Peugeot 205 collection Team VCC Twente shows foresight

From brown to rose glasses

Popular mass-produced products make car manufacturers cheer, but they struggle to survive in the youngtimer world. The Peugeot 205 also suffered that fate, until the GTIs and now slowly also the regular versions were discovered. Fortunately, the men of Team VCC Twente got the loot. They started gathering when everyone was still sleeping. 

Text & photography: Aart van der Haagen

Since the revelation of the Palmen collection, everyone knows that you should collect potential classics at a time when no one sees their value yet. “Just… you never thought that the prices of a Peugeot 205 would skyrocket like that?” says Peter Olde Veldhuis, one of the two brothers behind Team VCC Twente. The tens of thousands of euros that a GTI or CTI can fetch are in stark contrast to the price the men paid for the car that laid the foundation for the collection. “In 2003, a colleague at the Opel dealer where I worked – still does – traded in a 250 GTI 205 for an Agila for 1.6 euros,” says younger brother Niek. A rock-solid car with only 58.000 kilometers on the odometer. So it would be a shame to rush it through the brine, as Peter originally envisioned.”

Party is cancelled

The fence was off the dam. “We started keeping the more interesting versions,” Peter explains. “Especially when we moved to our current location, with two sheds in the yard. Why should we then get rid of nice cars? Never mind!” 'Jo'tje' for example, a friendly light blue 205 GR from 1984 with 60.000 kilometers on the odometer and in immaculate condition. “Sold new by Ruesink in Goor to a couple,” says Niek. Quite an early 205, but the collection still has an older example, a dark red GL from 1983. Niek made his move on his own. “When Peter accompanies me, the party often does not go ahead. He has much more technical knowledge than before and is a lot more critical.” According to Peter, the sensitivity to rust of 205s is not too bad, but: “There is often rot in the glasses; the front panel behind the headlights.” Shaking his head, he thinks back to the moment when his brother unloaded a 1.9 GTI Dimma in the yard, a replica of the illustrious rally machine 205 Turbo 16. “Man, man, man. I just returned from swimming and there he arrived, together with a friend. I immediately walked in.” Niek laughs: “The worst 205 I ever bought. The rot wasn't too bad, but technically just about everything turned out to be broken.”

Hedge trimmer, toaster

Because the 40^e anniversary of 'the strong number' could not pass unnoticed, Team VCC Twente organized a great party together with Wilfred de Ronde (Peugeot 205 Totaal), the Peugeot Club Nederland and dealer branch Broekhuis in Hengelo on May 6. “In the showroom, visitors went back to the eighties and nineties,” says Peter Olde Veldhuis. “There were a total of seventeen 205s in all kinds of designs, partly from our own collection.” The collecting craze also manifests itself in another direction, through a range of different objects that Peugeot has produced in its rich past. From a kitchen chair to pepper mills, from a vacuum cleaner to a hedge trimmer. “We are still looking for a dishwasher, like we saw in l'Aventure,” laughs Niek. At some point you start to see everything through rose-colored glasses. 

The complete article with numerous beautiful photos can be found in the December issue of Auto Motor Klassiek. It will be in stores until December 18.