Tight lines, spinning reelsand nights
spent in a bivvy waiting for that
once in a lifetime bite. This is, or
should we say was, David Head's
world before he was drawn to the
dark side of modified cars. "I was reallyinto
my fishing when I was younger, but as soon
as I started driving I gave it up," he told us.
"Modifying cars became my new hobby."
David wanted his first steps into the world
of modded motors to be taken .with a
Renault 5 GTTurbo and immediately after
passing his test he set about finding his
perfect car. However, he very quickly realised
that a 17-year-old with next to no driving
experience is not an attractive prospect for
insurance companies and had to drop the
idea of a blown Renault, albeit temporarily.
Instead, David opted for something from the
Peugeot stable in the form of a 306 1.6 Xl
which he promptly treated to a full Ecosse
body kit and 17" rims. He also designed,
built and fitted his own ICEinstall. For the
next 18 months David drove his pride and
joy everywhere and anywhere and was a
regular on Southend seafront, but the Pug
was only meant to be a stopgap until David
could get insured on a 5.
When David turned 19 he took the plunge
and sold the 306. "It had 197k on the clock
and was starting to get a bit tired," he
explained. "I'd always had a fascination with
Fivesso I got rid of it to buy one.:' David .
collected his new toy and began work on it
almost instantly, rebuilding the engine and
adding some of his own neat underbonnet
tricks. However what David hadn't realised
was that his 306 had touched him deeper
than he thought and he now had a bit of a
soft spot for Pugs. Still, he continued to drive
the Five, but one day spotted a modified 206
in his local area. "It was a China blue GTiand
I'd seen it drive past me a few times and
really liked it," he told us. "Then I heard it
was up for sale, so I met up with the bloke at
Southend and bought it from him. I'd only
done three thousand miles in the Renault!"
David then admitted that the whole Renault
5 experience wasn't all it had cracked up to
be and that he had actually been looking at
buying a standard 206 and modifying it, but
the price of a standard one was the same as
buying a modified one. "I would probably
have had to spend double on modifying a
standard one, but buying one already
modified meant that I could customise it
rather than start from scratch," he reasoned.
So it was out with the Five and in with the
Pug, which was already dressed in an Ecosse
Virtuel front bumper combined with a Dimma
back bumper and sideskirts. The previous
owner had also equipped the engine with a
Ram Air induction kit and stainless steel
Duplex exhaust system complete with twin exit
tailpipes. David was keen to add his own
touches to the car though and added a set of
Porsche-style corner splitters to the front
bumper. He also binned the black angel eyes
replacing them with Morette units.