There she stood. In the display case. With a lovely label. On a wound wire. Beautiful color red. A bit of damage, French style, on the right side. The shapes of the sliding roof are perforated in the metal. Qui madam, qui monsieur. There, in one of the numerous display cases of Visscher Classique, she stole my heart. Straight away. The Peugeot 204 in 1:43 became mine. I was sure. And didn't hesitate for a second.
I have had a lot of sympathy for the -04 series from Peugeot since my early childhood. And I think the 204 is the sweetest of all the -04 models that the French manufacturer developed. She was progressive, with the transversely mounted aluminum engine and front-wheel drive. She was stubborn, with the steering lever and the special way of operating the levers and buttons.
The 204 was civilized, with the striking rounded rear. Stubborn, with that passenger compartment that always seemed to lean a little backwards. And the grille smiled at you friendly, with the large recognizable headlights that immediately told you in the dark which car was driving towards you.
The 204, she who got civilized curves. And a well-maintained interior, with beautiful subtleties and materials that told in an understated way that the 204 was a bit higher on the tree than many of its classmate. A sliding roof, standard depending on the market. The 204. Stubborn and amiable, without pretensions and himself. A dignified lady who treats you with respect. That feeling. The 204 was light classical music within its playing field.
The weakness was always there. I never bought the scale model. Enough choice, that's for sure. And sometimes I clicked on a suitable candidate on eBay. Too slick, too detailed or just... not quite there. And there were so many other models from other car brands and miniature manufacturers.
But suddenly - on April 7 at the fantastic Visscher Classique in Buren - I found the one. She turned out to be perfect through her imperfections. Perfect, especially thanks to the missing details. A true-to-period model, with the mirror and windshield wipers still pressed into the windshield. The grille and headlights are pressed in one piece. And exterior mirrors? You look for them in vain. No, this model is not nearly as faithfully detailed as the manufacturers do today.
This scale model was born when Peugeot had the 204 rolling off the factory production line. It was still new in the shop window. But she is oh so beautiful in her proportion. Has the right color. The right damage. And above all: the right feeling. That's what the scale model of the second series of the Peugeot 204 evoked in me. Because of the imperfections, which brought out the original shapes of the original even more strongly. less is more.
This Meccano Dinky 204 never goes away. I searched for her for a long time, and found her. And realized what a small model, tucked away somewhere in a display case with miniatures for sale, was making. The child in me woke up again. And felt why an innocent scale model can strike a chord with the original.
I completely understand. About 15 to 20 years ago, new brands with model cars kept coming onto the market. One with even more details than the other. When they stood next to each other there was a lot of difference. But I loved it and no longer understood why you would buy such an old one. Now that wisdom has come with age (I hope), you see that this restraint, but the right proportions, can continue to charm. Sometimes less is just more. More to love. Nice model!
I was there, and more importantly I know the feeling. With its own ONK 204 in 1/1. And there will be some more 204 and other 04 coming our way this weekend Erik.