Vehicle Description
The Peugeot 205 was a supermini produced by the French car
manufacturer Peugeot. The 205's use of Macpherson struts at the
front and torsion bars and trailing arms at the rear was a key
ingredient of the car's success. The special Rally Race version
dubbed "T16" was a 205 two-door hatchback but in reality, it shared
nothing with the mass-production 205 except the windscreen, doors
and headlamps. The front half of the chassis, including the
passenger cell, was a dedicated steel monocoque, while the rear
half was a tubular steel spaceframe structure holding the
transversely mounted engine, gearbox and rear suspension. All the
mechanicals could be accessed by the unique hinging rear body
section. A center differential split drive between the front and
rear wheels, depending on conditions, from 25:75 to 45:55
front/rear. Double wishbones, anti-roll bars and coil-over-shocks
made up the suspension and consequently required wider wheel
arches. Powering the car was a mid-mounted all-alloy 16 valve
engine with Bosch fuel injection, dry sump lubrication and an
intercooled KKK turbo. All 200 T16s "Road Cars" were built with
left-hand drive. Back in the 1980's it was quite common for GM to
purchase competitive-make vehicles for engineering analysis.
Typically, two were purchased: one for deep-evaluation and even
systems modification and another for original reference and on-road
evaluation. This particular vehicle was considered to be one which
was deeply evaluated as it became equipped with a revolutionary
suspension system (GM named it: "Active Suspension"), a special
rally-style roll bar system, racing type seats with 5-point
harnesses and possibly other modifications that may not be evident
to the casual observer. The engine was heavily offset to the right,
so that it and the gearbox could be located at either side of the
longitudinal propeller shaft. To offset the weight of the engine,
the battery and intercooler were mounted at the opposite side in
the engine compartment. **SOLD ON BILL OF SALE**
