Renault Clio Williams
The owner of this Clio Williams refused to settle for anything less than perfection, which is why he embarked upon an ambitious restoration
‘Iwas 26 when the Williams was launched and had a company car at the time, so couldn’t justify a weekend car. But one of my customers had a Williams and I always liked the look of it.
‘ When I finally bought mine in 2014, it was a runner that wasn’t supposed to need renovating – the plan was to tidy up it up and then simply enjoy driving it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, though, and the more I looked at it, the more I found things that were “wrong” and it ended up turning into a restoration.
‘I kicked the project off by stripping the car down to a bare shell. That was a landmark for me because, until then, my experience with cars had involved nothing more than basic servicing and sorting straightforward mechanical jobs.
‘The more I stripped it, though, the more issues I found. Almost every bolt on the car either rounded or snapped completely when I tried to remove it, which made the disassembly process very slow and difficult.
‘The front crossmember was badly corroded and as the car was going to be mounted on a rotisserie, it was vital to ensure this area was strong. I cut out the old crossmember and had a new section welded in. Chris Dickinson, who did the welding, braced the front end so that he could be sure that everything would match up when we came to replace it.
‘Next, the rear chassis legs that extend under the boot floor to the rear valance were cut off, with new sections fabricated and welded into place, along with sections of the boot floor.
‘ We then got stuck in even further and chopped out the outer sills, inner sills, sections of the floorpan, front jacking points and the floor section that they were attached to.
‘ We also had to cut out and re-build the rear suspension mounting points before the rear quarter panels were removed and replaced. Finally, once all the internal metal was clean and rust-free, it was all painted with a two-pack epoxy primer.
‘In the meantime, I refurbished the front subframe assembly, front and rear suspension, brake system and the engine. I particularly enjoyed stripping and re-building the engine. It was the first time that I’d done anything like that and I found it quite therapeutic after all the challenges that’d been posed by the bodywork.
‘Once the welding was finally completed, I sanded down and prepared the shell prior to it being delivered to the body shop for paint. When I finally got the car back, it looked amazing and really motivated me to get it finished.
‘Just when I thought I was on the home stretch, I was thrown another curve ball. These cars are getting rare now and the hardest parts to find are the external trim parts and plastic fixings. I bought a lot of the OEM parts from Renault Parts Direct and used a donor car (though not a Williams) for a lot of shaped metal bodywork parts and trim. It was eventually finished in summer 2018.
‘I’m delighted with the final result because the car looks and drives like new and is now one of a very small number of Renault Clio Williams models left on the road here in the UK.’