Shed ahead... 75
Discussion
Great thread... great car!
Our ZTT has just passed it's MOT and 208k miles, over our 11 year ownership. Unfortunately it needed a small fortune spending on it on account of the corrosion to the rear arms and subframe. I probably went overboard but replaced the subframe, all the arms and the handbrake backing plates and cables. I'll start saving for a front end suspension rebuild next! Like Trigger's broom this car
It is definitely still a shed, it is tatty and I don't care where I park it or what I chuck in the back, but it is well looked after mechanically and should soldier on for many miles yet.
Our ZTT has just passed it's MOT and 208k miles, over our 11 year ownership. Unfortunately it needed a small fortune spending on it on account of the corrosion to the rear arms and subframe. I probably went overboard but replaced the subframe, all the arms and the handbrake backing plates and cables. I'll start saving for a front end suspension rebuild next! Like Trigger's broom this car
It is definitely still a shed, it is tatty and I don't care where I park it or what I chuck in the back, but it is well looked after mechanically and should soldier on for many miles yet.
d_a_n1979 said:
Really annoyed a few years back when I was after an 'over winter car' I missed out on a 2.5 KV6 R75 touring as I couldn't get down the day before the seller sold it; really low miles too!
That's a shame, that. Good, tidy examples of the 75, especially in Tourer form are becoming hard to find nowadays. A quick scan on AT suggests less than a handful of Tourers on the market. When I bought mine four years ago, there were at least a few pages to scroll through, plenty of choice. When good ones do pop up, they don't hang around for long. r44flyer said:
Like Trigger's broom this car
My opinion is that with high enough mileage, every part becomes a consumable part..! Especially with the state of some roads here... Spinakerr said:
On the 'at least three dipped headlight bulbs' - same here but recently OSRAM replacements have lasted a lot longer. A good question for Jules.
I believe I've tried OSRAM bulbs, but wasn't convinced by their performance. For a while now I've been using Philips Racing Vision 150% H7, they seem to give a good performance although the flip side is they don't last forever. My wife's car also gets through a fair number of H7 bulbs, I just treat them as consumables and keep a stock of replacements in the garage, fairly quick to change when one goes. Although their lifespan is reduced by the fact I will often run with dipped headlights on in daylight, as BRG seems to be invisible against hedgerows to other drivers, so I can't complain too much that the bulbs don't last all that long..!
Now the Traction Avant has gone, I'm keeping a meaningful lookout for a ZT-T 260. Ideally SE spec as I'm one of those weridos who wants a sunroof, pre-06 reg as to sit in the earlier, lower VED bracket, preferably a Mk2 though in XPG, and as standard as possible. Not a tall order at all....
Another week of sterling service on the work commute, 100 miles a day. A few days off mid-week, so I thought I'd give the old girl a wash and take a few detail pics. Mileage approaching 155,000 since new.
The rear overhang does make me smile. There's something like a metre of body behind the rear wheels, a dimension exaggerated by the tiny 15" wheels. On the flip side, the shorter wheelbase relative to overall length makes the old girl somewhat more nimble in tight spaces than one might expect.
Sandstone Cloth/velour in here, I've often thought about "upgrading" to a cream leather interior in here from a car being broken for parts or from fleaBay, however the cloth is warm in winter, cool in summer, you don't slide around in the bends and apart from the drivers seat squab looking like it's done 155k (I have a mint spare in the stores, just requires fitting..), it's an entirely pleasant place to be. Most leather interiors have electric and heated front seats, the wiring for which is already in place on this car, just the seats themselves aren't heated nor electric. But then with cloth, heating isn't really required... Hum, conundrums.
