Rover SD1: You Know You Want To

Quarter of a million for a 37 year-old Rover? Yes, you really do want to actually

Alright, this one's personal. Whether it's to be celebrated or not, I love the Rover SD1. I love its era of touring cars, to be honest with you, but it's the Rover that I covet most. Tin-top championships of the 80s featuring the original 6 Series, the XJS, the Volvo 240 and the Rover are the kind I spend hours on YouTube watching; big engines, big skids and manual gearboxes make for compelling viewing. It's not like Group A or Super Touring was bad, but the earlier stuff is my favourite.

Green car, 80s style

It's the incongruity of the SD1 that appeals so much, I think. Yes, it's a fairly slippery shape, but it's a big old bus. And it's a Rover. There's no way it should have been competitive, and yet it was. The Volvos appeal for a similar reason but then they don't have V8s, do they?

The SD1 you see here was a car campaigned in South Africa, built by Dave Price Racing to Group 2 spec and raced at four consecutive Kyalami endurance races (the 9-hours for 1981 and 1982, the 1,000kms for 1983 and 1984). In between those it was used in a range of national South African championships, before being sold on and repainted in different colours. By 2003 it was back with the original owners and in original colours too.

2014 is where this SD1's history gets particularly interesting though. It was purchased by the current owner, who set about a restoration covering every aspect of the car: panels were rebuilt, paint was sorted and the engine was entirely overhauled. The result is the car you see here and, if you're into old V8 touring cars, this should be just about perfect.

Heavens above

It remains eligible for competition too, and competitive. In its first race back the SD1 secured pole at Vallelunga in the Heritage Touring Cup but succumbed to a gearbox issue - nice to see some authentically iffy reliability included in the restoration! However, it proved a minor blip, the car then racing at the remaining rounds of the championship at Spa, Dijon, Monza and Paul Ricard.

Just think about that for a second. Racing this Rover, against many similar cars of the era, at tracks like Vallelunga, Spa and Monza. Not an automatic gearbox, traction control dial or hybrid in sight. There's even a night race this year. Sounds pretty special, doesn't it?

Moreover, this car can also race in the UK-based Super Touring Car Trophy. This year it will race at Donington, Knockhill, Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Oulton Park. The SD1's class currently features more Rovers and lots of E30 M3s, which sounds like a great place to start, but look at the grid you'll be part of too: Sierra Cosworths, a wealth of Super Touring heroes and some late S2000 cars as well. It really does look like spectacular fun.

Yes, it's a lot, but it is mighty

The fact that this SD1 is so beautifully presented but is also still competing means it arguably represents the best of both worlds. It should be mechanically and cosmetically perfect, but the previous owner wasn't afraid to use it as intended. It doesn't have to be mollycoddled, but it doesn't need a load of money thrown at it to be race ready either. Although arguably it shouldn't need any, given the purchase price...

Yes, it's £275,000. To anybody, that is a lot of money, however difficult it can be to value race cars. Interest in classic touring cars continues to rise though, and this car has good provenance plus a fair amount of cash spent on it very recently. To me it's perhaps the best SD1 ever and therefore hugely alluring, but there's more than enough here to warrant its recommendation to seasoned racers too. Go on...

ROVER SD1
Price: £275,000
Why you should: The ultimate in old school V8 touring car muscle
Why you shouldn't: £275K buys an awful lot of other racing cars...

See the original PH ad here and the Girardo listing here.