Peugeot 104

 

 

Designing and building a large-scale car involves a series of different problems from those that can be encountered in building a research prototype. Creative spaces are reduced to a minimum, having to deal with constraints and restrictions both from a legislative and an economic point of view, which in fact prevent any flight of fancy. The first drawings of the Peugeot 104 are born, in this creative context, around 1967, but the car will be marketed only in 1972. They include a four-door utility car of very limited length, with a hatchback type body. In 1974, the 3-door version was introduced on the market, called a coupé for purely commercial reasons, and as a sportsman it actually had nothing. From 1976 the 5-door version will be marketed, thus ahead of all the other competitors of the time, such as the Fiat 127. The line of the 104 was quite angular, as was the fashion in those years, with the front characterized by two quadrangular optical groups. In reality they were born round and then they would have become rectangular just to respect those regulations which included, among other things, a certain height from the ground, a certain type of slow edge and other constraints related to the components.
The standard rectangular headlight was truly a milestone in the style of cars.
In the drawings to the side a study is also shown for a three-volume version never made.