Ministerial Saloon almost restored

[henry]

I came across a fairly rough saloon about a year ago and as it was up for just under a grand, I thought I would buy it, given that for that money it would be tempting to a banger racer.

All 4 doors and one rear wing we're beyond repair and at the moment, both front doors and the rear wing have been replaced.

The seats and doorcards were also destroyed, with sunlight taking out the rear seat upright, and general wear, tear and neglect killing off the two front seats leaving it beautifully capped off using V8 badges and after market speakers for the door cards!

Having sourced a perfect yet very dirty replacement interior, I ended up stripping the colour off to recolour everything in a light cream colour that's similar to range rover seats.

With the mechanical issues taken care of (not running well and a leaky gearbox), it's almost ready to go back on the road, and I hadn't thought much of it until practical classics did a rover special edition, with my head being turned by an article titled Thatchers Rovers.

This car is a saloon. It is also black. It has a Vanden Plas crown on the front wing. It also has frog eye style clock things under the steering wheel (usually only fitted to coupes), and there's more than 3 knobs in the centre console below the pic-a-nic tool tray.

All of which indicates to me, that I've inadvertently rescued and saved a Maggie mobile.

Seeing as how I never bought it to keep it (I'm a coupe kinda guy), how would I best go about selling it in about a month from now? And how would I go about putting a price or value on it?

I'm by no means greedy, as my main intention was to save it from the banger boys, which I've now done. Thing is, it's not a run of the mill saloon, given the info on ministerial cars.

Any advice?

[henry]

Cool

[tonys]

It's possible that you have located an ex-Ministry car; tracing its history might be difficult. Presumably it's a 3.5 saloon? What year?

I haven't seen the magazine article, but there are several points that might assist in confirming, ie do the the extra pods under the dash contain instruments, as per the coupé or other fittings. However, a number of people have added coupé instruments over the years.

How many switches on the centre console? - not uncommon to add an additional switch eg for hazard warning lights.

Some govt cars had mechanical changes, ie twin coils, extra battery.

Black saloons were also used by the military, by the navy and, IIRC,the RAF. Can't recall about the army. Some military cars had fittings for a bonnet-mounted flag.

The VIN no (first three numbers) might assist as some later ones used export nos..

If it is an ex-PM car it would probably be worth a bit more but if it's 'just' a govt-service, ie ambassador, or military, it probably isn't worth much of a premium, if any. It would be good if you do find a buyer and somebody keeps it going.

[henry]

It's a 1972 K reg... saloon and black. Haven't really paid much attention to the pods other than to notice they are there when they shouldn't be. The extra switches are not after market as they're all the same.

Finding out info is hard but going on the pointers from the article it certainly ticks all the boxes.

And I'm not really bothered who I sell it to as these cars aren't everybodies cup of tea. either you want one and you look after it or you don't. I really don't think these are whim purchases any more.

[henry]

PRK was 315K and was used in the article in practical classics.

I tried heritage but they drew a blank on my car, must be hush hush lol.