Rover P6 – Driven To Write

Swiss Account

How does one enhance a styling landmark?

Graber-bodied Rover 2000 TC. Image via pinterest

Carrosserie Hermann Graber came into being in the early 1920s, providing coachbuilt bodies for a wide range of mostly upmarket carmakers, amongst which were such illustrious names as Bugatti and Duesenberg; Graber quickly establishing an enviable reputation for elegance of line and craftmanship at his studios in Bern, Switzerland.

Having clothed a number of their chassis’ at customer request, Graber obtained the distribution rights for the British luxury carmaker, Alvis in 1953. One of these was a rakish and well proportioned two-door design, which so impressed Alvis management that a modified version was produced in the UK and became the Red Triangle’s sole offering between 1958 and the cessation of carmaking in 1967. Continue reading “Swiss Account”

Hey There, You, Dancing The Pasodoble…

Regular readers to DTW may already know the special plinth on which this site places the 1997 film Gattaca. You will not be surprised then that I might try to hang an article off a reference to this kinematographic production.

Apart from a memorable performance by Ernest Borgnine and equally impressive editing by Lisa Zeno Churgin, the movie features some elegant classic cars. These fitted into the retro-futuristic style of the film: a Rover P6, a Citroen DS and a Studebaker Avanti. The schtick with these retromodded beauties which glide through various scenes in the film is that they Continue reading “Hey There, You, Dancing The Pasodoble…”

Past Shadowed Beams Lean The Wintry Rays

The ostensible initial aim of this small article was to find out how many engines British Leyland had around about the mid-1970s. I didn’t answer that question at all. So, what did I discover?

Before getting very far (as in reading one single page of the internet) I learned that truck and bus maker Leyland Motors Limited owned Triumph (acquired 1960) and Rover (acquired 1967) before LMC got merged with the British Motor Corporation in 1968 (bringing Austin, Morris, MG, Mini, Wolseley et al to the party). That puts a slightly different light on the later fate of Triumph. Conceivably LMC might have been able to Continue reading “Past Shadowed Beams Lean The Wintry Rays”

Viking Burial

The stillborn Rover P8 remains a fascinating technical fossil, but should the cause of its demise be laid entirely at Jaguar’s door?

P8 in pre-production prototype form. (c) AROnline

Lost causes exert an undying fascination: The Beach Boys’ original Smile LP, Orson Welles’ allegedly destroyed original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons. These and others like them, while unrealised (or unfound) live on in our collective imagination, unsullied by inconvenient reality.

In 1965, the Rover Motor Company was a successful independent carmaker, producing well-regarded luxury saloons and a range of highly capable off-road vehicles. However, its flagship P5 saloon was dating and lacking the resources to replace it, Lode Lane’s developmental head, Charles (Spen) King, working under the guidance of Peter Wilks proposed a modular range of cars to be derived from a single base unit. Continue reading “Viking Burial”

Altered Images

Today we explore alternative realities – one where perhaps Rover didn’t necessarily take the fork in the road marked SD1. What would that have looked like?

Counterfactuals are for the most part, exercises in futility, or at best, wishful thinking. When it comes to the products of what used to be British Leyland, added layers of poignancy come as standard. Few cars embody this like the Rover SD1 series; a car of enormous visual promise, fatally undermined by Continue reading “Altered Images”

Misposted in Posterity’s Pigeonhole : Rover P6

We ask if it’s sometimes better to die young.

Recently it’s been pointed out that, whatever his past achievements, such as a surprising yet admirable commitment to gay rights, David Cameron, British Prime Minister at the time of writing, will be defined by history as the man primarily responsible for Britain leaving the European Union and, conceivably, of causing irreparable damage to the EU itself. Whether you deserve it or not, posterity can be a harsh judge. Continue reading “Misposted in Posterity’s Pigeonhole : Rover P6”

Theme : Evolution – The Missing Links 7

The Useless Estate Car

Rover Estora 2 — Image : http://www.mbclub.co.uk

Today there are quite a few contenders for that dubious accolade, possible exemplified best by the Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake. The idea of tacking a glassy, generous box onto the boot of a saloon, maybe even lengthening it a bit, in order to make something supremely useful just isn’t sexy in the 21st Century. People don’t want to be thought of as saddoes, who are only at their happiest bustling around B&Q with a groaning trolley of timber flooring. No, their lifestyle choices are better and, whilst they might need a bit of added loadspace for windsurfer accoutrements, old school golf clubs or just to fit in an extra Louis Vuitton hatbox, it’s important that the car doesn’t look in the least bit practical. Continue reading “Theme : Evolution – The Missing Links 7”

1980 Rover V8-S Roadtest

“Roverpowering!” Archie Vicar describes his impressions of the new Rover V8-S.

_{The text is what appears to be a transcript of an article from “Today’s Motoring Magazine”, July 1980 (pages 45-46). Original images by Nigel Rollister-Hyde. Due to a crossover accident at the processors, archive photos have been used.}

That the Rover 3500 is a remarkable car goes without saying. Since its launch in 1976 it has won a firm following and has set a new benchmark in the large hatchback class. But the 1976 car was far from perfect, some say. It lacked a height-tilt adjustment for the driver’s seat cushion and a rear screen wiper, for example. Furthermore, the rear seats were set far too low and the passenger’s vent seldom functioned reliably. The steering wheel also obscured the minor instruments too and the lights’ master switch was hard to see.

But there were compensations such as the magnificent, if thirsty, engine and the practical hatchback arrangement. What have Rover done to Continue reading “1980 Rover V8-S Roadtest”