Estimated Price: £20,000 - £25,000
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.
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 0.5" 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.
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 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 factory specification included central locking, electric windows, and blue-faced instrument dials with three co-ordinating blue auxiliary read-outs atop the centre console displaying the oil level, temperature and pressure – all very purposeful.
First registered on 1st January 1994, this first-generation Clio Williams, #372, is supplied with its stamped service book, original book pack and a detailed history file. Our vendor advises us that a former keeper, a Mr Bunny, shipped the car to Hong Kong, before it was later returned to the UK, however, we do not believe that it was officially exported as it's not recorded as being as such, which is better all round.
In 2017, the car underwent a documented restoration by Classic Heroes (East Sussex) at a recorded mileage of 76,665 miles, with invoices in the file totalling £16,314.20. More recently, the cambelt was replaced in August 2022 by Select Motorsport. Indicating 84,346 miles at the time of cataloguing, the Clio was purchased by our vendor on 18th June 2022 and is offered at the time of cataloguing with a current MOT valid until July 2026, issued with no advisories and a fresh MOT will be issued prior to sale.
As can be seen from our images, this is a particularly well presented example of an increasingly hard-to-find modern classic, representing one of Renault’s most celebrated performance models of the era. Sensibly guided, we encourage your inspection at our Race Retro Collector Car Sale.
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