This Wagon Wednesday car is a jet black Peugeot 505 wagon. Like last Friday’s Fiero, I’ve tried to photograph it for a while, and now I managed to get some shots of it as it was parked on the old town hall square at noon.

The Peugeot is in exceptional shape, even if it is slightly dirty in these photos. It has only done 92 000 km, which is incredible. And as it’s one of the last French-built 505 wagons, it must be one of the best left anywhere.

I love the 505. It’s a great-looking car with its slightly angry, furrowed brow. I’ve driven a 1983 saloon once, and while that wasn’t in bad shape, I found it just slightly on the wrong side of grandfatherness as it was light beige and the pre-facelift model; the facelift model has a more modern interior and the car overall looks and feels sharper.

Ultimately I skipped on buying the 1983 saloon due to patchy surface rust fixes, but the fact it almost lost its driver’s side front wheel during the test drive was slighty unsettling. But of course, that’s really not the car’s fault per se as the nuts just weren’t properly tightened.

The chrome around the 505 pictured accentuates it excellently. I remember seeing photos of the CKD ones built later on around the world, and if memory serves they ditch most of the chrome in favour of some plastic ’90sness. But then again, the way old Peugeots evolve when they are reborn again is baffling. You can buy a rear-wheel-drive 405 in Iran, with stone-age mechanicals.

Speaking of mechanicals, this 505 has the 130-hp 2.2-litre Douvrin four as indicated by the GTI badge. That should actually provide rather good grunt, and with 92k on the clock it should be in decent health as the engines are proved reliable.

There’s an ad for the 505, with no price mentioned except that the seller saying he won’t sell the car for only 2000 or 3000 EUR. This means he understands the car is of some value, but I’m not sure if he’ll get it sold for the price he wants.

There’s also something that I’m thinking, as the seller also has an old, just as well-kept and black hearsewagon Caprice Classic for sale – could it be that the 505 has also been in mortician’s duty? That would explain the low km:s and the fact that the interior is as-new; if the 505 has indeed spent its days lugging very silent occupants the rear seats have most likely been in storage for 20 years. The stiff-hauling background story possibility is backed up by the fact that I’ve seen another black 505 wagon of similar age advertised, with the mention that it has been in that duty.

How do you feel about the Peugeot? Is it the ideal 7-seater wagon for you, or does the possible hearse heritage (and/or the asking price) make you see dead people?

Images: Copyright 2012 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen