RE: PH Carpool: Rover SD1 Vitesse
Discussion
Madmatt74 said:
don logan said:
In 1978 my Dad had a Ferrari 400, when this Rover came out I thought it was a new 4 door Ferrari because of the front lights! :-)
Yeah yeah, I know!
I always thought the Rover front was borrowed from the Ferrari 400 and not the Daytona.Yeah yeah, I know!
However, in terms of Ferrari 400-series inspiration, I've always seen some here:
edo said:
storminnorman said:
Electronic Fuel Injection. 
Twincam16 said:
The stylist, David Bache, has referred specifically to the Daytona. Also, when he was designing it the 400 (or the 365 GT4 as it was originally) wasn't out yet.
However, in terms of Ferrari 400-series inspiration, I've always seen some here:
Interesting you posted those as my parents have owned both!However, in terms of Ferrari 400-series inspiration, I've always seen some here:
The old man had a 400i and it was a fabulous car. His was light blue and was so much better looking in the flesh than the pics suggest. Proper old skool cool car.
My mum also had a 480 ES that I learned to drive in. Felt like a rocket ship after the instructors Micra!
As for the Rover my old man's firm had one for a while as a spare / pool car and I drove it quite a bit when I was about 18. It was the 3500 V8 and was great fun to drive in the wet.
edo said:
storminnorman said:
Electronic Fuel Injection. 
My Vitesse is moonraker blue and a bit of a shed, but she's a faithful old girl and sounds marvellous. I don't look after her well enough and considering this she is probably one of the most reliable cars I have owned.
The police did have Vitesses but they probably wouldn't have been badged as such at least early on, any VDP or Vitesse badged cars would have been run off models bought cheap, the Police wouldn't want the public complaining they were buying luxury cars for their officers now would they.
Values are on the floor for these, a lovely one is £4k and a good car £2500, acceptable runners £1500. There are still quite a few about, when all the poorer ones have gone I can see prices for the best rising.
The police did have Vitesses but they probably wouldn't have been badged as such at least early on, any VDP or Vitesse badged cars would have been run off models bought cheap, the Police wouldn't want the public complaining they were buying luxury cars for their officers now would they.
Values are on the floor for these, a lovely one is £4k and a good car £2500, acceptable runners £1500. There are still quite a few about, when all the poorer ones have gone I can see prices for the best rising.
Edited by grosserbaby on Tuesday 16th October 12:30
Housey said:
I'm not sure any police forces rand the Vitesse, I know they ran Vanden Plas, but don't think the Vitesse went into police service.
http://www.roversd1.co.uk/police_cars.htmEdited by s m on Tuesday 16th October 12:44
I had 4 SD1s in all, 2 X 2600SEs, a lovely old early 3500 in gold with brown velour (hhmmm), and a Monza red Vitesse.
Had the Vitesse for (I think) 3 years and loved it.
Eventually it was tinkered with by an acquaintance who used to build rally engines in his spare time. Can't remember details now but there was a different cam, shortened valve stems, lots of other polishing of/tinkering with engine internals, full stainless exhaust and tubular manifold - and must have been a lightened flywheel too as it revved like no other Rover v8 I'd heard. The sound was glorious!
Can't remember why I sold it in fact
Had the Vitesse for (I think) 3 years and loved it.
Eventually it was tinkered with by an acquaintance who used to build rally engines in his spare time. Can't remember details now but there was a different cam, shortened valve stems, lots of other polishing of/tinkering with engine internals, full stainless exhaust and tubular manifold - and must have been a lightened flywheel too as it revved like no other Rover v8 I'd heard. The sound was glorious!
Can't remember why I sold it in fact
Edited by mccrackenj on Tuesday 16th October 12:44
This car stirs a lot of childhood memories - which seems to be the common theme from earlier posts. Aside from loving the car, I also love the fact that it's been in the same family since day one. After 27 years of ownership, I'm guessing it's literally part of the family also. Great work!
LewisR said:
twosaabs said:
Brilliant car. There's a lime green one around here with gold wheels which looks fantastic (better than you'd expect from a lime/gold colour combo anyway).
That'll be a V8-S then. They're very rare as they only built them for a year, i think. It should be a late Series 1, so on about W plate.
