Car of the Month

November 2008

Tim Palmer’s 1973 Chamonix 2002

Want to see your 02 featured here? Email me any 02, any condition richstern@hotmail.com.

My ’02-ing started fairly early in life when my Dad bought a new 2002 in around 1972. It was Golf Yellow, which drew some attention even in those psychedelic days. As a schoolboy wearing shorts I can still remember the burns from the black perforated vinyl seats. We had the car for a few years until my Dad decided, as a respectable local GP, that it was too fast for driving on his rounds. In 1976 he replaced it with a Renault 5 (Aero Yellow this time) – R5s being also an interest of mine, as I went on to be given that one when I passed my test.

I have owned my 2002 since September 1993,when I bought it from a good friend, who had in turn previously bought it from his brother. I paid £2002 for it! The V5 says there were only 3 former keepers, which I’m not sure is right. It seems to have been supplied to a Mr Brewer in Padstow in August 1973. It was sold by a Mr Pilgrim to my friend’s brother in August 1983 and at some point he passed it on to my friend.

My friend sold the car because he was disappointed with some restoration work he had had done on it – a new boot floor had been poorly welded in, there was overspray on the seats, and these with various other aspects had ruined the car for him. I seem to remember he was keen to get a 911 too, so the 02 had to go.

One of my reasons for having a classic car is so I can tinker, and in 15 years of ownership I have a long list of modifications and repairs – far too long to set out here, so I’ll just run through the main ones.

The first change was a stainless exhaust, supplied and fitted by London Stainless in 1994 and still working, although it did develop a leak towards the end of the centre section which I’ve had to patch. Sadly, on the way back from the fitting I had a head gasket failure, which meant a trip home with the AA and a period off the road while I repaired it. At least the exhaust nuts came off easily! At the time we had a garage in a block with no power or lighting so it wasn’t ideal for DIY-ing, but I could just about get it done. I took the opportunity to send the head off to Jaymic for skimming, valve re-seating and valve guide replacement (I had been suffering from the blue exhaust smoke on the overrun that is characteristic of worn exhaust valve guides) and in the meantime risked the end of my very new marriage by cleaning up other parts in petrol and paraffin in our 2nd floor flat. After a few months of this the head was back on and working fine.