Premier 118NE: Not any NE

The eighties was not a great time for the Indian automotive scene – India’s version of the Malaise era, if you will. The cars on sale were hand-me-downs from more than a couple of decades ago, and performance was the last thing on anyone’s mind. But we Indians have great imagination and are masters at making do with whatever little we have — giving it a positive spin while we’re at it. The Ambassador was not regarded as an outdated fifties Morris; instead, it became our idea of a limo for the political elite. The Contessa wasn’t called out for being a poorly built seventies Vauxhall; instead, we labelled it a muscle car. And the Premier 118NE was the car for the upper middle class — the choice of doctors, engineers, and accountants alike.

If you owned one of these cars in the eighties, you were part of an elite group. If your family had one, you enjoyed the privilege of touring the country and making memories while the rest had to rely on trains and buses. For those who couldn’t afford them, these cars were objects of aspiration, their appeal far outweighing their actual capabilities. Drive any of them today, though, and they will surely disappoint — a case of don’t meet your heroes. For enthusiasts of a certain age, these are the cars we grew up with and, therefore, held in high regard — a mix of nostalgia, rose-tinted glasses, and foggy memories. But get behind the wheel, and disappointment is almost inevitable. Don’t meet your heroes, as they say. However, there might be an exception.

Enter Joel Joseph and Race Concepts from Bengaluru. We have featured their creations on these pages in the past, and by now, they are pretty well known as one of India’s preeminent tuners. What you might not know, though, is that Race Concepts is also one of India’s leading motorsport teams, competing across several disciplines like circuit racing, rallying, and drag racing. They bring the expertise gained through racing to build incredible street machines. They have become synonymous with some of the cleanest Honda City builds in the country, but now, they are trying something different — restomods.

Embarking on a restomod journey that ends with a reliable turn-key car isnt exactly a cake-walk. It takes meticulous planning and years of expertise in all the aspects of the trade.

The term restomod is, of course, an amalgamation of the words restoration and modification. Why restore it to original when you can build it better? — that was the ethos behind the concept, and it is certainly taking off worldwide. The idea is to retain the looks of a classic car while giving it modern performance, handling, and usability. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it isn’t. Ever wonder why Singer charges a million dollars for one of their reimagined Porsches? It’s because building a restomod that starts every time, runs perfectly, is daily drivable, and still captures the essence of the original has to be one of the toughest jobs in the automotive realm — and that’s despite starting with a Porsche as the base car.

Perhaps this is why we haven’t seen too many proper restomods built on Indian cars — but Joel wants to change that. The owner of the 118NE you see on these pages, an old friend and patron of Race Concepts, brought it to Joel to restore it to its former glory. The hitch? Race Concepts doesn’t do restorations. It’s not that they lack the skill, manpower, or resources to restore cars — it’s just not their style. Joel had just one condition for taking on the project: he does it his way.

Joel and the Race Concepts crew have spent the last four years transforming this 118NE into an incredible street machine. The goal was for the vehicle to look as original as possible but with subtle visual cues hinting at its performance potential — and it’s fair to say they’ve hit the nail on the head with this car. From a distance, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is just another 118NE, but up close, the details are simply fabulous. Walk up to the car, and the first thing you’ll notice is the vent in the bonnet — totally functional and designed to extract hot air from the engine compartment.

The rear quarter panel houses the exhaust tip in a neat and civilised way, the same cannot be said about the way it sounds.

The whole car sits much lower on a set of 16-inch wheels — not huge by today’s standards, but they do a great job of filling up the arches without rubbing. Then there’s the exhaust that exits through the rear quarter panel — very discreet, until you hear it, that is. Other finer details include the badging on the boot lid, CNC-machined from solid aluminium, and the bumpers, which have been trimmed and brought closer to the body. Even what looks like a bog-standard paint scheme is, in fact, a very particular shade of white from Volvo.