Above: The Rover Harmony head unit, about as basic as they came I believe. 6-station AM/FM preset, radio cassette. Although it has the CD button, this particular car doesn't have the optional CD interchanger. Again, an option I've considered retrofitting, but then my CD collection seems to have vanished over the years. The car is old enough to have a cassette player however and the cubby inside the armrest has slots for holding your cassettes
Dual zone automatic climate control, yummy, all the mod cons. One feature I particularly like, the button to switch between Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Rover knew plenty of their customers would still be working in old money, so provided them with a button just for that. I realise plenty of modern cars have this feature, but it's usually hidden away in a menu, not available via means of a physical button on the dash. I think the X350/358 XJ is the only other car I can recall with the same button..
Below: Real walnut veneer, no pretend plastic wood effect anymore. Earlier cars had real wood dashboards, something that was dropped over time as cost-cutting started to take hold. A local breaker was selling this for peanuts, so I snapped it up. It's a tighter, better fit, far fewer squeaks than the later plastic dash and a deeper, glossier lustre thanks to being a genuine item.
Above: Vintage-esque sepia oval dials. OCD point to note, the needles obviously move in a fixed radius, but the speed scale for example is oval.. At 30, the needle only points towards the general direction of 30 on the gauge, which is obviously in 5mph increments. Being able to tell the difference between 29/30/31 isn't as clear cut as modern cars with digital readouts at a quick glance. It's not until about 50mph that the needle meets the scale.
Below: New gaiters this year, the original black/grey items were looking a little scruffy. Also a brand new PRND432 selector indicator, hidden behind the gearstick gaiter, as the original had a few LEDs missing from various selections.
Above: The quality of the brightwork on these things is impressive after almost two decades. There's plenty of it too, 49 individual pieces of brightwork on the exterior alone. Some of it is plated plastic, other parts are polished stainless steel.
Below: Fantastic panel gaps. Makes you realise how far the automotive industry has come in the last 25 years or so. In defence though, last time I had the front bumper off I didn't afterwards spend huge amounts of time getting the alignment spot on. Also the front wing is slightly out for some reason, both of which make it look comical up close. I don't mind.
Above: This is actually an alloy... Rover had a specialty whereby they made their alloys look like wheel trims. This design, called Crown, wasn't highly regarded by most however I really love it, very 90s, also the sidewall is a solid two fingers to the ridiculous rubber band tyres of my previous car. I'm using Continental PremiumContact 6 in 195/65R15 guise on these, fitted and balanced were something like £67 per corner, including all the taxes and old tyre disposal. Not only am I impressed with the price, these things seem to suit the car very well, a compliant ride, road noise and economy is absolute fine and they feel exceptionally stable in the wet. Then again, you might expect that from a Conti.
Below: The devil's fuel. The cynic in me expects to see £2/litre for diesel during this cars lifetime, if so then this thing will knocking on the door of £120 to fill up. A quick, basic calculation recently also figured out that about 17,000 litres of fuel have passed through this filler, which at todays prices is roughly £25,000!
Future plans? Carry on. I'm sure I mentioned when I started the thread that the intention was to get it to at least 200k miles. With the general condition mechanically, I can't see why another 45k or so motorway miles are going to be too difficult. Keeping it looking respectable cosmetically shouldn't require too much graft other than what I'm already doing. I suspect between now and 200k, she'll need new rear arms and possibly trailing arm bushes, plus potentially new rear sills, and perhaps the odd engine-related ancillary. She'll get whatever she needs, as usual.
I also intend to (potentially) acquire a second 75/ZT, to use as a backup for work should this car need the odd "rest", now and again. Ideally I'd have an identical Tourer, a bit like Air Force 1 and the backup, but my wife doesn't see the point in having two identical cars. Then again she doesn't see the point in having a V8 so I'm not really sure why I listen to her. Seek forgiveness, permission and all that..
The rear overhang does make me smile. There's something like a metre of body behind the rear wheels, a dimension exaggerated by the tiny 15" wheels. On the flip side, the shorter wheelbase relative to overall length makes the old girl somewhat more nimble in tight spaces than one might expect.
