How Many Rovers have you owned?

[Deleted]

I am interested to know how many Rovers and especially V8s people have owned.

I stumbled on my 1973 P5B when I took it in part exchange in 1985 when I was "in the trade". The previous owner wanted £1000, but I could only get £500.No one wanted the old dear, and I felt sorry for it. I don't want to think about how much I have spent in the last 22 years, having done a bodywork part restoration and respray by Ely Service about 15 years ago, a complete re trim in black leather (at a discounted trade deal rate), and renewed the carpets. There is much more I could do - the chrome is tattyish, the non leather trim inside and the wood is not A1, and the wheels are a bit pitted, etc etc.

No doubt others have spent mega bucks and/or have done work themselves.

I have also owned the following:

1972 Rover P6 3500S (From 1978-1980) Bought when I was 19 years old.

1977 Rover SD1 3500 Manual (From 1980-1982)

At the risk of blaspheming, I thought the P6 was a better drive, and much more sporty and less heavy on fuel, but now my P5 has become part of the family, although somewhat estranged recently due to being shut away for years in the garage.

The fact is I have too many cars including 3 old Saab's (my other weakness) But as I say to my critics, I can only pollute with one at a time!

No doubt there are some of you with fleets of P5s to hand???

[Deleted]

One is far too many. I have two 1948 Pontiacs and they are far less trouble. The P5b coupe is still the snazziest despite its failings.

[Phil Nottingham]

I have currently 2 P5's a 3 Litre Coupe and a P5B saloon on the road daily, another in pieces and three other P5's long gone. as well as a P2, a couple of Land Rovers and an interest in a P4 which I maintain

I find the 3 Litre is a far superior car albeit a little slower than the V8

[Deleted]

Since 1979 I have owned 28 Rovers

12 P4's mainly 100's and 95's
6 P5's 5 saloons and 1 coupe
4 P5B's all saloon's
6 P6's 3 V8's

In that time I have also owned a considerable number of classic Jaguars,Rolls Royce's and Mercedes Benz.
My favourite car is a P5B saloon followed by a Mercedes W116
6.9 Litre
Currently I have a 1972 P5b saloon, Jaguar 420G and a few other odd and sods.

[Deleted]

One P6, one SDI and my current P5B Coupe.

[Colin McA]

since 2001:

1977 2200tc p6
1987 2300 sd1
1995 216se coupe
1981 stage 1 V8 109 station wagon
1974 3500 auto p6
1987 3500 range rover auto
1970 3.5 coupe P5B
1998 Mini Cooper (rover)

I still own the 2200tc (under restoration) the 216se, p5b and mini are all on the road and in use.

Colin

[dorsetflyer]

1984-1987 Rover 216 Vitesse, Silver
1987-1989 Rover 216 Vitesse, Red
How many of these do you see around nowadays.
Both the above examples were purchased new and were one of the quickest around for acceleration, but were light on fuel, being injected.
2002- 2X P5B Saloons
1X P5 Coupe (3 litre)

[Smallfry]

One P5B saloon..............which I have still got.

Two P5B coupees

Eighteen Land Rovers, all either original, or converted to, V8

Two Range Rovers.

And a Rover 200. The newest, but positively the worst car I have ever owned. No wonder Rover ended up with an image problem

[Deleted]

Yes, the small "Rovers" are light years away from the original concept of what a Rover should be. I forgot to mention I also owned an 827 Sterling, which had everything electric you could think of including reclining REAR seats - went fast and smooth, but NO SOUL.
Paul

[richardzf]

I notice that no one has admitted to owning one of those (now pretty much forgotten) odd little 'three-box' 'Rovers' that followed the demise of the SD1 and were manufactured in league with Honda. There was a 213 and a 216 (& a VDP!), a Triumph Acclaim and Honda Accord.
Does anyone know anybody who owned a 'Streetwise'? At least I think that was what it was called. They were quite a peculiar 'stop-gap' town car that Rover bought in bits from India and assembled in the UK. It came with an ancient four pot, eight valve engine of about 1200cc.