While all of this is seriously cool, it’s the engineering behind the car that is truly impressive. Let’s start under the bonnet. Gone is the wheezy, 1.2-litre Nissan-sourced carburetted engine. In its place sits a 1.6-litre unit from the older Maruti Suzuki Baleno, also known as the G16B — a motor that Race Concepts is very familiar with, having used it in multiple previous projects. This engine has been fully built up with custom forged internals and augmented by a Garrett turbo with bespoke plumbing. It has all the kit necessary to produce up to 300bhp, but Joel has intentionally dialled it back to a reliable 235bhp at the crank, which translates to roughly 218bhp at the wheels. A significant bump from the stock 51bhp, I’d say.

At its heart is a 1.6-litre unit — G16B, borrowed from the older Maruti Suzuki Baleno.

If the stock 118NE had one saving grace, it was that it was rear-wheel-drive — and Race Concepts has, of course, retained that trait. However, all the hardware responsible for delivering power to the rear wheels has been completely revised. The transmission is a five-speed unit from a Maruti Suzuki Gypsy King, the driveshaft is a custom unit, and the rear axle — sourced from a Maruti Versa — has been heavily modified. Race Concepts has managed to refine the drivetrain to the point where it can be driven on the street with minimal stress, but there’s no hiding the fact that this is a beast.

The first giveaway is the exhaust note. It’s loud but not obnoxious, and it even manages to sound like an older car. The stage-four clutch — necessary to handle this power — makes setting off slightly challenging, but once you get used to it, it’s not a hindrance. The power comes on strong — almost violently so — and turbo lag is negligible. Launch it hard, and 100kmph will come up in around seven seconds, making it much faster than any current mid-size sedan. But take it down a notch, and the 118NE can feel fairly docile. Joel is fine-tuning this further to make it even more streetable.

It launches hard, this Race Concepts 118 NE. This climbs to a 100kmph in 7 seconds flat.

The biggest surprise is the way this car handles. If you’ve driven an original 118NE, you know the driving experience is nothing to write home about. Despite being rear-wheel-drive, it’s plagued by body roll, a lack of grip, and chassis flex. Problems like these aren’t going to be solved by simply fitting stiffer springs and shocks — which is why Race Concepts has taken a completely bespoke approach. In essence, this is the skin of a 118NE on a fully custom chassis. The entire front end has been re-engineered, from the repositioning of the strut towers to custom A-arms, spherical joints, and a host of other race-derived components.

The separate spring and damper units have been swapped for fully adjustable coilovers, giving it not just the perfect stance but also tremendous roadholding capability. With this much performance in a vehicle weighing less than a ton, safety cannot take a back seat. To that end, this 118NE features slotted 265mm discs with uprated pads up front and an enhanced drum setup at the rear. Race Concepts has also integrated a roll cage into the interior, which not only stiffens the platform but also provides a safety net if things turn turtle.

The uncomfortable steering position from stock has been sorted out.

Speaking of the interior, the attention to detail here is quite impressive. The stock seating position in the 118NE is rather awkward, with a slightly offset steering wheel. Race Concepts has remedied that by fitting a revised steering column with tilt adjustment and an electric power steering system. Heavily bolstered race seats feature up front, but they have been retrimmed in period-correct fabric to match the rear seat. And yes, the rear seat is still usable. The interior is carpeted, and while there aren’t any creature comforts, Joel has tried to make it as comfortable as possible. Further refinements are in the works, including a retrimmed dash and a bespoke gauge cluster, but as it stands, this is already a very usable little car.

But is it a true restomod? In one word, absolutely! It manages to combine the look of an original 118NE with performance that surpasses even modern cars. Usability is still a work in progress, but even as it stands, it’s perfectly viable as a weekend toy or even a track car. If you want one — or something similar — you’ll need to present a pretty convincing case to Race Concepts. Joel says they won’t just restomod anything; it has to align with Race Concepts’ ethos and will require a great deal of commitment from the owner. So while this isn’t a one-off, it might be a while before we see something similar. Nevertheless, the fact that the capability to build something like this exists in India is incredible in itself. As I said earlier, we Indians are masters at making do with whatever little we have.