Sandstone Cloth/velour in here, I've often thought about "upgrading" to a cream leather interior in here from a car being broken for parts or from fleaBay, however the cloth is warm in winter, cool in summer, you don't slide around in the bends and apart from the drivers seat squab looking like it's done 155k (I have a mint spare in the stores, just requires fitting..), it's an entirely pleasant place to be. Most leather interiors have electric and heated front seats, the wiring for which is already in place on this car, just the seats themselves aren't heated nor electric. But then with cloth, heating isn't really required... Hum, conundrums.
Above: The Rover Harmony head unit, about as basic as they came I believe. 6-station AM/FM preset, radio cassette. Although it has the CD button, this particular car doesn't have the optional CD interchanger. Again, an option I've considered retrofitting, but then my CD collection seems to have vanished over the years. The car is old enough to have a cassette player however and the cubby inside the armrest has slots for holding your cassettes
Dual zone automatic climate control, yummy, all the mod cons. One feature I particularly like, the button to switch between Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Rover knew plenty of their customers would still be working in old money, so provided them with a button just for that. I realise plenty of modern cars have this feature, but it's usually hidden away in a menu, not available via means of a physical button on the dash. I think the X350/358 XJ is the only other car I can recall with the same button..
Below: Real walnut veneer, no pretend plastic wood effect anymore. Earlier cars had real wood dashboards, something that was dropped over time as cost-cutting started to take hold. A local breaker was selling this for peanuts, so I snapped it up. It's a tighter, better fit, far fewer squeaks than the later plastic dash and a deeper, glossier lustre thanks to being a genuine item.
Above: Vintage-esque sepia oval dials. OCD point to note, the needles obviously move in a fixed radius, but the speed scale for example is oval.. At 30, the needle only points towards the general direction of 30 on the gauge, which is obviously in 5mph increments. Being able to tell the difference between 29/30/31 isn't as clear cut as modern cars with digital readouts at a quick glance. It's not until about 50mph that the needle meets the scale.
Below: New gaiters this year, the original black/grey items were looking a little scruffy. Also a brand new PRND432 selector indicator, hidden behind the gearstick gaiter, as the original had a few LEDs missing from various selections.
Above: The quality of the brightwork on these things is impressive after almost two decades. There's plenty of it too, 49 individual pieces of brightwork on the exterior alone. Some of it is plated plastic, other parts are polished stainless steel.
Below: Fantastic panel gaps. Makes you realise how far the automotive industry has come in the last 25 years or so. In defence though, last time I had the front bumper off I didn't afterwards spend huge amounts of time getting the alignment spot on. Also the front wing is slightly out for some reason, both of which make it look comical up close. I don't mind.
Above: This is actually an alloy... Rover had a specialty whereby they made their alloys look like wheel trims. This design, called Crown, wasn't highly regarded by most however I really love it, very 90s, also the sidewall is a solid two fingers to the ridiculous rubber band tyres of my previous car. I'm using Continental PremiumContact 6 in 195/65R15 guise on these, fitted and balanced were something like £67 per corner, including all the taxes and old tyre disposal. Not only am I impressed with the price, these things seem to suit the car very well, a compliant ride, road noise and economy is absolute fine and they feel exceptionally stable in the wet. Then again, you might expect that from a Conti.
Below: The devil's fuel. The cynic in me expects to see £2/litre for diesel during this cars lifetime, if so then this thing will knocking on the door of £120 to fill up. A quick, basic calculation recently also figured out that about 17,000 litres of fuel have passed through this filler, which at todays prices is roughly £25,000!
Future plans? Carry on. I'm sure I mentioned when I started the thread that the intention was to get it to at least 200k miles. With the general condition mechanically, I can't see why another 45k or so motorway miles are going to be too difficult. Keeping it looking respectable cosmetically shouldn't require too much graft other than what I'm already doing. I suspect between now and 200k, she'll need new rear arms and possibly trailing arm bushes, plus potentially new rear sills, and perhaps the odd engine-related ancillary. She'll get whatever she needs, as usual.
