hey, at least its name successor still has a marketing presence in North America.
French. 4x4. Wagon. Nothing more needs to be said.
@Armand, Star-Spangled Pedant: I knew that was coming.
JoeWoodsprite, never disrespect a wagon one this sight. Especially one with a pedigree.
"site" that is.
A '68 version of a car they didn't even open the FACTORY until end of '69 for? Sounds like my kind of party! It'll be worth millions when you restore it too!
@vinnchan:
Huh ? The 2.0l roadster was first produced in '67. Perhaps you are thinking of the Fairlady Z ?
@vinnchan: Now that you mention it looks more like a '66 Fairlady.
'66 Fairlady
This site shows the '66 in a bit more detail. The gauge layout on the dash seem more like these photos, but the lack of better photos of the PCH Fairlady makes it hard to tell.
Wow, as of this post it's 50%/50%.
Closer then I thought!
It's a freakin' Peugeot Wagon 4x4 people!!
i just voted for the peugeot, it is 112 france to 111 japan. Come on, the datsun actually HAS a shot of running!
Allez Peugeot! You can do it!
If the engine actually resided IN the car, it'd probably have less PCH status, and more chance of allez-ing in real life.
surely the Peugeot 4X4 is the definitive PCH car
The Fairlady guy says "Car needs to be finished" -- twice -- while showing us those pictures of what might be a burned out shell.
The Peugot guy does research--he can tell you there is no other car like it in the US--"as far as I know." If I weren't so busy I would email him to find out how he satisfied himself that this was true.
Mr. Stating the Obvious or Mr. Faux Omniscient.
I pick the Pug.
It has to be the Peugeot. Even after all the work is done on it, you're left with a slow, clanky, unhoonable 4x4 wagon. If you want one, get a Subaru Forester - and you lose the "slow and clanky" part too!
Have to go with the fairlady... with the firewall hacked out like that, and the end of the valve cover PLUS the rear plug on each head actually being in the passenger compartment, that means that even when you get it running, this thing os going to burn you when you try to drive it. God forbid you have to change the plugs, you've got to pull the damn engine, and that means disassembling everything.
What could possibly be more hellish?
Come on people, with the 504 already riding so high, the obvious answer is to donk it. Now a donked, after-market 4 wheel drived, French wagon can't win PCH, then my faith in the Jalopiteriat will be severely diminished.
Plus, I inherited a fondness for Pugs from trips to visit my uncle in Indonesia and seeing him working (almost continuously) on his 505.
V8's in Fairladys / Zs are actually semi-common. They even make parts to help you convert them. [www.jagsthatrun.com]
No true PCH would have parts or guidance. You must choose the obscure Peugot.
Dude, 302s are easy.
And FOUR WHEEL DRIVE PEUGEOT WAGON! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
I'm glad it's not closer to me.
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