The Body
The 304 was designed to slot between the popular 204 and the recently introduced Peugeot 504. Since the 204 had an exceptionally spacious passenger cabin for its class, the 304 body used the central portion of the 204: engine and running gear components were mostly interchangeable between the two cars. However, the 304 had a restyled front grill and headlights, designed consciously to emulate the 504 which had received a generally positive response from the market place.
More substantial differences occurred at the rear of the saloon, where overhang on the 304 was 13.5 cm (5.5 inches) longer than on the 204: this allowed for a larger boot/trunk. However, estate and two-door versions shared their (shorter) rear ends with corresponding models in the 204 range. Coupé and cabriolet versions replaced their 204 forerunners in March 1970, being the first models to receive the "S" version of the engine two years later in March 1972. However, the cabriolet and coupé 304s were withdrawn from the market, without direct replacements, respectively in July 1972 and August 1973. The fourgonette (van) version of the 304 appeared only in September 1977, as a belated replacement for the 204 fourgonette which had disappeared from the production lines the previous year.
The 304 changed little during a model life exceeding ten years. From the outside, the saloon received a simplified rear light cluster design in 1972, and there were rearrangements of the Peugeot badge appearing on the front grill. The roof line of the saloon was changed slightly to give greater headroom for rear passengers, the rear doors' window frames correspondingly were modified, gaining about and inch and a half to their rearmost upper edge making them the only doors in the 304 model range which were unique to the 304. Changes under the metal included the replacement of the dynamo with an alternator in 1971 and the fitting of wider tyres in 1974. The hydraulically operated clutch was replaced with a cable operated mechanism in 1977.
Read more about this topic: Peugeot 304
Famous quotes containing the word body:
“Jupiter, not wanting man’s life to be wholly gloomy and grim, has bestowed far more passion than reason—you could reckon the ration as twenty-four to one. Moreover, he confined reason to a cramped corner of the head and left all the rest of the body to the passions.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“I—love’s skein upon the ground,
My body in the tomb—
Shall leap into the light lost
In my mother’s womb.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)