NIMES.- We all remember Inspector Columbo, his crumpled raincoat, his cigar and his trusty Peugeot convertible! Now, French auction house, Ivoire Nimes, will be selling one on August 12th. Estimate £22,000 to £26,000 (Euro 25,000 to 30,000).

The soft-top car in ‘Colombo’ was personally chosen by actor Peter Falk and appeared as one of his major props on the screen in the famous American series for 35 years. Peugeot were not been best pleased with this shabby advertisement for their brand which showed a faded model with the hood patched up. But the company finally came round to the idea and published an advertisement to salute the memory of the actor at the time of his death.

The car that will be auctioned by Ivoire Nîmes, at the big summer event organized by the auction house on August 12, belonged to another show business personality, Tony Canal. A native of Nîmes.

This renowned trumpeter who accompanied Jean Ferrat and Rika Zaraï, toured the world with Joe Dassin as his first trumpet. For more than 40 years and until his death in 2016, he played and conducted orchestras around the world.

Today the 403 convertible is much sought after for its elegance and rarity - just 2,043 were produced by Peugeot up to 1961, whereas there were more than 1.2m versions of the sedan produced.

At the time the soft top was already much more expensive than the 403 sedan. Peugeot offered eight shades for the 403 convertible including a red version which was rather unusual for the brand, and which is very popular today.

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