Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
I took them in July 2007
One For Classic Car Fans.....
- Thread starter Alex H
- Start date
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I took them in July 2007
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Sunday 14th
Whilst out & about today (10 images/posts), we came along part of Thornton Road, out of Bradford, primarily the Thornton - Denholme section
I was pleased to see that Simmonites was still in business, so I pulled over
These two were in the showroom
Also this James Bond replica 110
https://www.simmonites.com/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/ford-escort-mk-2-group-4-rolling-shell/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/ford-escort-mk-2-group-4-body-shell/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/2012-land-rover-defender-spectre-edition-tdci/
Whilst out & about today (10 images/posts), we came along part of Thornton Road, out of Bradford, primarily the Thornton - Denholme section
I was pleased to see that Simmonites was still in business, so I pulled over
These two were in the showroom
Also this James Bond replica 110
https://www.simmonites.com/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/ford-escort-mk-2-group-4-rolling-shell/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/ford-escort-mk-2-group-4-body-shell/
https://www.simmonites.com/vehicle/2012-land-rover-defender-spectre-edition-tdci/
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Sunday 14th
Seen in Bingley, queuing in traffic by the Church Of All Saints
Either he rolled off the mark in 2nd (or maybe 3rd?), or it was an automatic?
Seen in Bingley, queuing in traffic by the Church Of All Saints
Either he rolled off the mark in 2nd (or maybe 3rd?), or it was an automatic?
That would have originally been a rubber bumper car and the V8 was only supplied on Dunlop alloy/steel rims, wires were not an option. colour is wrong as well. So bit of a mish mash.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Yep I was thinking that but it does look nice
monkers
Veteran
Unless perhaps it's a Ken Costello conversion ?
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Too late, the Costello’s were a couple of years earlier
monkers
Veteran
Costello also had another trading name - The V8 Conversion Company which he sold in 1979 (I think).
When Costello launched his car, the factory asked to see one. Eventually Costello took a car to them. He'd hoped they'd supply him with components, especially final drives which were hard to come by in a suitable ratio. They sent him an MGB and asked him to build a car for them, which he did - they never paid the invoice for the work.
They then tried to thwart Costello by introducing a policy of not making engines available without an exchange unit. Costello still had a number of units was able to continue production for a while. He also managed to buy a number of engines in Europe which he used for the exchange units.
The factory car produced less than 140bhp, the Costello car was more like 180bhp, with a five speed gearbox and considerably faster - so there was demand for his cars. More pressure was brought to bear by the factory. Eventually, instead of marketing complete cars, Costello used his V8 Conversion Company to convert customer's own cars. He also bought up some MGCs and converted those too.
Costello also put the larger fuel-injected engines into cars too before the factory introduced the RV8.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Indeed. Looks like its had the earlier UK bumpers fitted, but it still has the slightly higher 'Federal' spec US suspension. Much like the Hillman Imp and UK law, the MGB's lights were mounted a fraction too low to comply with US regs, so instead of redesigning the lights they took the cheaper option of raising the height of the car with taller springs. Fine and dandy, and actually did the ride no harm, but it looks so wrong.
The Hillman Imp had a simliar problem. At the last minute before full production it was discovered the lights were too low to meet UK regs. Lacking time and money Rootes went for taller springs, which is probably where the MG boys got the idea from a decade later.
monkers
Veteran
I think you might be right there @Drago. I can't say that I can see the difference in the car height due to the camera angle. It's not just the bumpers that were different, but the body shape was marginally different too. You can quite easily convert to chrome, but then the line of the bumper is nearly right, but not quite right. That looks to be the case here.
Although, I'm a fully fledged self-confessed tree hugging, sandal wearing, tofu knitting eco-mentalist, that Rover engine is sublime. I owned a P6V8S for 23 years and only sold it quite recently as my eco-mentalism could cope with my hypocracy no more. Though to be fair I just had it stored and hadn't driven it for years. A crime to drive it and a crime not to if you get me.
It's still possibly a Costello car though.
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BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
My grandfather had one of those (auto version). Loved it.
monkers
Veteran
Damn fine cars. The P6 deservedly won design awards. It was innovative in its day.
That Borg Warner Model 35 was only designed to be compatible with engines up to about 2 litres, so they were a bit vulnerable given the healthy torque of that V8.
Having said that, the manual box was a beefed up version of the 2000 and that could give problems too.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
A mate's dad had a V8 P6 which I recall did something like 12mpg or something of the sort.
That said, I like the almost futuristic styling, not far off the Citroen DS, plus a lot if nice engineering like the de dion axle, and all round disc brakes
I did have a drive of my old boss's P6V8 which he'd just inherited from his grandad, and was a joy to drive despite being in rusty shed condition. It felt like it was on rails on a twisty road - at least compared to the cortina I had at the time
monkers
Veteran
The automatic was a fine car - I had one of those too, with wheezy sounding PAS.
The 3500S that I had all those years was an absolute machine. Back in the day the motoring press said something like 'never before has a car been so transformed as this'. One of the things I especially loved was the exhaust note. Unfortunately these rusted away pretty quickly and stainless ruined that glorious burble and overrun waffle. The auto had 150bhp, as did perhaps most of the manuals. Mine was one of those with 184bhp and a manual box. I've owned a lot of cars that were fast in their day, Triumph Vitesse, GT6, TR6, Stag etc. Nothing could match that Rover for performance or for just being a 'driver's car'. The bucket seats of the S were needed and more comfortable anyway. All in all, an underrated great. I could get 24mpg from the manual car if I didn't drive it hard.
Anyway, I digress.
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