P5s Vandalised, stolen, or loosing wheels or bumpe

[Alistair]

My P5B coupe is stripped down, bodywork partly rectified, and soon to have re-assembly started. I am now wondering what to expect when I finally get it on the road.
Do ####wits attck P5s in car parks and at the roadside? Can I expect to have my rostyles nicked the first time I park the car in London. Are they 'stealable'?
As existing owners, anyone have any views or experiences about this. I plan to use an ugly security wheel-nut on each wheel, if I can find a supplier, also to find some sort of security nut to keep the bumpers in place. Also, I plan to get central locking fitted, so that I can put a Thatcham class 1 alarm on the car. The idea of fitting a Tracker is also pretty appealing!
Can't stop monkeys from running keys down the car or chucking pain stripper over the bonnet though.

[richard eglinton]

I can't speak for London but I would be uneasy at leaving a smart P5 anywhere in a large City. Not only because of vandalism but a general public disregard for anything half decent belonging to someone else.
I wouldn't worry about the wheels, most P5's would collapse on top of a thief before one nut had been turned.
You would have to be pretty sad to nick my wheels as they still carry Crossplies!! - anyway, they are too big for a Saxo!
I am now going to upset a few people.!! Why would you restore or own a good P5 and then expose it to the horrors of modern roads and driving. Isn't the car now meant for Country A Roads on sunny days and attending rallies. Have a bit of respect and treat your car as a historical relic not a contender out there with modern traffic!!
Richard

[Andy - SE London]

Alistair, do you know something I dont?
I live in London, and so far touch wood not experienced any of the above.

[Alistair]

I intend to use mine as my only car. Why spend a fortune re-building a car, and then spend most of your life in a bland little euro-box on wheels?
If I win the lottery I'll keep a concourse one in a sealed room somewhere (honest). I plan to wear out my 'new' P5B and then re-build it again (should be comfortably dead before it needs to be done a third time!)

[richard eglinton]

You must have won the lottery if you can afford to run it as an only car!!
Richard

[John Stacey]

Alistair,
The P5b is far to good to be left in a box, unused and unappreciated. Ours has done the shopping and other mundane daily tasks every day since I rebuilt it, 1997 that was. It still polishes up allright for the car shows and the National.
Join the club and swell the ranks of we true P5 fans. We love `em so much we just can`t be seen in any lesser car.
John Stacey (Bristol)

[Deleted]

I agree they are for using and leaving in the garage and admiring

[Allan NZ P5b]

I bought my 71 p5b to be my only daily car. So far after using it for 2 years it has never failed to start or perform. As a vehicle they were designed to be used and even in the 70's when mine was built cars were expected to cover 12-15,000 miles a year and be reliable. If you spend some enjoyable time keeping the car in a high state of maintenance, as per the service intervals with a bit of erring on the side of caution, I change oil and filters every 3000 miles. If the car is sound it will perform well. So far the maintenance costs have been less than our 190E merc, Nissan Bluebird, Toyota Surf, also in the company fleet. Including the cost of improvements when attending to repairs. Admittedly it does appear that sound cars in the body work department are easier to find here due to the climate and no salt (as no Snow) my car for example had never been welded anywhere and has no rust ( some minor surface rust inside some panels) when I did the body Dec - Jan 2005 I treated all concealed surfaces and one small patch was applied to Left Front guard 1" square and 1 to rear right Guard. I bought the car to use every day as the 40 minutes a day pleasure is of greater value to me than the occasional drive on a fine day.
If I have to rebuild in 5-10 years so be it. The cost is not too bad unless you want absolute concourse and then you couldn’t drive it! When depreciation is taken into account they are a sensible choice. The Bluebird Diesel I purchased for $18,000 in 1995 as our family car, now worth maybe $1,500.00 and is the company hack. My P5b owes me about $12000 NZ and is worth about $10,000 here what will it be worth in 10 years time ( I suspect at least $10,000 still)and think of the pleasure Well maintained they are faultlessly reliable. And the numbers stack up to use them.

