Rovers group cars we love

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 05:53
Rovers group cars we love - Garethj
Space in the Backroom for looking at some nice ones here:

Rover BRM - www.rover.org.nz/images/rovbrm.jpg

Rover P5 Coupe- www2.uol.com.br/bestcars/carros/classicos/rover-p5...g

Rover P6 - www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccz/nile_trial/Bild15.jpg

MG TC - www.vieux-volants.com/Les%20voitures/mg%20tc%20194...G

Austin Clifton Heavy 12/4 for anyone who read Gumdrop as a child - www.austintendriversclub.com/images/riverside/gumd...G

Triumph 2000 - www.austin-rover.co.uk/images/tri2000_09.jpg

Mini Cooper - ernstgallery.com/art_pix/wg/ii/italianjob3.jpg
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 14:08
Rovers group cars we love - cheddar
The Triumph 2000 was poor, perhaps OK mid 60's though my dad had a '73 facelift one, the Cortina 2000E that replaced it was light years ahead.

On the other hand I had a Dolomite Sprint that was brilliant!
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 14:19
Rovers group cars we love - Stuartli
The Triumph Acclaim was the first decent car produced by BL thanks to the Honda input.

Just 114,000 were produced from 1979 to late 1984, a fraction of the Allegro and Marina totals, yet there are many still in use around our area (partially because there was a BL factory at Leyland and the staff got new car discounts).

In the case of the Marinas and Allegros, the vast majority have long since rusted away or been scrapped.

I bought my older offspring a used Acclaim as her second car (it followed a Dolomite) and, 15 years later, my son was reluctantly persuaded to part with it as it was felt a change was well over due.

He particularly loved the Honda engine and the accurate, crisp steering.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 14:30
Rovers group cars we love - cheddar
The Triumph Acclaim was the first decent car produced by BL>>


Cant agree with that, the Acclaim was not bad though it's main problem was that it was not quite as good as the Honda it was based on.
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 16:15
Rovers group cars we love - Stuartli
>>Cant agree with that>>

Perhaps you didn't read my post carefully enough?

What's more the Ballade (on which it was based) was most likely built by BL in the same factory, just as with the Concerto that followed (i.e. Rover 414/416). But I'd have to check.

As I pointed out, comparatively few Acclaims were produced, but they far outlasted the Marinas and Allegros produced around the same time in very much greater numbers.

There are still quite a few Acclaims running around my area and the majority are in surprisingly good nick for their age.
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 17:13
Rovers group cars we love - Welliesorter
What's more the Ballade (on which it was based) was most
likely built by BL in the same factory...


As far as I know, BL had exclusive rights to it in the UK. The next model Ballade became the Rover 200 series and this was made at Longbridge with a Honda badge.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 14:31
Rovers group cars we love - Garethj
Hmmmm, I'm not exactly feeling the love here!

You're allowed to choose pre-war if you feel you need to go back that far...
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 14:47
Rovers group cars we love - M.M
Triumph 2000 was a very worthy rival to the Rover 2000, better in many ways. The 6cyl engine was so smooth after the rather coarse Rover unit.

And I think if you were transported back in time to a new Triumph 2000 MKII and a Cortina 2000E side by side the Cortina would look a plasticky horror with that poor attempt at adding a bit of wood here and there.

Was lucky enough to have one of the best restored Triumph 2500 MKIIs I've seen visit me last year... magnificent.

The Acclaim was worthy in its time, if rather small... no classic though.

M.M
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 16:08
Rovers group cars we love - codefarm
I've said before I think the P6 V8 was a wonderful car. I had a 25-year old example and it was perfectly usable as an everyday car, it looked great, was very comfortable, and I liked it better than most modern cars I've driven.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 17:45
Rovers group cars we love - Carmad 10000
Reminds me of that song by the black eyed peas..."where is the love" ?
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 19:24
Rovers group cars we love - Altea Ego
Rover cars we love? Gonna be a short thread this.


OK really scratching around here, and assumng I can choose from all the marques and brands owned by MG rover POST WAR

Austin - Nothing not a bean, dont give me A40 Somersets or Devons, or A35 Farinas? garbage. Nothing they produced post war is worthy saving from the scrap heap.

With the exception of the Mini. Somehow they managed to design & produce the most important car in the world after the Model T

Oh and I forgot the 1100, another good design, but that all went pear shaped with the "land crab 1800"

Morris - Exactly the same

Riley - Nada


MG - Ok maybe the MG Magnette, ZB Varitone. They managed to give a bit of class to an otherwise non descript car.

MGB not a good car by any means, but hey its a classic.

Triumph? Now we have cars worth remembering, but it all went TU with the TR7 - jeez what a dog. Only just got it right with the TR8 when it got canned.

