Lakeland Motor Museum celebrates “Mardi Gras” at busy classic car gathering
Written by John Williamson on 08/04/2022
It was carnival time at the Lakeland Motor Museum when a 27-year-old Peugeot 205 Mardi Gras scooped top prize at this Spring’s Classic Drive and Ride In Day.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
The Spring event was held at the same time as a “Jaguars at the Lakes” meet at the museum. That saw over 40 classic Jaguar vehicles from all over the UK converge on the museum along with around 70 members of JaguarForum.com.
The Lakeland Motor Museum at Backbarrow, has over 30,000 exhibits including over 140 classic cars and motorbikes. It also has an extensive Campbell Bluebird Exhibition, housed in its own building, paying tribute to the high-speed careers of Sir Malcolm and Donald Campbell.
