Peugeot 403
| Peugeot 403 | |
|---|---|
Peugeot 403 sedan
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Peugeot SA |
| Production | 1955–1966 1,014,111 cars |
| Assembly |
France Australia Argentina New Zealand (Motor Holdings) |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Large family car (D) |
| Body style | 4-door sedan 5-door estate 2-door convertible (1956-1961) 2-door pickup 3-door van |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,660 mm (105 in) saloon 2,900 mm (110 in) estate |
| Length | 4,470 mm (176 in) saloon 4,610 mm (181 in) estate |
| Width | 1,670 mm (66 in) |
| Height | 1,510 mm (59 in) |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Peugeot 404 |
The Peugeot 403 is a car produced by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot between May 1955 and October 1966. A total of 1,214,121 of all types, including commercial models, were produced, making it the first Peugeot to exceed the one million mark.
The 403 made its debut in saloon body style on 20 April 1955 at the Trocadéro Palace in Paris. For several months before it was launched numerous 403s, their badges removed, were circulating on the local roads near the manufacturer's PSA Sochaux factory, becoming so familiar that the locals no longer noticed them, but still attracting from Paris motoring journalists and photographers to a town that usually was of little interest to the national media.
The TN3 engine size gave the car a "tax horsepower" of 8 CV (8 hp), which placed it a class below the soon-to-be-replaced 11 CV Citroën Traction, but at least one class above the small cars produced by the principal competitor manufacturers.
When it was first shown, and until after 1958, the leading edge of car's nose carried an angular, forward-leaning chrome lion bonnet ornament – the lion image being Peugeot's trade mark. That was removed for 1959, due to safety concerns, and the logo was incorporated into a shield-shaped grill emblem.
Subsequently the semaphore-style trafficators on the C-pillars were replaced with flashing indicators within the light cluster. The front lights were modified to conform to new standards and in 1957 parallel windscreen wipers were substituted for the original "cross hands" ones featured at launch.
Although the car was subject to various improvements during the production run, these were mostly very minor in nature. Improvements for 1959 included moving the nozzles for the windscreen washer from the strip of metal between the base of the windscreen and the bonnet/hood a short distance to the rear edge of the bonnet/hood itself, thus presumably improving the angles at which the washer water hit the screen. This was also the year that the semi-circular ring inside the lower half of the diameter of the steering wheel used to operate the horn was replaced by a full circular horn-ring, so that drivers accustomed to holding the upper half of the steering wheel did not need to loosen their grip in order to sound the horn.
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Wikipedia