Rover? Yes a series of cars some worth remembering (I have fond memories of blitzing the speed limit on the newly opened M23 in a 3500 P6) - right up to the SD1 - since then? forget it.


So there we are. Since the mid 80's nothing - absolutley sweet fanny adams - has come out of BL or Austin Rover - call it what you will, that is worth a mention apart from land fill.

With the exception of the 75 - and then in ZT estate form.

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Sat 16 Apr 2005 19:26
Rovers group cars we love - Altea Ego
Sorry Typo I didnt mean an A35 was a farina! Just that both were garbage
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 20:25
Rovers group cars we love - geoffster
Poor ideas so far. How about
Triumph TR2 - TR6
Triumph GT6
Triumph Dolomite Sprint
MGB V8
Frogeye Sprite
MGZT 260
Rover P5B
Austin Healey 3000
Mini Cooper & S
Rover 3500S
Metro 6R4

Should I go on?



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Sat 16 Apr 2005 21:11
Rovers group cars we love - geoffster
Yes I will go on.

MG ZB Magnette
Land Rover
Range Rover
Land Rover Discovery
Rover Group also owned Jaguar for a while, so maybe we could add a few of those.
Any Riley, Wolseley,Standard. My knowledge does not cover
pre 1950's models.

Triumph Stag
MGC
Trimph Spitfire
Triumph 2.5pi
Rover P4

You cannot dismiss all these as poor cars. Perhaps you all do not have any recollection beyond the last couple of years.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 23:59
Rovers group cars we love - Altea Ego
"MG ZB Magnette"

I mentioned it

"Land Rover
Range Rover
Land Rover Discovery"

No you cant have those, not part of the group thats folded.

"Rover Group also owned Jaguar for a while, so maybe we could add a few of those."

Nope not part of the group thats folded, cant have those either.

"Any Riley, Wolseley,Standard. My knowledge does not cover
pre 1950's models."

Mine does

"You cannot dismiss all these as poor cars. Perhaps you all do not have any recollection beyond the last couple of years."


I do - so therefore I can.
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 00:02
Rovers group cars we love - Altea Ego
Oh and not sure (yes I am) you never saw any Metro 6R4's in the the showroom for sale to the general public.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 18:43
Rovers group cars we love - Stuartli
The A90 was a pretty advanced looker for its time as was the Metropolitan.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 21:09
Rovers group cars we love - frazerjp
Dad had a Rover 400 auto (Honda engine)R-reg if that counts? He lost a lot in depreciation mind over 5 years!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 22:14
Rovers group cars we love - Civic8
>>Dad had a Rover 400 auto (Honda engine)R-reg if that counts? He lost a lot in depreciation mind over 5 years!

A few did suffer H/G failure.But not on the scale K series did..
My old favourite is the P6..Highly reliable and if looked after went on and on..Still see a lot on isle of wight..couple still around in my area.. 200 series is a close follow on.Still loads around and of those scrapped wasnt due to rust.By 200 I mean 89-95.Not 213/6.they were rustbuckets
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Steve
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 22:40
Rovers group cars we love - Big Cat
MG ZT with the 2.5 KV6 engine.
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 22:42
Rovers group cars we love - Ex-Moderator
Spitfire
TR4a
MG TC
Maxi
Mini
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 23:09
Rovers group cars we love - Pugugly {P}
Jaguar XJ12 5.3C in British Racing Green.......
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 23:49
Rovers group cars we love - Sofa Spud
I ran a 1965 Rover P6 2000SC for a couple of years in the late 70's, when it was 14+ years old. Obviosly it was past its best but I was impressed by its quality, style and clever design. My car was built before the original Rover company was taken over. I think quality deteriorated in the BMC/BLMC era.

What was interesting about the Rover P6 is that it was a totally new car when introduced in 1963, witb little or nothing borrowed from previous Rovers, and when production ended in 1977 nothing from the P6 was carried over into the SD1.

There was of course the P6B variant - the 3500 V8, which was a fortuitous afterthought that resulted from Rover acquiring the rights to an abandoned Buick engine project, and that V8 engine WAS used in other Rover cars as well as Morgans, TVRs etc.
Prior to the V8's appearance Rover had experimented with a 5-cylinder version of the P6's 'four'. The experimantal car still exists, I think.

The Rover P6 had some very clever pre-launch publicity. Rover built a gas-turbine prototype based on the P6 that was unveiled to the public months before the conventional 2000.

Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 09:06
Rovers group cars we love - googolplex
My grandfather drove a Rover P5 (I presume, looking at these photos) dark blue, lovely V8 engine, which I think was an american thing, but made a stunning sound. The car was built like a tank, did several gallons per mile, but was just class from end to end. If I was the classic car collecting type, that would be the one for me.
Splodgeface
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 23:39
Rovers group cars we love - frazerjp
My grandfather had a 214i 16v (H-reg) he brought it in '92, he then passed it on to my uncle in '99 when he gave up driving, my uncle didnt have any major problems with it when he owned it apart from needing a new battery before trading it in for an R-reg 414i last year.
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Sat 16 Apr 2005 23:49
Rovers group cars we love - tyre tread
I currently own a Rover P5B 1970 which was photographed for Practical Classics magazine yesterday so I can atest that they are brilliant cars if a tad (understatment) thirsty.

I also really like my '92 214Si which I had as a company car for 3 years.

The 75's are brilliant in V6 or diesel form.

All of the LAnd Rover production cannot be knocked. I personally never lusted after them but no-one can deny they were, and to some degree still are, world beaters. After all, who stated the 4X4 craze?
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 00:21
Rovers group cars we love - frazerjp
Well i have to agree with you with the Landies, they can go up hills better then a shogun right? The 75's have always been really good bargains, in 'motor mechanics' they said they can go for as a little as £4k at an auction in diesel spec with moderate milege!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 00:38
Rovers group cars we love - Civic8
>>After all, who stated the 4X4 craze?

I though and correct if wrong.Land Rover was based on American Jeep.
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Steve
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 01:25
Rovers group cars we love - tyre tread
It was based on the concept of the American Jeep that was always intended to be a military/utilitarian vehicle.

LandRover took a jeep apart to see what made it tick and then set about designing a more refined cersion of that vehicle and the takk it a stage further circa 1970 with the Range Rover which started the "Sloane Ranger" love affair with 4X4's that has trickled down through the classes to the sitaution where now all and sundry want to tak their 4X4's off road into Sainbury's car park.

At least that's what i believe happened! :-)
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 00:52
Rovers group cars we love - Sofa Spud
The first prototype Land Rover, known as the "Centre Steer" because of its central driving position, was based on a Jeep. However it was just a feasability study really and the Land Rover proper - the "80 inch" of 1948, was all Rover's own work.

Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 18:51
Rovers group cars we love - Stuartli
The history of the Land Rover can be read up here:

www.web-rover.co.uk/nav.php?p=history
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 00:41
Rovers group cars we love - Avant
Renault Family, I think you're much too widespread in your condemnation!

The first Austin A40 (Devon) was way ahead of the competition when it came out in 1947. It had an OHV engine, a 4-speed gearbox and (I think) independent front suspension. The A50 Cambridge of the 50s certainly had IFS, and that was a good car too. My first ever car wa a 14-year-old example - never let me down. Those Austins had another great advantage over the equivalent Fords, Hillmans and Vauxhalls - they would start reliably in the morning. The Rover P4 - the granny Rover - had a lot of solid qualities too.

The decline came in the Leyland years when the management didn't have the vision properly to merge the Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph operations. I was a member of the Ryder team which went over BL in 1975, and it was just as bad as the press made out. The lack of vision followed through to the desperate lack of development of great ideas like the Norris Minor and the Mini, and the replacement of the 1100 by the Allegro when a 5-door hatchback, a smaller Maxi, was what was wanted and was supplied by VW with the Golf.

That said, the two Maxis I had in the 70s were good reliable cars; the design faults were never cured so they were followed by seven Renaults, then the Golf and now the Audi - each one bought with a tinge of regret that the British motor industry could no longer produce anything as good.
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 13:15
Rovers group cars we love - mare
Avant, you're spot on, BL replaced OK products with horrid clunkers. The Allegro could have been a hatch, so could the Princess, but oh no, we're Leyland and we know best, what the public want is wierd looking saloons. Heater, that'll be extra.

The shame of it is that about 10 years Rover were sorted. The early 90's 200/400 regained a lot of creditability, the 600 looked good, but why charge Mondeo money for an Escort sized car? Why persist with the Metro when it was obvious it was well past sell by date? The marketing was wrong wrong wrong. What were the adverts about?

And nobody had the courage to face the unions and trim the company down to achieve the productivity levels. Nothing wrong with Rovers built in China, we buy South African Golfs and American Mercedes, even MINI's with Brazilian engines.

Hindsight eh?
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Sun 17 Apr 2005 01:36
Rovers group cars we love - WhiteTruckMan
Remember that series of adverts (with crap scripts)for BL cars?

tinyurl.com/a4oz8

WTM
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 01:26
Rovers group cars we love - Aprilia
Austin, Morris etc weren't actually that bad by the standards of the time. We forget how awful some of the competition was.
My father had a contract to maintain a small fleet of cars in the early-mid 1970's and looked after various Austin/Morris, plus Chrysler Avengers and Ford Cortinas. The Avengers and Cortinas were pretty horrid, and the Avengers especially troublesome. Audis up to 1980 tended to rust very badly and no one had heard of BMW. He serviced various Renaults too (the '16' I think, which was a percular angled thing with massive roll on corners) - but they were dreadfully troublesome.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 10:42
Rovers group cars we love - Civic8
>>Austin, Morris etc weren't actually that bad by the standards of the time. We forget how awful some of the competition was.

