Clarksons SD-1... Sounding Good!

[gruffalo]

Waynester said:

My Grandad had Rovers as well.. A P4 & P6.. his last was a red 214 Vanden Plas, the same model as used in the sitcom 'Keeping Up Appearances' if I remember correctly? I used to wash that car every Saturday in the mid 1980s for £3 pocket money!

I always lusted after the ultimate 3.9L Vitesse Twin Plenum...in red, with the deep front spoiler and big rubber boot spoiler. Lovely looking car.

Edited by Waynester on Thursday 18th December 03:02

I had one of those, loved it.

I must have had one of the only reliable ones, it never let me down.

[Brummmie]

Waynester said:

My Grandad had Rovers as well.. A P4 & P6.. his last was a red 214 Vanden Plas, the same model as used in the sitcom 'Keeping Up Appearances' if I remember correctly? I used to wash that car every Saturday in the mid 1980s for £3 pocket money!

I always lusted after the ultimate 3.9L Vitesse Twin Plenum...in red, with the deep front spoiler and big rubber boot spoiler. Lovely looking car.

Edited by Waynester on Thursday 18th December 03:02

I have had 14 of them go through my hands, 4 twin plenums, all colours and states of decay!

[PHJayV8]

It appears many wedge owners are also former SD1 owners, myself included

I've recently acquired another, a Vanden Plas Efi, nice comfy alternative to the wedge, I've always have and always will love the SD1, especially the series 2 cars, and of course the twin plenum Vitesse

[350zwelgje]

Still own a 6-cylinder SD1 a 2300S from 1981.
Purchased to put a RV8 in it, but if it is not broken, don't fix it.
Passed on to my son now and the RV8 I planned for is in the wedge...

Not many around, especially on the continent and people stop and stare at it.
Then, if you are around, try to tell that they always wanted one or know somebody that had it from new. You guessed it, the horror stories come after that.
Have it for over 20 years, not a daily driver, but it always gets you home....
Still drives well and think for many years to come, as I am allowed to assist the new owner to work on it.
The replacement RV8 is already in the garage if the six goes bang, but no signs regarding that.

Rob

[RCK974X]

I have a vague memory that BL released a modification for those L6 engines, which replaced the dodgy valve, but you had to take the head off to put it in ? So most owners didn't do it, and ended up with a seized engine? ....something like that anyway.

So perhaps you've got a fixed one, or one built properly, which must have happened once or twice.....

[Terence]

Ah Happy days. I had an SD1 back in the early 80's (AME 703T) V8 auto. Bought off my Dad for £450 with 100k on the clock I took it up to 130k sold it to my brother for £450, he took it up to 135k then sold it back to me for £450. I then took it up to 150k and sold it for, you guessed it, £450. The body was a bit ripe in so far as I took it through a car wash and came out with yellow eyebrows over the rear wheels. A significant number of the car wash brush bristles had become trapped in the rust around the arches. Following on from an earlier comment I too owned a wedge then a chimaera and am now looking for another wedge. I also owned a 2600 SD1 but that was pants compared to the V8.