Twincam16 said:
Before Group B and the MG Metro 6R4, Tony Pond rallied them too:
Also, even David Bache has admitted that the styling is basically the front end of this:
And the back end of this:
And I can't help but think that there's a subconscious touch of this about it (the designer was inspired by the Daytona too, admittedly):
I thought the back end was more inspired by the Maserati Indy than the Ferrari 365GTC4. Thanks for posting the pic of that C4 by the way pretty certain that is the one my Dad owns now (albeit on different plates).Also, even David Bache has admitted that the styling is basically the front end of this:
And the back end of this:
And I can't help but think that there's a subconscious touch of this about it (the designer was inspired by the Daytona too, admittedly):
Q car. 
t towing an un-braked trailer with an industrial washing machine onboard tail-ended me, writing the car off totally and my lower back partially 
James1972 said:
Sadly I knew this too - Gold wheels were cool well before the Scooby doo's got them
Yeah, sod the scoobie stuff. Lime green and gold wheels - has to be Lamborghini Miura, or Lancia Stratos ;-)Do like the Vitesse SD1. Not a car I'd probably every buy, but do admire them for their V8 grunt, smooth lines and the fact that they were used in competition. Recall Tony Pond made a mess of one with a WOE number plate :-(
Memories of Stourton Bank on the M1 Leeds in the 80's I was going down at well over 100 in my Manta GTE, when out of the corner of my eye sat on its perch a West Yorks SD1 Motorway Patrol, S**t I thought they'll have me but as I drove past, I looked at them and they just waved, I took it they wanted me to slow down.
Now Gatso's don't wave! A friend's dad worked for South Yorks and he said SD1'S were great fast persuit cars but often they had to give up as the brakes had totalled themselves pretty quickly. FAST CAR NO BRAKES SCARY!
Now Gatso's don't wave! A friend's dad worked for South Yorks and he said SD1'S were great fast persuit cars but often they had to give up as the brakes had totalled themselves pretty quickly. FAST CAR NO BRAKES SCARY!
I used to have a 3500 V8 manual.
Silver, no FI, twin SU carbs.
Lovely thing, the best sounding V8 soundtrack bar none (high revving V8s & V10/V12s sound nice but I prefer the deep, low down V8 burble).
It started dying after I hammered it back up the M6 doing 140. For some odd reason that killed 3rd gear, so I just kept on using it without 3rd gear (not even an oil change), then the boot floor fell out when I bounced on the towbar one day (thank god I wasn't towing something when that happened), then the windscreen got smashed and the whole thing wasn't worth fixing.
Kept the engine and wheels, scrapped the rest.
By god the body rots, around the windscreen, front wings, doors, boot...
It was sort of reliable, when it was good the only things that went wrong were the electronic lump in the distributor, that bad I kept a spare one and the tools to swap it out in the car.
Silver, no FI, twin SU carbs.
Lovely thing, the best sounding V8 soundtrack bar none (high revving V8s & V10/V12s sound nice but I prefer the deep, low down V8 burble).
It started dying after I hammered it back up the M6 doing 140. For some odd reason that killed 3rd gear, so I just kept on using it without 3rd gear (not even an oil change), then the boot floor fell out when I bounced on the towbar one day (thank god I wasn't towing something when that happened), then the windscreen got smashed and the whole thing wasn't worth fixing.
Kept the engine and wheels, scrapped the rest.
By god the body rots, around the windscreen, front wings, doors, boot...
It was sort of reliable, when it was good the only things that went wrong were the electronic lump in the distributor, that bad I kept a spare one and the tools to swap it out in the car.
Domf said:
Memories of Stourton Bank on the M1 Leeds in the 80's I was going down at well over 100 in my Manta GTE, when out of the corner of my eye sat on its perch a West Yorks SD1 Motorway Patrol, S**t I thought they'll have me but as I drove past, I looked at them and they just waved, I took it they wanted me to slow down.
Now Gatso's don't wave! A friend's dad worked for South Yorks and he said SD1'S were great fast persuit cars but often they had to give up as the brakes had totalled themselves pretty quickly. FAST CAR NO BRAKES SCARY!
Brilliant! I had two Mantas in the 80s... On the subject of brake fade, didn't some of the Police SD1s run Minilites to add brake cooling? I seem to recall some whiney leftie of the time moaning about the cost!Now Gatso's don't wave! A friend's dad worked for South Yorks and he said SD1'S were great fast persuit cars but often they had to give up as the brakes had totalled themselves pretty quickly. FAST CAR NO BRAKES SCARY!
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