The Peugeot 3008 Redex Tribute 2010

The event was a landmark for endurance rallies in Australia and also for the French carmaker, whose little 203 model driven by Ken Tubman won the 10,500km slog around the country - a great deal of which, in those days was just a collection of tracks through remote areas.

But bitumen roads will greet the two stock standard Peugeot 3008 compact all-wheel drives that take off this Friday to re-run most of the 1953 trial in the Redex Tribute as part of their 200th anniversary.

Powered by a 80kW/240Nm 1.6 litre turbo-diesel mated to a six-speed semi-automatic transmission, the cars will travel from Sydney to Brisbane, then Bundaberg - Rockhampton - Mackay- Townsville - Mount Isa - Tennant Creek - Alice Springs - Adelaide- Melbourne - Albury and back to Sydney, missing only a side leg up to Darwin.

Drivers in the 1953 trial included some that became household names, such as Sir Jack Brabham and Jack 'Gelignite' Murray, but Tubman's win became legend - and caused such a sales run that every new Peugeot in Australia sold within a week of the finish.

"It wasn't slick marketing - it was about the ability to demonstrate that the cars could cope with lots of pretty rugged conditions back then," says Peugeot Australia general manager Ken Thomas. "Australian roads outside Sydney and Melbourne were pretty ordinary in 1953 - they were just goat tracks."

Thomas admits that the Peugeot cars of several years ago, beset by a spate of quality problems, may not have lived up to the reputation of the 1953 legends. But he says that the last two years have seen a return to high standards.

"There was an era where the quality wasn't up to our standard - and we had to deal with that," he says. "I think Peugeot themselves got a bit of a fright when they were experiencing issues not only in Australia but in the UK - particularly with electronics. We weren't alone. Mercedes was suffering and so were other brands. But in the last two years, it's been outstanding. Warranty costs are dropping like a stone... the costs for how many parts we import under warranty are the lowest they've ever been."

Thomas says the 3008 model that will be doing the Redex rerun is an 'outstanding example' of a well-built car and will have no problem with the 8500km 15-day trek.

"We are approaching this in a way to prove that the 3008 is not an urban show pony - that it can emulate what its forebears did in the 203."