If they are not on the road how do you expect others to see enjoy and become interested in them and maybe one day join our ranks

Regards

[Alistair]

Alan,

Thank God for that! I was hoping someone would say the car was OK to be used a daily driver.
I suppose I will see.
Someone said that you have to be a lottery winner to use the car. Not sure I understand that. No car tax, low insurance. Seems like a good prospect to me.
People in Britain are far crazier than NZ, alas. Attacking cars in car parks does happen, my ancient battered mini got scratched up in Canterbury (Kent, England that is).
We have a huge enemy of classic cars here - road salt, that is the only thing which really worries me. I will be dilligent about changing filters and suchlike.

Hmmm, you have a P5B and only use it a few days in the summer to go to rallies? Takes all sorts I suppose.

As you say, if it needs a re-build after a few years, so be it!

Cheers
Alistair

[Phil Nottingham]

I use both my P5's as daily drivers and they do show the marks and require periodic tidying up/replacement parts - they do wear out. The chrome rusts and they are vandalised.

The admiitedly huge petrol bills (the 3L Coupe Auto only does 16mpg!) are more than offset by NIL depreciation, NIL Finance costs, low insurance even with business use and, of course, free road tax.

Its well worth the enjoyment and takes us to places no modern car could ever do and we are glad we are not on the bandwagon of constant renewal of motors.

After all we are the Joneses so have no-one to keep up with.

[Smallfry]

Yeah this has thrown up a dilemma for me too.......

I tend to spend far too long on small details that no one else ever sees, BUT, what do you do ?

Do you go the whole hog and make the thing look a million pounds ( not nasty foreign dollars) which costs a lot too, then be too afraid to use it ?

Or just go for a 10 foot finish, and not worry too much about it ? But then its like driving any other tired old car.

Its not so bad for those who can afford chequebook restoration, but when you have spent several years and a several hundred, if not thousands of hours, you have a massive emotional investment in it too, which is a LOT worse.

As for the original question, Its not really vandalism or even theft which bothers me, its more some thingy running into it. As long as you are sensible where you leave it, you should be OK.

I wouldn't leave it outside my house if I were you. You might return to find it up on bricks and the rear bumper missing. hee hee.

[Allan NZ P5b]

My solution was somewhere in between.
I don't have unlimited funds and most work on the car is done by myself. Except the spraying.
Concentrate on Mechanicals and running gear first to get the use and reliability. then go for a solid finish but not concourse so you aren’t too afraid to use it. The car still represents at last count 1000 hours of my time in 2 years. But I go at things hard as I have a lot of living to get done and I enjoy the car looking good but it would be all wasted if I didn't get to drive it. Same with the boat it is in pristine condition but has been sailed although each summer and work is done in winter. Yes it gutted me when I scratched my new 2 pack topside paint coming along side a wharf with damaged buffers (Nasty nail sticking out) But I would have been more gutted to have not Raced up to the bay with the fleet, Had the drinks and BBQ, more drinks , Slept in a lovely bay then sailed home. If you don't use the toys for me there is no point in owning it. All recreation costs. I have as much admiration for the Rover members who do more miles than me in tired old cars and enjoy them as those who have mint examples under covers each to their own for me I must use it. So I have to compromise on the heartbreak when it shows the sign of use. Yes it still hurts but then you have a new project to get your teeth into the putting right the damage.


Regards Get your joy your own way make your own decision if you can’t except the signs of use don’t use it is your choice how you enjoy your car

[PeterMadden]

Alistair,

Going back to your original question, I think your Rover would be safer than many cars on the streets of London. It is as likely, possibly more likely, to be the subject of mindless vandalism if that is a problem in your part of London. It suffer the same risk as any other car to people carelessness. As far as theft from the car, although we all want nice Rostyles there is a limited market for stolen one, the average thief is much more likely to be after a set of 17" alloys from a modern car which have a much wider market, and the same goes for theft of the car, though some sensible modern sercurity measures will help protect it from a casual thief who wants some wheels home.

If it ends up being parked up on the streets of N W or Central London, let me know and I'll add it to my rounds, but email me don't post it here.

Peter