Big Resto: Clio Williams
Phil Walker refused to settle for anything less than perfection as he rejuvenated his 1994 Clio Williams
Nothing short of perfection would do for owner Phil Walker.
The Clio Williams was launched in 1993, its blue and gold colour scheme aping F1 world champion Alain Prost’s FW15C racer, while 145bhp from a 2.0-litre four-pot put it among the quickest hot hatches of the era. Phil Walker has always been a hot hatch enthusiast, but this is his first Clio Williams, as he told PC: ‘I was 26 when the Williams was launched and I had a company car at the time, so couldn’t justify having a weekend car, too.’
Fast forward a few years, and Phil was finally in a position to make his youthful dreams a reality. When he bought the car back in 2014, it was a runner and had an MOT certificate but, as is so often the case, things soon escalated. ‘The Williams wasn’t supposed to need serious renovation – when I bought the car my plan was to tidy up it up a bit and then simply have some fun driving it. However, I’m a bit of a perfectionist and, the more I looked at the Williams, the more things I found that were either in need of
work or were just plain ‘wrong’ and it ended up turning into a full-on restoration project.’
Forward planning
Having previously extended the original double garage at his home to create a superb double width, double length workspace, complete with
attached workshop-cum storage unit for his other passion, mountain bikes, Phil was well set up to take on the challenge. ‘I’ll admit it – the garage, and the potential to extend and expand it, was a big reason for buying the house in the first place,’ laughs Phil. To kick the project off, he stripped the car to a bare bodyshell: ‘That was a landmark for me as, up to that point, my experience with cars had involved nothing more than basic servicing and home mechanics. The stripdown also involved removing the wiring loom and I really dislike automotive electrics.’
Despite the Williams being ‘just’ two decades old when the project started, Phil faced issues familiar to owners and restorers of much older cars: ‘The more I stripped the car down, the more issues I found. Almost every bolt on the car either rounded off 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 since, the car was going to be mounted on a rotisserie, it was vital to ensure that this area was strong so the rig could be safely bolted up to it. ‘I cut out the old crossmember and a new section was welded in. That was my first experience of seeing a car with a huge section cut out of it! The chap who did the welding, Chris Dickinson, braced the front end first, so that he could be sure that everything would match up OK when we eventually came to replace the crossmember.’
Chopping and changing
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. By then, Phil and Chris actually had some good metal to bolt the rotisserie to. Explains Phil: ‘At that stage the car was cross-braced, with additional sections welded in place, in preparation for the metal sections that we were about to remove.’
The rust-banishing program was an extensive one, too. ‘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 rebuild the rear suspension mounting points, before the rear quarter panels were removed and replaced.
The hardest part of the project was keeping motivation when Phil found corrosion that he wasn’t expecting. ‘Basically, the more parts that I removed, the more rot I found. It was very emotionally draining, to the point where I had to put the project on hold due to work pressures and family commitments. It was tough, but stepping away from it for a while allowed me to return refreshed and ready to go again.’ Finally, once all the internal metal was clean and rust-free, it was all painted with a two-pack epoxy primer.
In the meantime, while the welding and bodywork was being completed, Phil was also busy refurbishing or renewing all the other components removed from the car. ‘Front subframe assembly, front and rear suspension, brake system, and the engine – I did it all myself,’ says Phil. The latter was extremely satisfying: ‘I particularly enjoyed stripping and rebuilding the engine. It was the first time that I’d done something like that and, after all the bodywork challenges, I actually found the process quite therapeutic.
Once the welding was finally completed, the car was sanded down and prepared at home by Phil prior to being delivered to the body shop for some fresh paint. ‘Sadly, it took longer than expected as the first paint job was not good enough in my opinion, so I had to take the panels off again and sand back the ‘new’ paint in readiness for a second respray. But when I finally got the car back from the paint shop, it looked amazing and really motivated me to get it finished. Rebuilding a rust-free shell and fitting new parts is definitely more satisfying than taking it apart.’
Shape of things to come
You’d probably think that, once the gleaming shell was back in his garage, Phil would have been on the home stretch. But that wasn’t quite the case: ‘These cars are getting rare now and the hardest parts to find are the external trim parts and plastic fixings,’ explains Phil with a rueful grin. ‘It’s a real challenge as nobody wants an immaculately-presented car with tatty external trim. A lot of the OEM parts were purchased from Renault Parts Direct (RPD), while I also bought a donor car (not a Williams) that I used for a lot of shaped metal bodywork parts and trim.’
Phil started work on the car in December 2014 and it was finally completed in July 2018. ‘Apart from the welding and paint, the entire rebuild was carried out in my garage, however I would have struggled to complete the build if I were not able to store parts at my parent’s house. It’s amazing just how much space all the parts take up when you take a car apart.’
After all the trials and tribulations, Phil has no regrets. ‘I’m delighted with the final result, as the car looks and drives ‘like new’ and is now one of a very small number of Renault Clio Williams on the road in the UK. He’s clearly also caught the restoration bug, as a partially-stripped Peugeot 205 GTI is now sitting pretty on a dolly in his spacious and envy-inducing workshop… we’d better watch this space, then.
Andrew Evanson, Senior Operations Manager Amazing to think that this Clio Williams is 25 years-old. It was a classic out of the box… and it’s now the stuff of legend. Regardless of which Nineties hot hatch you drive, do speak to us – simply call us on 01480 587031 or email us at lancaster insurance.co.uk.’