Faults:

This is really just a comment about the most fun drive of my life.

At the time in 1976 I was working for the British Aircraft Corporation and living in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The car was a company 1974 petrol engined Peugeot 404 Estate. The reason for the trip I remember was for a friend and myself to fetch an outboard motor from our beach facility at Haql on the Red Sea coast.

I always rated these cars as being exceptionally comfortable and easy to drive, but I never realised their real quality until this particular trip along the beautiful mountain road between Tabuk and the coast.

The distance was a round trip of 274 miles, and we had a time envelope of 4 hours to get the job done, my friend was happy for me to do the driving while he took in the views.

After making very good time on the first leg, we timed the return and the total driving time was 195 minutes, which was an average speed of 83.4 mph.

The road holding and the power available in this vehicle, which was after all a run of the mill people and load carrier, was amazing and so much fun.

The 504 model with which the company replaced the 404's was never as good to drive.