One For Classic Car Fans.....

[Profpointy]

I recall driving to Weymouth each summer back in the 90s..can't remember where exactly, but down there we used to pass a house with a Ford Corsair on the drive. Subsequent summers saw it still there but slowly, then quickly deteriorating...and then gone. It was pretty well rotted out the last time we saw it, shame really...

Sadly this happens a lot. Whether they honestly, if unrealistically, believe they'll fix it up one day, or perhaps they think it's somehow worth thousands and won't let it go for the more realistic fifty or a hundred quid. The truth of these things is that you could spend 15 grand doing it up and find it's now worth £10k. The guy with a rusty old heap is trying to get £9k as he saw a concourse winner advertised for £12k

 

[diplodicus]

Three classics, bumper to bumper.
A 1956 Cadillac, a late 1940s Cadillac and a Roller, (no idea of age)

 

[Ian H]

 

[Profpointy]

Very Nice looking P6 V8 yesterday. Couldn't seeif it was a manual or an auto. Do rather fancy a P6 (or P4 for that matter) but wonder if the V8 was really much quicker than a 2.2 twin carb, given the former's 12mpg

 

[Drago]

Very Nice looking P6 V8 yesterday. Couldn't seeif it was a manual or an auto. Do rather fancy a P6 (or P4 for that matter) but wonder if the V8 was really much quicker than a 2.2 twin carb, given the former's 12mpg

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I can just make out the wing badge - it says 3500, so is an auto, or was when it left the factory.

If it said 3500S, the S standing for syncromesh, it'd be a manual.

I never found my V8 to be all that quick, but even 25 years ago we were in the era of 200bhp hot hatches. The nicest, most willing feeling, variant was the 2000TC. Not especially quick, but thrived on big throttle opened and was fun and responsive.

 

[gbb]

Very Nice looking P6 V8 yesterday. Couldn't seeif it was a manual or an auto. Do rather fancy a P6 (or P4 for that matter) but wonder if the V8 was really much quicker than a 2.2 twin carb, given the former's 12mpg

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Pretty sure i remember seeing Rover Police cars , at those MPGs in those days, was all you had to do was stay ahead and wait for it to run out of petrol ?

 

[Drago]

Low to mid teens MPG if I drove like a nun, an easy single figures if I was feeling lively.

 

[raleighnut]

Pretty sure i remember seeing Rover Police cars , at those MPGs in those days, was all you had to do was stay ahead and wait for it to run out of petrol ?

Most of the Police Rover P6's were the 2000's the CID officer we went drinking with (He was having an affair with my Fiancee's best mate) had an ex patrol car in dark blue a 2000 tc. The four of us once went for a dirty weekend in Skegness and after picking up Viv from her parents house in Foxton headed off, under an hour from Foxton to the outskirts of Skeggy and I don't think Steve dropped much below the ton all the way. this was back in 1982 so no speed cameras but to average nearly 90mph was quite some feat but then before being CID Steve had been a motorway patrol driver.

 

[Profpointy]

I can just make out the wing badge - it says 3500, so is an auto, or was when it left the factory.

If it said 3500S, the S standing for syncromesh, it'd be a manual.

I never found my V8 to be all that quick, but even 25 years ago we were in the era of 200bhp hot hatches. The nicest, most willing feeling, variant was the 2000TC. Not especially quick, but thrived on big throttle opened and was fun and responsive.

I did get a drive in a boss's V8 auto back in the 80s. He'd inherited it from his grandad and it it was a bit of a rusty old shed by then but it was nice to drive and felt like it was on rails round corners, albeit with a fair bit of body roll and disconcertingly light, though precise steering.. It was pretty quick as well as better handling than my own 68, 60hp 1300 Cortina at any rate

 

[Drago]

They did handle well and the ride was cosseting. In many ways, other than the lack hydro suspension, they were the British Citroën DS. But better.

Its a shame then jet turbine model didnt make it into production, although thecprototypes worked a treat. They were worried about fuel consumption...and a few years later saddled it with the Buick derived V8 which was equally thirsty anyway.

 

[Profpointy]

They did handle well and the ride was cosseting. In many way, other than the lack hydro suspension, they were the British Citroën DS. But better.

Both had the Dan Dare styling to some degree didn't they?

I seem to remember reading that the Rover engine bay was sized to fit a proposed gas turbine version, which obviously never made it into production and had all sorts of practical difficulties eg turbines work best flat out, which isn't great for a car. Would have been cool though! They did do an experimental one in a P4, the Rover Jet 1. Didn't do a run at Le Mans or something?

 

[Drago]

I believe the jet turbine cars ran with some success, albeit (if memory serves) they were technically un-placed as they didn't fit into any racing category...?

 

[Profpointy]

I believe the jet turbine cars ran with some success, albeit (if memory serves) they were technically un-placed as they didn't fit into any racing category...?

That's my understanding; a trial run as it were.

 

[Reynard]

Both had the Dan Dare styling to some degree didn't they?

I seem to remember reading that the Rover engine bay was sized to fit a proposed gas turbine version, which obviously never made it into production and had all sorts of practical difficulties eg turbines work best flat out, which isn't great for a car. Would have been cool though! They did do an experimental one in a P4, the Rover Jet 1. Didn't do a run at Le Mans or something?

There were several gas-turbine powered racing cars. One - a Lotus 56 - ran at Indianapolis in the 500 in 1970 (it's on exhibition at the Silverstone museum), there was an F1 car (56B) which was a variant of the same chassis, and there was a Rover-BRM project which ran at Le Mans in 1963, 64 & 65, and I'm pretty sure Graham Hill and Jackie Steward were involved with that. They won the Index of Thermal Efficiency, which was still a big thing back then.

 

[Jameshow]

Very Nice looking P6 V8 yesterday. Couldn't seeif it was a manual or an auto. Do rather fancy a P6 (or P4 for that matter) but wonder if the V8 was really much quicker than a 2.2 twin carb, given the former's 12mpg

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My parents had a P6 3500.

Had inboard rear brakes which is what killed it apparently.
It was definitely in the banger category back then rather than the classics.