Race Retro Classic & Competition Car Sale 2023 24th - 25th February 2023

101 + buyers premium of 12.5% plus VAT (15% incl VAT) on the first £300,000 of the hammer and 10% plus VAT (12% incl VAT) thereafter Lot 416 1994 Renault Clio Williams (Phase One) #0180 It’s the early 1990s and the 1.8-litre Clio 16v is locked in combat for hot-hatch glory with the ageing Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. It’s a better car by many objective criteria, but not a convincingly faster one and, in the eyes of many, the GTi still holds the crown. It took a truly special car to convincingly wrestle supremacy away from Peugeot, to really bury the old-timer and to refine the class in the process. That car was the Clio Williams. Sold with the compelling marketing strategy of an F1 team association, the Williams was actually an ‘homologation special’ in the familiar mould. It was built because RenaultSport wanted to go rallying and the class maximum displacement stood at 2-litres. Given this was still the era of homologation into classes A and N, Renault simply had to build 2,500 road cars to qualify, although it would eventually build many more. The initial production run of the Clio Williams was limited to just 5,400 examples, of which only 390 arrived in the UK. Naturally, RenaultSport did a thorough job. The suspension used a reinforced front subframe borrowed from the Clio Cup racer, plus uprated springs, dampers, rear torsion arms and thicker anti-roll bars. The track was increased by 34mm and the 7J Speedline alloys were half-an-inch wider than the 16v’s and distinctively gold. The gearbox was stronger, too, with revised ratios. There was just one exterior colour offered for the first generation of Williams - ‘449’ Metallic Sports Blue - and the cumulative effect of body (already blistered of arch, front, and rear, and bulging of bonnet from the 16v), paint and those golden wheels was as close to hot-hatch perfection as many felt it was possible to get. It’s a small car with a wheel pushed to the very extremity of each corner; a little shorter, slightly wider, and significantly lower than a Clio 172 or 182. Codenamed ‘F7R’ and developed from the 16v’s 137bhp F7P unit, the new engine featured a longer stroke and bigger bore size and benefitted from a stronger crankshaft (borrowed from the diesel Clio) plus new pistons, camshafts and conrods, with bigger valves and a lightweight exhaust manifold. Output was now 148bhp at 6,100rpm and 126lb/ft at 4,500rpm, not enormous by today’s standards but 85% of the torque was available from 2,500rpm and the car only weighed 981kg. The car presented here is a 1994 Renault Clio Williams, #0180 of the original production run known as ‘Phase 1’. It was one of only 390 examples allocated to the UK and was supplied new by Renault main dealer, Kings of Taunton, in December 1993 and first registered on the 1st January 1994. It’s accompanied by an extensive history file, which includes the original service book containing mostly Renault main dealer stamps - 16 in total. Remarkably, the handover checklist documents issued to the first owner, a Mrs Margaret McPherson, are also in the file together with the original Williams book-pack, drivers manual, Williams maintenance guide, brochures, numerous tax discs, original Philips (DC521) radio cassette manual and warranty card, and original Renault security wallet. Further deatails can be viewed on our website. One of the defining hot-hatches of the 1990s; here fully restored and magazine-featured. The best available? Quite possibly. Registration: L2 HKM Chassis No.: VF1C57 M05 10844702 Estimate: £30,000 - £35,000 Consignor: Joseph Watts Telephone No: 07779 082707 More Details Lot 416 Bid On Lot 416