Bought my first Rover, a '70 P6B auto in 1979. Had to put a recon. gearbox in it as it had no reverse and I got fed up thinking very carefully about how I should park it and trying to anticipated how other road users might park. It had low oil pressure and tended to over-heat at the drop of a hat. Solved both of these problems quite simply.
I sold it to my father-in-law!
Bought my '68 P5B Coupe in 1981 (still have it)
Bought my '70 P5B Saloon in 1982 (still have it; wrote at length about it as The Wholly Roadworthy in Take Five)
Bought and broke two P5B Saloons.
Bought my '84 SD1 V8 VDP, by accident, about six years ago, and another one, identical in every respect to the first one about two months later. It was broken for spares for both the P5B Saloon and the first SD1.
Sue, my present wife, had an 820i company car which seemed to perform far more briskly than I thought it had any right to do. The sudden kick in the the back was explained when I noticed it had a 'turbo' badge glued to the hatchback. She now endures a 200/25 thingy which has an interesting CVT auto 'box.

[Phil Nottingham]

I thought we were talking about real Rovers!

Actually I owned a very smart almost new 1987 Rover 820 SE auto saloon for a couple of years. I thought it was very comfortable fast and quiet car. I was however incredibly unreliable with numerous faults and breakdowns. After only 25k miles the power steering pump failed as did the new one. The blackbox failed, ball joints, electric mirrors and then the auto box started staying in top (being a ZF4HP this meant permanent drive) so it stallled the engine on coming to rest!

There was a permanent oil leak from the headgasket. Being Hitec it spent a lot of days in the dealers being fixed as too many special tools were needed to DIY. Spents £1000's on it, it seemed.

I cut my losses after 10k miles and sold it at a huge loss still owing 2 years on the car loan. It was this car that sealed the fate that I would stick with old cars for daily drivers from then on, with no debt and after several Rootes Arrows (Sceptres/Hunters etc, couple of old Metros began using the P5's rather than keeping them for for best/occasional use

I only ever bought one new car in 1981 being a Mk1 3door Astra GLS with tints and actually a German built Opel, Top of the range and quite rare even though only 1300cc (only size then). Did over 100,000 miles in it before I sold it in 1990 as my bad leg prevented me operating the clutch. These have still never acheived classic status.

I did learn all about old cars on Cylinder 2 stroke DKW's & Auto Unions from the late 50's early 60's that my dad owned and I bought from him when i got fed up of getting wet and cold riding motorbikes (I was the office despatch rider at 2.5p per mile delivering urgent documents) when he moved up market.

hese were the true foreunners of the present Audi's and front wheel drive cars generally but had loads of rust etc and same size wheels as P5's that used Michelin X tyres that never seemed to wear out.

Wished I had got a P5 much earlier as well the P2 and the Series Land Rovers, now feel that I have my ideal fleet for all uses but taken over 40 years to get there and now I am getting past it any way!

[Smallfry]

Thr "Three box" 200 series were not bad cars at all..........a friend still has her 2 door Gti.............but they are not really in the Rover mould in any case.

As for the Tata "Streetwise"...............whoever thought that one up should have been shot. Nothing really wrong with it as a cheap and cheerful basic car..............but badge it as a Rover ?...............Yet another injustice to the great marque.

If fact, I am sure that all this stuff has rubbed off, and in some way is the cause of the GENUINE Rover cars being unappreciated by many not in the know ?

[theroveringmember]

'71 2000TC
'77 2200TC.........Both dead.
'70 P5B Saloon....Still with us (22 years).
Mk1a P5 Saloon...Dead.
'75 2200TC.........With us.
'69 2000TC.........Ditto.
'75 P6B(Denovo)..Ditto also
'62 110..............Enjoying a second lease of life with us.
My Father also owned a P5B Saloon which went out in a blaze of draped Union jacked glory on the banger track as witnessed in the pages of 'Take Five' a few years ago. Justification followed a couple of issues later in response to a letter in the issue after the photos. The reasons still stand today.

And it seems to me that if you were born in 1975 or thereabouts (maybe 1980), your opinion of Rover is that they were s**t. Just goes to show how a great reputation can be decimated 'Oh' so quickly. Rover was a great & innovative company brought low by the politics of the BL behemoth & diluting the brand with inferior machinery from other companys. The Buick V8 notwithstanding of course as it did nothing but good for the marque. I'm talking post SD1 & even though I never liked it, it was a market leader. Though I must admit to having considered a couple on ebay in the past year or so.
But of course, the rot must have started to set in with the appalling build quality of the early SD1's, another legacy of BL.

[Deleted]

theroveringmember said:

And it seems to me that if you were born in 1975 or thereabouts (maybe 1980), your opinion of Rover is that they were s**t.