I think. I would rate Vauxhall as being the worst.70`s ones anyway. Some spent more time in the workshop than on the road
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Steve
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 11:24
Rovers group cars we love - holly1
The Mini has got to be my favourite - owned ones with Austin Morris, Austin and Rover badges, all excellent little cars ... Cheeky, mischievous, cheap to run and most importantly easy to repair and maintain.

Got to be closely followed by the Metro, a Mini with a bit more boot space!!
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 12:26
Rovers group cars we love - commerdriver
Rover themselves produced some great cars in the 60s, 70s & 80s My wife's recently deceased uncle owned a series of P4 and P6 rovers and finally a couple of SD1s, the last of which, a 1983 3500 special he kept from 6 months old until he died. He raved avout how good they were to anyone who would listen & he seemd to have very few problems with the ones he had.
I never drove a P4 but the P6's and SD1s I drove were at least as good as the competition at the time.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 12:27
Rovers group cars we love - SjB {P}
My 1984, tuned (to the heady heights of 93bhp!), 1380cc MG Metro.

Shocking anti corrosion measures - which is why after eight years of ownership from new I eventually got shot - but as a hugely entertaining car to punt along quickly, with pin sharp handling and a gorgeous exhaust note, it was superb. Given that I owned it for eight years over the full depreciation curve, it also proved without doubt to be the best value for money motoring I've ever had.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 12:53
Rovers group cars we love - cheddar
I had an MG Metro turbo, forgot to mention that, it was great fun though suffered fuel vapourisation problem when hot if an attempt to start it was made between 5 and 20 mins of switching off.

A mate had a 1380cc Turbo, more powerful though not as free reving as mine which was standard 1275.

Another mate raced in the MG Metro challenge, highly modified 1275cc non-turbo MG Metros running on slicks, supported the GP at Silverstone for a couple of seasons mid '80's, it was the 1st time I drove on slicks, great grip. They later made the championship for less highly modified (in respect of engines) Metro turbos to reduce costs however this back fired because some entrants bought half a dozen, heads, manifolds, turbos etc from BL and measured them all to find the optimum "standard" components therefore spending more than they had in tuning the non turbo engines.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 16:47
Rovers group cars we love - Tomo
Are the "MGBs" with Heritage bodies and Rover V8s built a few years ago eligible? If so, I nominate.
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 16:54
Rovers group cars we love - madux
Oi you lot! Get over to Jaguar cars we love thread!
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 17:01
Rovers group cars we love - stokie
I loved my Dad's 1.8 Marina Coupe, quite a fast car.
Also miss the 70s Austin aftermarket look of black bitumen applied up to the door swage lines to ward off rust!
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 17:18
Rovers group cars we love - madf
sriven loads, owned loads.
only one I would keep would be TR3A

madf


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Mon 18 Apr 2005 17:17
Rovers group cars we love - daveyjp
My grandfather had the P5 Coupe 3 litre and it was one of the first cars I remember - he used to tow his caravan with it. He eventually sold the car and caravan in one lot and bought a holiday home in Robin Hoods Bay and a Fiat 500 Topolino!!

My dad traded his Cortina 1300 for a Triumph 1300 in British Racing Green - I can still see the walnut dash and the Smiths clocks!
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 18:11
Rovers group cars we love - quizman
My favorite Austin was the multicoloured one in last night's Heartbeat.

The local taxi firm had two like that in the 1950's, I was taken to school in one for several years.

Does anyone know much about them?
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 19:36
Rovers group cars we love - sierraman
In the mid ninties I bought a Metro that someone had taken apart to do up,stored in a garage.After spraying it I started putting the bits back on it but could not find the glovebox or indicator repeaters.It was only when I visited a scrap yard to get these bits I found lots of Metros did not have them,they were optional extras.......
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Mon 18 Apr 2005 22:46
Rovers group cars we love - Cymrogwyllt
quote "I ran a 1965 Rover P6 2000SC for a couple of years in the late 70's, when it was 14+ years old. Obviosly it was past its best but I was impressed by its quality, style and clever design. My car was built before the original Rover company was taken over. I think quality deteriorated in the BMC/BLMC era. "

In ran two of them in the 70's and found them comfortable to drive, reliable and far ahead of it's time. Tin worm regretably took it's toll. (The MOT man got wise to the oil can inner wings and sills)
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