|
|
This is how my car originally looked when
I bought it on 16th October 1997.
(it didn’t have the front splitter though!). It originally
came up for sale in Stafford from the following
advert in Auto Trader: Me, dippy, went and viewed the car at
night and it looked a minter. In fairness it
was… unfortunately it had about four different
shades of red on the car! Out came the money,
£3600 and into a world of debt, arguments with
the missus, and utter love for the Pugsley. I
was the 5th owner in 8 years which
concerned me for about two seconds once I got the car home.
My first car, and I couldn’t even drive… oh
sorry, didn’t I say… yes, I only passed my test
the following February, so the Pug was the
shiniest and most stationary car in the world for 4
months. MMmm. I
was chuffed to bits ‘cause it already had alloys on so that was going to save £800 from the
off. Bloody hell, I was saving money from the
start!!! This didn’t last very long!!! |
The object from the start was to build one of the best 205’s in the country. It had to be low, quick (which the 1.9 is!), and look the dogs danglies. This proved harder than first thought due to the fact the car was costing me so much just to keep on the road, instead of actually doing it up. The
First Steps To Ecstasy: First
on the list was a nice set of GTi car mats, leather/carbon gear knob and
leather gaitor. These were all acquired at the same time and at least liven
up the interior. A lovely Sony head unit that cost £250 smackers looked the
bollocks, but needed speakers. Pioneers to the rescue, Clarion to the rescue.
All in all, the above little lot cost in the region of £500. It
can’t cost that much surely: Cars.
It’s wonderful when it’s working, a complete twat when it goes wrong. Over
the next 18 months came the following:- Insurance
TPFT £1045.00 205
Exhaust/Tailpipe £94.00 Full
set of brake pipes £30.00 Cat
1 Immobiliser £95.00 2
Different Steering Racks £250.00
(total), 1
Rear Radius Arm £125.00
inc fitting Distributor/Vacuum £85.00 Brake
pads, cables, oil seals, tuning etc etc Etc
etc etc…… Slowly but surely you start to realise, that people with modified cars very rarely own them, they lease them from the bank… It was loan time!!! |
||||||
|
Now were talking, give me that… that, and one of them, I like that… shove one of them on as well… October 1999. 2 years after owning the worlds greatest hot-hatch, it was time. It was time to really start modifying. I was tied to the bank for three years, but who gives a toss. I was going to modify the Pugsley with no expense spared, well nearly. It’s strange. When you don’t have any money you have all these fantastic ideas of what you would do, what it’s going to look like, then when you’ve got the cash burning a hole in your pocket, your not sure. All of a sudden you’ve got to make the right choice. My inspiration came from a gold 205 at the Mira show in 1988. Clio bonnet bulge, twin headlights… that’s what my car was going to look like. Then you want to start making yours original… not just a copy of someone else’s. I had to keep to the original red otherwise the price of the respray would have doubled to over £2000. Red it was. A local body shop did the dirty deed, fitted the buldge, rear spoiler, smoothed the tailgate off and Resprayed the whole thing. Then a visit to the Pug God himself Colin at Pug Performance Motorsport had me spending more cash… on his fantastic rear valance. Once this was on, I just had to fill those 4” holes either side… with a custom exhaust from Powerflow. And that’s how you get in debt with style. God knows how these young lads afford the quite awesome cars that were at this years Donnie 2000 show, but I can almost guarantee that it wasn’t with their own money. Probably Mr Barclays’.
The above picture show what the car now looks like. After many hours of hard work it’s about 70% complete. Oh yes there’s more. Leave
it alone…it’ll drop off: Yes there’s one or two more things to do before I’ll be 100% happy. In the next 2-3 weeks it’s off to Pug Performance where Colins going to wave his magic wand and get 190Bhp+. I’ve also got to get some 283mm Cross Drilled front discs to handle the power, and I’ve got to get some side skirts and rear diffuser. This should all be ready for Max Power Live. The final icing on the cake will be a custom full leather interior (based on a set of wonderful Cobra Sidewinder seats). Once all this done, I’ll probably find something else to stick on it! |
||||||||
