Completely by accident, this months theme became body kits. Only right then that car six in the series of our feature cars is wearing an absolute belter.

Eleven years ago, at the height of the reign of wide arch body kits, Max power knocked out their first video. The cover car was their then project car, an underpowered 1.8 Corrado with a Reiger kit that looked out dated before the bright orange paint had dried. Also on the tape was another model of car being kitted up. That one though was a kit so timeless that it became a classic shape which can still, if you’re willing to part with the cash, be bought today.

In general terms, £4750 is a lot of money. In car modifying terms, £4750 is a rake of money. If you however want your Mk1 Clio to have the same body shape as this one that’s exactly what it’ll cost you to have the kit supplied and fitted by the manufacturer. It still won’t look exactly like this one as its a little bit special over and above, but you’ll come close. Welcome then to Henry’s Dimma kitted Renault Clio 16 Valve.

At a glance you can see it’s a bit extreme. Upon closer examination you get a feel for just how much work this car has seen since over the years to keep it fresh. To start it off, the original kit fitting involved making the car look like it’d been in a major barrier bouncing spin.
The front wings and front & rear bumpers were removed and binned. The rear quarter panels were attacked with a saw to make the back arches way bigger than they ever were when Renault originally clipped them together. At this early stage in proceedings it probably still looked better than Henry’s first car, a 1 litre Austin Metro. Not much cope for cruising in style but handy for teaching yourself handbrake turns none the less, allegedly. For the kit build up the replacement wings and bumpers were bolted on, the rear quarter panels bonded on, blended in and the chunky side skirts bonded on to finish it off.

Dimma also do a rear spoiler to match the kit but Henry has opted to have an Alien tailgate spoiler on there instead, with indicators moulded in to each side. The rear isn’t as Renault or Dimma intended either. It’s custom spec courtesy of the not exactly cheap, but excellent, Calder Coach Crafts. Love or hate the cars they’ve been responsible for over the years, their finish is one of the best in the area. Henry didn’t just want a run of the mill smoothed tailgate either so he had it extended to fill the space normally filled by the rear light clusters and the rear bumper modified to house some custom lights.
The current paint is a very trick black base coat with enough colours over it to have MOT testers log it as anything from grey to bronze! Maybe he should have stuck with one of the previous colours that have adorned the car. At the minute its on the 3rd colour incarnation. The previous Purple with a blue metal flake through it and the original blue have both avoided the DVLA “your MOT details don’t match your log book” letters, not so now though!

Don’t be mistaken for thinking with all this work having been done by paid professionals that this is an open cheque book car, far from it. Henry is one of Edinburgh Cruises more senior members, yes he’s in the 30+ club, but only just. As such he’s been around cars for a long time and has collated enough knowledge and experience to do a whole heap of modifying himself. In the 4 and half years that he’s owned this, bodywork is the only area of the car that Henry hasn’t done on his own. While the car was originally a 1.8, this is on its 3rd engine, now a 2 litre lump instead and not a standard one at that. Not one that was fitted in the warmth of a heated and kitted out garage either, nope, it went in on the driveway and got covered with a waterproof sheet if the rain came on when any vital mechanical organs were exposed.

How non standard is the engine then, well at the minute carbon goodies adorn the engine bay, a Dastek piggy back chip keeps the running in order and it breathes out through a Supersprint manifold and custom stainless system with twin exit pipes. A 50bhp NOS kit is plumbed and is never more than two buttons and a heavy right foot away and there are a few internal changes too, aimed at the long game. Running a low compression ratio and uprated gaskets this lump is low boost turbo ready and even has the group N clutch in place to cope with the extra grunt to come. Henry hasn’t got his hands on a turbo yet, he hasn’t even picked done yet, but when you see the bonnet up outside his house on a nice day again, you’ll know he’s on the case.

The modification level all over the car is extensive, take the ICE as an example. Would you fancy a DVD player and PS2 running in to 2 visor mounted screens and a 7 inch screen moulded in to your dash? Pioneer Components front and rear? Pioneer 12” sub in the boot? The whole system being juiced by Kenwood amplifiers? Henry did, so that’s exactly what he’s done. I suspect he’d probably have more in the way of a bass line if he could get away with it but when your boot also plays host to 2 large laughing gas bottles, space is limited.

Its hard to look at this car and not compare it to a Need for Speed type show car. The second ever set of colour changing LED underbody kits in the UK are bolted underneath, a NOS purge kit is fitted and even the dials are of the stainless steel variety, though they’re still in the dash rather than in the bottom right hand side of the screen. Strange thing is though, this isn’t a trailer queen show car, it isn’t even a weekend only warrior. Henry uses this car as his daily driver. We reckon supermarket parking bays must be a problem, those spaces aren’t the widest after all and this little Clio is fatter than your average comfort eater.

We had to keep an eye on the time as we did the shoot with Henry as he had to get to the takeaway in which he works for mid afternoon, a job that can see him in the kitchens, on the counter or out on deliveries. I stopped short of asking if the Clio gets used for that too as I couldn’t bear to imagine it being rattled over speed bums with the odour of other peoples dinners filling the car!

That said, not all speed bumps are a problem for this motor. The narrow low mid lane humps are a breeze. They have to be low though as Koni have assisted in bringing the car 35mm closer to the tarmac. To fill those wide arches some very conspicuous spacers had to be machined for the wheels to be brought away from the car and out to the meet the body. The front wheels are now a bump straddling 4 inches further apart while the backs are a massive 8 inches further from speaking to each other than they once were. The spacers are so big that they have to be bolted to the hub and have threaded bolts to come out through the wheels. Where other Clio owners locate their League Black Widow wheels (assuming they have them) on spigot rings and use bolts to hold their wheels on, Henry sits his up on the threaded bolts and has tapered wheel nuts to hold them on instead.

Future plans for the Clio include yet another change of colour, this one will be a little cheaper to get touch in paint for I’m told! Also a refresh to the up-rated brakes is on the cards, the current drilled discs are looking a little tired and don’t quite bite as they once did and perhaps suitably timed with the brake upgrade, an engine remap is planned too, to get the very best out the 2 litre lump.

Like it, loathe it, or sit on the impartial fence appreciating the effort none the less, this car has stood the test of time more than anything even half as extreme that’s been around for half as long and still turns heads for the right reasons. If your car is doing that 11 years from now, you’ll see it on Edinburgh Cruises features section ©2018!