Not always (I was born in 1978 and my wife was born in 1977). We've had the following Rover/MGR/AR cars since 1996:

'85 Mini (still have)
'00 Mini (last of the line, owned it twice!)
'98 Rover 414 (gone, but still alive with 130k+ miles)
'96 Rover 114 (gone)
'04 MG ZT260 V8 (still have)
'04 MG ZR (gone)
'89 Mini Rose (still have, only 19k miles from new)
'71 P5B Coupe (gone but want another, better, example)
'02 Rover 25 (still have, used as workhorse)

They've all been good cars. None of them have had serious faults, and I've liked them all. My Dad had various BL/AR/Rovers over the years, so maybe that's where I get it from.

Oh, and the Tata thing was the CityRover. The Streetwise was basically a 25.

[dorsetflyer]

I see you have a Mini 'Rose'. An unusual very limited edition version of the Mini. A nice low mileage example like that is becoming an investment providing it's kept in tip top condition.

Although the 80's series of 213 and 216 versions of the Rover were Honda influenced, let us not forget that it was Rover who set the suspension up and made them a very capable car.
It was also a Rover designed engine that powered the 216's and their variants, and in Vitesse form went like s**t off a s****l.
I had two of these versions and the fault I found was the engine occasionally stalled when it was hot and you came to a halt in traffic. I gathered later it was an engine sensor giving out wrong signals.
Apart from that the acceleration was exceptional for a small/medium car, whilst the fuel economy was very acceptable.
I'd still love to get hold of one again. (I think one's allowed to dream)

[richardzf]

Further to my rambling contribution posted on 19th August; it wasn't the 'Streetwise' I meant. It was the 'City Rover'. I think the 'Streetwise' was a macro 4X4?
The 'City Rover' was manufactured in India by Tata, them's what's recently bought British Steel, or 'Corus' as they were re-branded.

[Deleted]

The Streetwise was a poor attempt at targeting the "yoof of today" with a car that looked like a 4x4 but clearly was based on a Rover 25 that they wanted to get rid of!

[Deleted]

dorsetflyer said:

I see you have a Mini 'Rose'. An unusual very limited edition version of the Mini. A nice low mileage example like that is becoming an investment providing it's kept in tip top condition.

Indeed, it's also my wife's favourite ever car! It is completely original, and lives in our garage to help protect it from the elements!

Re. the Streetwise, it was based on the 25 and cost (almost literally) buttons to develop. It apparently exceeded sales expectations, and other manufacturers followed MG-Rover's lead (examples being the VW Polo Dune and Citroen C3 XTR) so perhaps was one of MGR's better decisions.

[dirkco]

I read with inerest all the die hard Rover owners and their cars over the years.

I am in the USA and started with my first P6 actually my first car in 1976. I loved that car but as I got older family and my business took over and I had to let her go. However over the last 4 years I have come back to Rover with a vengence.

I currently own

(4) 1970 P6B 3500S 3 running 1 parts car
(2) 1967/1969 SC 2000s Both run well
(5) 1967/68/69/70/71 TC 2000s 2 running 1 near concours
(2)1968/70 P6B Estates 3500 (FLM Panel craft) both running
(4)1963/65 P5 saloons 1 finnishing a ground up resto the rest are parts cars
(1) 1967 P5 coupe needs resto
(1) 1969 P5b saloon needs resto
(1) 1970 P5b coupe Outstanding condition concours 33k orginal miles
(1) 1950 P4 Cyclops Running well first P4 imported to Canada 21K orginal miles with perfect orginal leather and LEFTHAND drive!!!!!!
(2) 1952 P4 75s Runing but need cosmetics
(1) 1958 105R Running but needs work
(1) 1959 105 Near concours outstanding condition
(1) 1949 P3 75 Very nice car running but will need new paint NO rust
(2) 1980 SD1s 1 parts car 1 running but needs work
(1) 1927 Rover 9 Completly reconditioned and in very nice shape but not all stock so will have to find some parts to complete resto to orginal condition

And you thought we yanks only had muscle cars

Dirk

[johnwp5bcoupe]

A realy nice collection if I had to choose one I would like it would be the "1949 P3 75 Very nice car running but will need new paint NO rust" as long as it was a RHD I had one nearly completed apart from the interior I had to sell it when I was building my house I needed the cash

[Warwick (Ozcoupe)]

Good to hear the 9 arrived safely Dirk.

I can only lay claim to having owned 5 .......and then only if I'm allowed to count 2 Range Rovers and 2 Rover lawnmowers. (Okay, okay.....the mowers are made by a different company).

Regards,
Warwick.

[theroveringmember]

I have problems storing 6 cars, let alone 29.

[PatMcCoy]

i have problems storing one car never mind six

[glennr]

I have problems with a sad dog

[PatMcCoy]

Good one Glen