I used to be about 4 years previous after I first laid eyes on a Peugeot 205: an Alpine White 1.9-litre GTi.
Even then I knew it was particular, and its clean-cut, Pininfarina-penned traces etched themselves onto my mind because the genesis of what would grow to be my scorching hatch infatuation.
Later, I used to be shuttled to and from faculty in a single, and 20 years on it’s nonetheless a part of the household, albeit at the moment residing beneath a sheet and in a really sorry state of affairs.
However whereas the 205 was pleasing to the attention and rewarding to drive, it was additionally a fairly tough scorching hatch to tame. Not solely that, but it surely was susceptible to being struck down by numerous engine points, too (go on, ask me how I do know).
You’ll be able to think about my pleasure, then, when Warwickshire agency Tolman Engineering took Peugeot’s seminal ’80s scorching hatchback and reworked, fettled and fine-tuned it into the automotive it was all the time destined to be.
The Tolman Version 205 GTi is on the face of it a restomod, though in some ways it doesn’t fairly match the temporary. An enormous variety of restomodders appear hell-bent on making astronomically priced, extremely unique collectibles which might be a far cry from the unique automotive.
However even when I’m after an improved model of a basic automotive – with trendy know-how added right here and there – I nonetheless need it to retain the spirit of the unique. And that’s precisely what Tolman has achieved with its 205.
When it took half in Britain’s Greatest Driver’s Automobile 2023, the Tolman GTi struck a chord with our testers for its participating drive on the highway and its playful nature on observe.
With its reworked engine and trick differential, it was as enjoyable to punt round Anglesey because the eventual winner of the competition, the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato.