I also intend to (potentially) acquire a second 75/ZT, to use as a backup for work should this car need the odd "rest", now and again. Ideally I'd have an identical Tourer, a bit like Air Force 1 and the backup, but my wife doesn't see the point in having two identical cars. Then again she doesn't see the point in having a V8 so I'm not really sure why I listen to her. Seek forgiveness, permission and all that..
When we bought our Tourer in December 2016, there were only a few around, maybe 10 for sale a year. This year, there have only been three on the entire island of Ireland, both north and south, and two were autos. The first one, fifty miles from me sold in <12 hours. So we have kept this one, suspension work every year for the test, brake work every year for the test but it keeps plodding along. Nowhere near as clean as this one, but scrubs up OK for a 17-year old, 245k mile car.
I fitted a set of factory Xenon headlamps 3/4 years ago, and they are so much better than the original halogen reflector lamps - the D2S bulbs in them are dated Week 36 of 2003, and are still working fine! Osram quality! Light output is a bit diminished (they are going bluer all the time, the sign of their impending failure) but not a bad run for a set of bulbs!
Those Crowns look great, but really add to the grandfather driver vibe! Ours runs 17" VW Santa Monica in the summer, and the original 16" Unions for winter with appropriate tyres on. Does yours have the Nivomats in the back? Ours would look great lowered slightly but no point as the height on the rear is dictated by the shocks. Amazing for carrying weight or towing though! And it's not actually a huge car anymore, my daily is a Mk4 Mondeo and it's longer, wider and taller than the 75. And heavier, some 150kg!
Are those Japanese-spec running lights in the front chrome strip? Never seen them before they look great! I've got some parking light bulbs wired into the sides of the indicators as a sort of extra front running light. Ours originally came with the Ash grey velour, but somebody before we got it fitted ZT-T Ash grey leather/gunsmoke Alcantara seats and a ZT wheel with MK2 Rover airbag. A nice snug place to be.
ALso, good to see your panel gaps, you're not alone!
I fitted a set of factory Xenon headlamps 3/4 years ago, and they are so much better than the original halogen reflector lamps - the D2S bulbs in them are dated Week 36 of 2003, and are still working fine! Osram quality! Light output is a bit diminished (they are going bluer all the time, the sign of their impending failure) but not a bad run for a set of bulbs!
Those Crowns look great, but really add to the grandfather driver vibe! Ours runs 17" VW Santa Monica in the summer, and the original 16" Unions for winter with appropriate tyres on. Does yours have the Nivomats in the back? Ours would look great lowered slightly but no point as the height on the rear is dictated by the shocks. Amazing for carrying weight or towing though! And it's not actually a huge car anymore, my daily is a Mk4 Mondeo and it's longer, wider and taller than the 75. And heavier, some 150kg!
Are those Japanese-spec running lights in the front chrome strip? Never seen them before they look great! I've got some parking light bulbs wired into the sides of the indicators as a sort of extra front running light. Ours originally came with the Ash grey velour, but somebody before we got it fitted ZT-T Ash grey leather/gunsmoke Alcantara seats and a ZT wheel with MK2 Rover airbag. A nice snug place to be.
ALso, good to see your panel gaps, you're not alone!
mercedeslimos said:
When we bought our Tourer in December 2016, there were only a few around, maybe 10 for sale a year. This year, there have only been three on the entire island of Ireland, both north and south, and two were autos. The first one, fifty miles from me sold in <12 hours. So we have kept this one, suspension work every year for the test, brake work every year for the test but it keeps plodding along. Nowhere near as clean as this one, but scrubs up OK for a 17-year old, 245k mile car.
I fitted a set of factory Xenon headlamps 3/4 years ago, and they are so much better than the original halogen reflector lamps - the D2S bulbs in them are dated Week 36 of 2003, and are still working fine! Osram quality! Light output is a bit diminished (they are going bluer all the time, the sign of their impending failure) but not a bad run for a set of bulbs!
