SOTW: Mondeo ST200/ Rover 620ti

Fast 'Rep Specials' are the order of the day for this week's SOTW

We’ve been running Shed of the Week for many years now, starting with only a few lines of text and growing to the regular weekly feature it has now become. In that time I can honestly say it has become harder to find cars for our self-imposed limit of £1000 with the owners of barges, older sports cars and anything remotely interesting suddenly realising that their cars are actually worth something to people like us.

But seek hard and bargains are still out there….they just might be a little left field. Heeding our own advice, we are ignoring prestige badges this week and instead we are turning to 'The Sales Rep'.

Not so long ago, a Mondeo or Cavalier was the only choice available to the gentlemen who liked to hang his jacket from the rear hook, had a shiny suit and was given a car by the company.

He could flutter his eyelids at the fleet manager all he liked, but the 1.6L was all he was good for at the bottom of the ladder. Yet oddly, despite the ‘sales rep’ cars having a less than glamorous image, there was always a top-of-the-range sporty edition to rep specials and for some reason they were desirable even to those of us who didn’t sit in our cars chasing sales targets longer than we sat on our own sofas.

Today, Shed remembers two great cars just like this. Why two? Well yet again I was torn with which to present to you. Both are quite unique at this price, and in my opinion both are great cars.

Let’s start with the Ford Mondeo. Already a great handling car Ford had a great platform on which to build something fast. The ST200 was (and is) a great car as a result, with a 2.5-litre 24V Duratec engine producing 205PS, modified cylinder heads, camshafts, intake manifolds, inlet and exhaust system. It also had the ST-24 body styling along with uprated sports suspension and steering, 17 inch alloy wheels and all the electric toys you could wish for as you pretended to be leading the BTCC instead of hooning along your favourite B road.

The car advertised seems remarkably cheap to us? OK so it has 109,000 miles, but that doesn’t equate to much over the years and anyway it has service history so all should be well. The photos suggest that the ST is in reasonable order and it’s finished in the right colour too. We can only hope that it is as genuine as it sounds, as for £1000 it’s a steal.

Advert Says: 1999(V) Ford Mondeo 2.5 V6 ST200. 5 Doors, Manual, Hatchback, Petrol, 109,000 miles, Metallic Blue.SERVICE HISTORY, Air conditioning, Half Leather Sport Seats, Electric windows, Electric mirrors, Computer, Radio/CD, Colour coding - Body, Alloy wheels, Traction control, ABS, Driver airbag, Passenger airbag, Side airbags, Immobiliser, alarm remote controlled, Rear headrests, Folding rear seats, PAS, Alarm, Body coloured bumpers, Audio remote control, Full size spare wheel, Rear electric windows, central doorlocks with remote control, PX to clear - Trade Sale. £1,000

The Rover 600 was never loved as much as the Mondeo, appealing more to the maturing middle-manager who wanted to appear stylish and classy with a Rover badge sitting on the bonnet. But while many overlooked the 600 for more fashionable rivals, there was a well kept secret lurking in the Rover showroom and that was the turbocharged 620ti. Beneath the conservative exterior was a 197bhp engine making it a true Q-car as it lacked any ‘look at me’ go faster additions. 0-60 was covered in 7.2 seconds and it went on to top 140 mph. It wasn’t perfect however and suffered from torque steer like any other powerful front driver, but all in all it was a well built and reliable performance car.

The Shed Rover is a beauty with one owner from new and full service history for all of its 59,000 miles. It has a long MOT and appears to be in fantastic condition both inside and out. It even comes with a towbar if you like that sort of thing. It’s not often that these survive in a standard state, but this one is just as it left the showroom and can be yours for bang on £1000. Two Rovers in two weeks on SOTW? Who cares when they are this good.

Advert Says: 1999 Rover 620ti. 4 Doors, Manual, Saloon, Petrol, 59,000 miles, Black, MOT-01-2011, 1Owner. COMPLETE WITH FULL SERVICE HISTORY, ONE OWNER, LOW MILEAGE, RECARO SPORTS SEATS, BEST COLOUR, SPARE KEYS AND ALL HANDBOOKS, ABS, Adjustable seats, Adjustable steering column/wheel, Air conditioning, Alloy wheels, Anti theft system, Central locking, Colour coding - Body, Colour coding - Interior, Driver airbag, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Foglights, Head restraints, Heated screen, Leather seats, Lumbar support, Metallic paintwork, Passenger airbag, Radio, Rear armrest, Remote locking, Sunroof, Tinted glass, Wheel trims. Insurance Group:17. £1,000

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MarJay

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