June Club Meeting – a 404 Night!

Have you got a 404? Bring it along to the Club Meeting 4th June. Blair Healy is our guest speaker, and he is bringing his 404 that has crossed the Andes. Let’s celebrate 404s!

Don’t have a 404? Come along and look at the model that really established Peugeot in Australia.

Blair Healy and his rugged 404 crossing the Andes.

In 2015 Blair Healy retired from engineering and was looking for a challenge. One of his friends had just completed the Peking to Paris endurance rally for classic and vintage cars. A similar rally was about to commence the following year in South America called the Inca’s Endurance Rally, a rally of about 12,000 kilometres through Argentina, Chile and Peru. The rally would criss-cross the Andes through about 3 mountain passes over 4,000 metres and take about 30 days. The rally would traverse some beautiful scenery and some very rough dirt tracks.

Blair turned to his friend, who advised to use a Sydney rally champion and car builder to look for a car that could perform competitively in any endurance rally. A number of vintage cars were proposed and the 1960s Peugeot 404 was the standout for the role. Blair also received some valuable advice from successful Peugeot rally man Bill Hamilton. Blair was not a Peugeot person, but quickly became one as he assisted the car builder to strip down, strengthen and rebuilt 3 x 404 Peugeots into a single vehicle to compete against 20 other comparable 2 litre class classic vehicles in the Incas Endurance Rally in late 2016. The trusty and reliable Peugeot 404, aptly named “Pedro” came third in its class, just behind 2 x early 1970s Porsche 911s!

Blair will bring along his Peugeot 404 when he speaks at the June General Meeting and explain the modifications completed (Peugeot purists please prepare to cringe!) and why the car performed so well during the rally.