Those Crowns look great, but really add to the grandfather driver vibe! Ours runs 17" VW Santa Monica in the summer, and the original 16" Unions for winter with appropriate tyres on. Does yours have the Nivomats in the back? Ours would look great lowered slightly but no point as the height on the rear is dictated by the shocks. Amazing for carrying weight or towing though! And it's not actually a huge car anymore, my daily is a Mk4 Mondeo and it's longer, wider and taller than the 75. And heavier, some 150kg!
Are those Japanese-spec running lights in the front chrome strip? Never seen them before they look great! I've got some parking light bulbs wired into the sides of the indicators as a sort of extra front running light. Ours originally came with the Ash grey velour, but somebody before we got it fitted ZT-T Ash grey leather/gunsmoke Alcantara seats and a ZT wheel with MK2 Rover airbag. A nice snug place to be.
ALso, good to see your panel gaps, you're not alone!
I hadn't realised how few examples were available over there, rare beasts indeed. I hear the factory Xenons are far better than the halogens (not surprisingly!), this has halogen projectors which are fine with decent bulbs most of the time, but an unlit, wet road at night with oncoming vehicles sporting LED/Xenon headlamps and suddenly the halogens do struggle to pick out the edges of the road. Xenon units would be good but then I can't bring myself to deal with the hassle of fitting the washers/self levelling etc., so will stick with the halogens for now. I fitted a set of factory Xenon headlamps 3/4 years ago, and they are so much better than the original halogen reflector lamps - the D2S bulbs in them are dated Week 36 of 2003, and are still working fine! Osram quality! Light output is a bit diminished (they are going bluer all the time, the sign of their impending failure) but not a bad run for a set of bulbs!
Those Crowns look great, but really add to the grandfather driver vibe! Ours runs 17" VW Santa Monica in the summer, and the original 16" Unions for winter with appropriate tyres on. Does yours have the Nivomats in the back? Ours would look great lowered slightly but no point as the height on the rear is dictated by the shocks. Amazing for carrying weight or towing though! And it's not actually a huge car anymore, my daily is a Mk4 Mondeo and it's longer, wider and taller than the 75. And heavier, some 150kg!
Are those Japanese-spec running lights in the front chrome strip? Never seen them before they look great! I've got some parking light bulbs wired into the sides of the indicators as a sort of extra front running light. Ours originally came with the Ash grey velour, but somebody before we got it fitted ZT-T Ash grey leather/gunsmoke Alcantara seats and a ZT wheel with MK2 Rover airbag. A nice snug place to be.
ALso, good to see your panel gaps, you're not alone!
The grandfather vibe is where I'm heading! Mind you, I'm still in my late twenties.. my father says I'm old before my time.
Meteors and Serpents also look great, however I really rate the ride quality on 15's. I also run a spare set with winter tires, but they're also on Crowns, so at a cursory glance you'd never realise I'd swapped them over. Talking of which, it probably won't be long now until I do swap them over... Nivomats being the self-levelling? If so, nope this has the regular set up, which will probably be due for a refresh in the coming year or so. If I could temporarily take the car off the road for a bit, I'd get the rear subframe, relevant bushes, upper and lower arms, drop links, springs and shocks all replaced with new, just to match the front. It doesn't all need all that work, just my OCD would like it to be as minty fresh as possible under there!
Well, this was fun. The day after I'd read PHer Spinakker's thread update about when the exhaust fell off his green 75 Tourer, my own exhaust also decided to part ways with the rest of the car. Luckily for me I was just a quarter of a mile from home, so after a lengthy reverse (no turning areas!) I got the car back on the driveway, abandoned it and took our new (to us) spare car, bought just prior to Christmas for such eventualities. A worthwhile investment already!
