Peugeot Ultima tribute

[Harvo]

Bear with me on this one.....
I recently posted about the Peugeot 531 I picked up for £20 on ebay. I bought it with a specific idea I'd had when I saw it for sale.
I used to race my Raleigh banana alongside my best mate, Stuart, who had a 653 Ultima. We raced for a few years before life moved on and we gave it up. We stayed in contact and met up on occasion (he moved to Dubai) when he returned to see family and I visited him out in the sand pit also. In 2022 he took his own life. Nobody saw it coming. It was a total shock. I'd known him since I was 3 years old.
He had kept his Peugeot but after his death I have no idea what happened to it sadly. So I decided to do a tribute to him and recreate his bike. Yes, it's not a 653 but I go with the adage, my bike my rules! My thinking was I could get out and ride it and remember him and the good times we had as kids.
So I'm going to use this as a build thread as it might interest some (maybe not the purists....lol)
I've done some already but there's still a way to go.
Anyway, my starting point was this cheap but forlorn 531 Peugeot.

 

[Harvo]

 

[Harvo]

The saddle was toast (and hideous) so I found a Rolls San Marco on ebay that needed some attention. I fancied a project so I bought it for under a tenner.



Stripped down to it's component parts I cleaned it all up and got to work on the emblems, polishing and repainting the red writing.

 

[Harvo]

.....and resoldering the brass pins on.




A new covering of nappa leather and I got myself a decent saddle for the project for about £15 all in.

 

[Harvo]

Going on to the colour scheme of the ultima there's the fade to contend with. I've sprayed before but never done a fade. It's not perfect but I'm happy so far. I did start with the easiest bit though, the forks. Stripping the old paint revealed chromed forks so I've left the dropouts unpainted. Decals applied with a coat of clear to seal.

 

[chickendrumsticks]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Great stuff. Looking good so far!