We celebrate "Mardi Gras" at a busy classic car gathering

The winning Peugeot 205 Mardi Gras with proud woner Dabid Harding

It was carnival time at the museum when a 27-year-old Peugeot 205 Mardi Gras scooped top prize at our springtime Classic Drive and Ride In Day on Saturday 2 April.

The bright red Peugeot saw off competition from around 140 vehicles which gathered at the popular annual event and its owner was awarded the coveted "Springtime Stunner" Trophy.

📷: Main photo: David Harding (Right in the photograph), owner of the winning Peugeot 205 Mardi Gras is presented with the "Springtime Stunner" Trophy by Chris Lowe, Operations Manager at the Lakeland Motor Museum.

The Peugeot 205 was one of many cars on display at the museum

The immaculate 1995 Peugeot Mardi Gras is a rare survivor of the basic specification of the 205 model – the more commonly seen survivor from that era of hot hatches is the classic 205 GTi.

It’s owner, David Harding, from Milnthorpe, bought the vehicle a year ago. It’s a 1.1 petrol engine model and five speed manual transmission.

The immaculate interior of the springtime DRive in Day winner

“I was stunned to win the trophy,” says David who is a delivery driver for a supermarket. “There were lots of really exotic and nice cars there but the lovely thing about the Peugeot is that many people remember it and may have owned one at some stage in their lives.

“It’s a humble little vehicle and it looks great in the red,” says David who uses it to commute to and from work. “It feels a little old fashioned but it keeps up with all the modern traffic.”

The 205 looking resplendant in the spring sunshine

Despite its age it’s done just 39,000 miles from new and had only three owners. The Peugeot 205 was produced between 1983 to 1998 and is widely now regarded as a classic icon of that era. It’s importance to Peugeot is displayed in the paint work on the Mardi Gras – where it says 205 – Sacre Numero – sacred number – that’s because the success of the 205 is said to have saved Peugeot.

David’s love of Peugeots from that era developed from a summer job he had when he was younger washing cars at a Peugeot garage.

Classic Drive and Ride In Days at our museum are popular events which attracts scores of proud owners with their classic vehicles.

The Spring event was one of our biggest yet as it was held at the same time as a “Jaguars at the Lakes”meet: over 40 classic Jaguar vehicles from all over the UK converge as members of JaguarForum.com. The event was also attended by regular, local club Lakeland Historic Car Club that meets on the first Saturday of evert month.

View a gallery of photos from the event below:

More events at the museum

Keep an eye on our website calendar and social media for more upcoming events - we host clubs throughout the year and hold three Classic Drive & Ride In Day events. Next Classic Drive & Ride In is on Saturday 1 October.

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The Peugeot 205 Story by Big Car / YouTube