Later investigation revealed the metal band around the silencer which hangs from the two rubber hangers had completely rotten away. The picture above shows what little was left; it just crumbled in my hands, no surprise the weight of the exhaust broke free down our lumpy and bumpy lane, in fact I'm almost surprised it was able to hold on at all. Being an aftermarket replacement exhaust a few years ago, I'd be damned if I was able to find either A) a replacement band or even B) a garage which could make one for me.
I decided to fabricate my own repair/bodge on a temporary basis, I ordered a 3m length of jubilee band type material, plus raided the "exhaust" section of Halfrauds to see what was what. I also had a rummage around in my stores to see what I could scavenge in aid of Rover bodging.
I modified a couple of Halfords best fabric exhaust straps, then bolted them to the existing rubbers using some stainless 8mm bolts and old 1" washers. That gave me something on which the stainless steel jubilee banding could hang from. I cut the banding into three lengths, to make three individual jubilee clips to sit around the silencer. Theoretically one would have done the trick, but I preferred the idea of spreading the load slightly and so seeing as I had the material, three would spread the load and add a bit of redundancy.
Some careful placement and eventually had the whole lot nipped up, nice and secure.
Excuse the mud and grime. As usual, immense satisfaction knowing I'd managed to execute some form of repair. I'm considering sticking a new exhaust on anyway this year, as this one isn't the tidiest, but it'll do for now.
Fast forward a few weeks and it was all set for a morning with Jules, for the annual MOT wallet-squeeze. However, despite a few concerns, the old girl sailed through at first attempt, not even an advisory. Not bad for almost 159k miles. Given a lack of remedial work, Jules had time to replace the serpentine and air conditioning belts; they'd started squeaking ever so slightly last autumn, it turns out they ought to have been changed at 90k miles, so I'm only 70k overdue..
It's been decided also, that despite being solid and entirely MOT-worthy, the rear arms are beginning to look a little crusty. Jules reckons I'd get another year out of them, however, it's easier and simpler to replace them before they fail. Therefore, at some point this summer, I shall leave the car with Jules for a week or so; too much to do in a day, to replace the rear arms, rear springs while it's all apart if they're looking a bit tired, maybe trailing arm bushes too if they've got excess play. Over the years with this car, I've had pretty much everything in the front suspension replaced, but very little at the rear other than the springs. It's about time the rear had a look in. Onwards to 200k.
littlebasher said:
Your temporary fix is likely stronger and longer lasting that the OEM one!
Its true - the hangers are notorious for failing!Great to see these detailed pictures - I am very jealous of the real wood interior and the status of your allor wheels!
Mine is looking decidely shabby after a hard winter slogging up and down the country, but nothing amiss and a weekly rinse of the salt is keeping it happy.
Top Rover/shedding.
911Spanker said:
I may be in the market for an X350 - happy if you want to drop me some details on it.
I'll pm you shortlyEdit.. I can't pm you! But it's on Autotrader, 2006 4.2 in dark green, wearing the same plate in the photos as above...
Edited by Muddle238 on Friday 26th May 19:58
MattsCar said:
They are such a lovely design.
I had one i paid peanuts for, about 7 years ago and loved it...until some numpty decided to cut me off at a roundabout and side swipe me.
I think these are a true modern classic, more so than any other Rover made after the 60's.
I agree. The fact is they're still so usable; provided you have a sorted example, they'll chomp up the miles without much aggro. I feel that they're currently in that state of no-mans-land, where some still see them as worthless old bangers and others see modern classics. Give them another 5-10 years and I think they'll be firmly in the modern classic category, although by then the oldest ones will be 30 years old. Mine turns 20 in mid August this year...I had one i paid peanuts for, about 7 years ago and loved it...until some numpty decided to cut me off at a roundabout and side swipe me.
I think these are a true modern classic, more so than any other Rover made after the 60's.
In a world of sharp, edgy styled SUVs and crossovers, including more and more EVs, something with four round headlamps and a load of chrome starts to stand out.
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