DORSET, in the Southwest of England, is home to a stunning vehicle with a dark, unexpected past. Andy Saunders, a car fanatic who has bought and rebuilt 58 vehicles, has transformed a 70-year old Peugeot into an art-deco masterpiece.
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 It was dilapidated, collapsed. Metropolis is an Art Deco sculpture.
00:07 Driving around in a car like this is good fun.
00:09 I'm 98% certain that this was probably built under duress.
00:21 Dorset, in the south west of England, is home to a stunning vehicle with a dark past.
00:28 When Germany occupied France, they loved Peugeot and they kept Peugeot going.
00:33 Apparently officers of the German army, they would draw unusual vehicles for toys for themselves
00:39 and the workers of Peugeot would be made to build this car.
00:43 It's a product of that period.
00:45 It's a history that took place and we can't rewrite it.
00:49 If something came creative out of it, it's quite astounding.
00:54 After being neglected and left to rust for almost 70 years, Andy bought the Peugeot in an online auction
01:01 and had it shipped over from France.
01:04 It was dilapidated, just collapsed.
01:09 He then set about transforming this World War II relic into an Art Deco inspired masterpiece.
01:16 The truck was so rusty that just everything was disposed of and I just kept the panels that I needed.
01:23 It had a flat screen originally and it had a really ugly roofline.
01:27 The roofline went up like the new Transit shape.
01:30 That has been chopped. I've lengthened the back, I've shortened the tail.
01:34 And it's not just Peugeot parts that complete this incredible conversion.
01:39 The chassis is Ford Ranger.
01:41 The seats are Jaguar, Jaguar buckets.
01:44 The steering wheel is very early Porsche.
01:46 The front wings are 1937 SS Jaguar, French 1930s side lights.
01:52 The dashboard is the original Speedo, painted in two-tone to match the seats.
01:57 Peugeot line original mascot.
02:00 The bonnet and the grille used to be one piece and I've separated that.
02:05 Original Art Deco hotel door pulls.
02:10 The only original part of the car which hasn't been touched in any way whatsoever are the headlights.
02:20 Completed with an amazing paint job and named Metropolis, Andy's creation certainly turns heads when it hits the road.
02:29 When you drive this, people don't know what it is.
02:38 I've now built 58 cars, just hopscotches across every genre of unusual vehicles.
02:45 With so many builds under his belt, it's no surprise that Andy's already onto his next project.
02:52 I've just started this French style two-seater huge roadster which is all fenders with no tiles on display.
03:02 Driving around in a car like this is just good fun.
03:06 Metropolis is an Art Deco sculpture.
03:11 I would love this to go to a museum.
03:13 [Music]
03:18 [Music]
03:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]