Rover 3.5 SD1, why so thin on the ground?
Discussion
My father gave me his 3500 Sd1 manual in 1988 when I sold my w123 Mercedes to buy my flat in Notting Hill. The one thing in its favour was that it was not rusty as it had been Ziebarted from new by the first owner. That aside, it was pretty pants. Its worst failing was that something in the electronic ignition would break down after approx 45 mins driving and cut the car out without warning for a good 30 mins until things cooled. That caused me extraordinary anxiety. The local BL garage was too damned lazy to test the car for the required time and would always tell me that it was fixed which, of course, it was not. In the end it went to a friend for GBP600 (who blew it up) when my law firm started offering company cars to its junior lawyers. Interesting statistic was that our list to choose from contained every variant of every model then on the market (Dec 1988) that was not more expensive than an Astra GTE 16V. The list contained over 400 different permutations. Only ten people took up the offer and of the ten, eight went for exactly the same car - a Golf GTi MK2 8v 5 door (there being a delivery delay on the 3 door we all wanted and the 16v being outside the price cap). The other two really wanted the Golf but were made to choose something sad as a punishment by their overbearing wives. Hard to overstate the euphoria of having a car that could go for over 45 mins without dying.
Edited by OLDBENZ on Tuesday 17th November 23:58
Edited by OLDBENZ on Sunday 3rd January 22:19
williamp said:
Rallying an sd1 was always a daft idea. Group A was a much more suitable rol..
Anyhow, for all things austin rover-ness check this out
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvl3lLguUuY
And then wonder why rover isnt thought of as as sporty as ford
Remarkable bit of film from 1985. I didn’t realise that the SD1 was such a formidable race car, by 1985. Anyhow, for all things austin rover-ness check this out
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvl3lLguUuY
And then wonder why rover isnt thought of as as sporty as ford
The commentator stated “ 300HP engines “
Guessing they were 3.9 motors ?
My “ Tweaked “ Griff 500, was dynoed @ 299hp, so just how, did TWR get 300 hp from a 3.9 litre Rover V-8 ??
Monkey Harris racing one at Goodwood 
Do not read the name on the dashboard or listen to the commentary when the team owner is mentioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qBWvZ4vpKw
Do not read the name on the dashboard or listen to the commentary when the team owner is mentioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qBWvZ4vpKw
wormus said:
Dapster said:
Saw this a few weeks ago - fruity looking exhaust too. Handsome things.
A classic design that looks as good now as it did then. The Vitesse still looks as hard as nails. Wonder what it would go like with an LS7 in it?
john2443 said:
Monkey Harris racing one at Goodwood
Do not read the name on the dashboard or listen to the commentary when the team owner is mentioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qBWvZ4vpKw
Awesome watch, thanks for linking that. Best thing I've seen on youtube in ages.Do not read the name on the dashboard or listen to the commentary when the team owner is mentioned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qBWvZ4vpKw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFIkY7x9-II
I gather than at least some Met officers preferred the 2600 straight six to the 3500 V8.
I gather than at least some Met officers preferred the 2600 straight six to the 3500 V8.
neutral 3 said:
Wow....I have zero recollection of any of the first MetPol SDI area cars being in blue. And that must be one of the first batch being T-reg. Amazing how some things that were once fresh in the memory have now buggered orft into the ether after 40+ years
One of the last batch of P6's the Met registered were in a SUL ***S series.
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