The Background The Peugeot 309 was a compact family car produced between 1985 and 1994 by PSA Peugeot Citroën, with assembly plants in France, England and Spain.

Its story is an unusual one; the model was originally developed under the Talbot brand and intended to be launched as the Talbot Arizona.

However, by the mid-1980s, PSA had decided to phase out Talbot altogether.

The last Talbot-badged passenger car was the Samba of 1981 and the Arizona project was rebadged as a Peugeot before reaching showrooms.

Among the most celebrated versions of the 309 was the GTi, powered by Peugeot’s 1.9-litre XU9 engine.

First launched in February 1987 as a three-door, with a five-door version arriving soon after, it quickly established itself as the flagship of the range.

The 309 GTi stood out with distinctive styling cues - a large black boot spoiler, fog and driving lights integrated into the front bumper and Speedline 1.9 GTi alloy wheel marking the first time a Peugeot wore them.

The thre...