The Peugeot 205 was launched in 1983 and remained part of this French manufacturer's line up until 1998, winning a number of awards from various publications in the process.

It is considered to be the vehicle which managed to help Peugeot capture a greater slice of the mainstream auto market, since it was smaller and more affordable than the costlier saloon cars which it had mostly been building up until this point.

In 1978 Peugeot bought Simca, a company which then endowed it with the right team to help it begin work on the 205 in earnest.

After it made its debut, the 205 was compared favourably to other small cars of the time, most notably the Fiat Uno.

Perhaps the most iconic version of the 205 was the GTI, which was launched in 1987. While previous models had been frugal and low powered, this expansion of the range meant that teenagers had a hot hatchback which they could actually aspire to own.

The 1.6 GTI had 106bhp at its disposal, while the speedier 1.9 upped this to 126bhp until the introduction of a catalytic converter knocked 6hp off the total.

The 1.6 GTI was equipped with cloth seats, 14 inch alloy wheels and drum brakes at the rear, while the 1.9 benefitted from a half leather interior, 15 inch alloys and all-round disc brakes .

Another noteworthy version of the 205 was the convertible cabriolet. This was designed by Pinnifarina, an Italian firm which also performed part of the manufacturing process for this model.

Some have believed that the association with Pinnifarina actually goes deeper, suggesting that the design of the original 205 was forged by this company, although this is actually untrue.

In 2011 there were still 19,000 Peugeot 205s in active use on the roads of the UK, which shows that this is still a very popular and durable supermini. During the mid 1990s at the peak of the car's popularity, this was much higher, with close to 375,000 vehicles in service.

While the glory days of the 205 may be gone, it is far from forgotten thanks to its legions of fans.