Timewarp Rover 214 SEI

[itcaptainslow]

Quite a few Pistonheads members will be familiar with my Rover fetish (evidence your Honour is presented in the shape of my 200 BRM and 75 Connoisseur). Obviously when I saw this car at a recent MG Rover show it was mandatory I bug the owner into selling it to me...no regrets! My parents had one when I was eight so to have a timewarp example now is a bit of a dream realised, and one I never thought I’d actually achieve.

One elderly lady owner for the first 20 or so years of its life, then the enthusiast chap before me. The car has led a charmed and cherished life-it's only been out in the wet a couple of times. Just 12k miles from new is backed up by just how unworn the whole thing is.

It drives, well, brilliantly. I was expecting to make allowances for it being a 24 year old car and a 30 year old design, but it handles well, the body control is really quite impressive and gets down the road nicely thanks to the ever eager K-Series. The fit & finish is also so much nicer than the later 00's Rover products-the leather is thick and supple, the plastics soft (yup!) and it feels well screwed together.

Pictures say it all, really.

[itcaptainslow]

BGarside said:

Nice car! My second car was a '94 214SLi, two tone white over grey with (fake?) wood on the doors and dash and velour upholstery. Felt incredibly luxurious after my first car, a 13 year old Fiat Uno

I still think the build quality was superb, the interior plastics felt really solid, the plush trim and wood lifted the interior and the body panel fit and finish was also excellent. They were streets ahead of the contemporary Escort and Astra.

Mine was very reliable for a few year's use once warped front discs and a rusty radiator had been replaced. Sold in 2002 when I emigrated and seems it survived 'til 2007.

The K series was very responsive but pretty noisy and lacking torque, but the 1.6 Honda wasn't much more torquey and seemed to use a lot more fuel. The cars generally seemed to lack bulkhead sound insulation. Drove the turbodiesel version a few times and it felt like the engine was sitting next to me in the passenger seat!

I do think the engine mounts suffer quite badly on these; I drove a 80k 1.4 16v example a little while back and the NVH was quite frankly terrible, hence expecting to make allowances for this car.

However this one really is great-no excess vibrations, noise or roughness.

[itcaptainslow]

SEi was a decent specification, especially those gorgeously comfortable seats. Apparently they were a Recaro design commissioned by Rover, who then thought them too expensive-so just made them themselves anyway unfortunately A/C wasn’t available on the SEi. A sunroof was, which this one has-and unlike pretty much every other one, it isn’t rusty!

I’ve got the original brochure of the car so I’ll dig that out and post a few pictures from it.

[itcaptainslow]

Everything functions including the clock! I had to get the clock repaired on my BRM so I’m well aware of how awful they are

[itcaptainslow]

Ordered a period tax disc for it over the weekend which arrived today. Chose one which is dated to expire a year after it was first registered.



Next step is to get the dealer tax disc holder reproduced, or failing that a Rover Group one.

[itcaptainslow]

A few brochure shots as promised. Shame that manufacturers now don’t produce brochures-it’s usually an online PDF. They’re such a nice thing to keep with the car.

[itcaptainslow]

Romcom said:

Ahh, happy days!
Mine was a red 1995 214SEi and I went all over the country in it. I seem to remember trying to impress girls with the magic opening sunroof because the button was down on the instrument cluster (if I remember correctly).

Great car OP, good on ya!

Tried that one on Miss ITCS.

She’s not impressed with either the sunroof, button or Rover fleet.

[itcaptainslow]

greenarrow said:

Another here with a soft spot for these. Remember driving a 216SLI from Bournemouth to Stockport on business in the early 90s, 3 up, it went really well, great body control and a fun drive. I really do think the cars from the 90s were in many ways better road cars than many moderns. Why? 1) You could park them easily as they weren't massive 2) mainly perky n/a petrol engines in them, so no annoying turbo lag issues 3) Sensible wheels and suspension that rode the bumps well. 4) not over-burdened with so many complicated and expensive electrical and emissions related items.

Makes you question progress sometimes.

Also, massive respect for the car after the Stig lapped that knackered 416 GTI Richard Hammond bought for a few hundred quid around the Top Gear track in 1 min 42! It beat the lap time the Stig managed in an old Porsche 944 for another episode, so it shows what a capable car the Rover was in its day for what it was..

Nailed it. The only contemporary car in my collection is a 2016 Elise-still very much in the spirit of the original.

I love the 214 and that era of cars-enough technology to enhance the drive, without over complication and masking any feedback.

90’s classics are the next big thing.

[itcaptainslow]

Frimley111R said:

if not mentioned already this would be great for the Festival of ordinary cars or whatever it's called

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/classic/festival-...

It’s booked in already! Was going to enter the concours with it next year once I’ve had a chance to fully prep it.

[itcaptainslow]

Gez79 said:

kilham5 said:

Nice, brings back memories.

My first company car in 1992, a nightfire red, over grey 214 Si. 1992
Fake walnut dash, with a matching fake walnut cased Nokia 2110 to match.
God, I thought I had arrived !

Seriously, great cars, I had two as company 2cars.
Stellar mileages on both, and they never let me down.

Good find.

Pretty sure the wood on the dash was actually real wood. Not sure about the door cards. I could be wrong though.

I’m sure it was, too-I’ll see if I can find out.

I know early 75’s used real wood-changeover point was around 2002. You can tell the difference between fake and real-the former has an “Airbag” badge, as opposed to it being stencilled into the wood.

[itcaptainslow]

This car is almost certainly on its original head gasket-there’s nothing in the history about it being changed, it doesn’t wear a MLS gasket (no tell tale black tab at the front corner under the coolant elbow) and it all looks undisturbed. Same story with my 39k mile 200 BRM.

Quite a lot of the time HGF results from another factor e.g. overheating due to a failure/weakness within the cooling system, or being driven without mechanical sympathy.

[itcaptainslow]

spreadsheet monkey said:

Nice R8! My first car was a 1990 214Si, which I ran for 18 months (with no HGF).

What do you plan to use the car for? Seems too nice and too low mileage to be a daily driver.

Definitely not-it’s being used sparingly for shows, events, sunny days and trips down memory lane. I’ve set a mental limit for an annual mileage of about 1,500, ideally not breaking four figures.

[itcaptainslow]

ATM said:

Looks like some kind of MG Rover/BL event given what it’s parked next to! Must be in the hands of the previous owner, Adrian.

[itcaptainslow]

Kitchski said:

I like these, always did. I can just imagine how it smells!

Absolutely glorious! Not quite as lovely as my 75 Connie, with lashings of Connolly leather and real wood everywhere, but still lovely.

The 214 is now with my favoured body shop having a couple of bits tidied and perfected in time for BL National Day at Gaydon in July, then Festival of the Unexceptional. If anyone is at these and spots me with the car, come over and say hi!

[itcaptainslow]

clayts450 said:

I'm at both - I'll be in my scratty 420SLi at Gaydon, but my sumptuous 620Si at FOTU. Are you going to Gaydon with the 200 owners club ?

I am indeed!

It’s a shame A/C was such a costly option back then (about £1,100 on the 200 if memory serves, and it wasn’t available on the SEI for some bizarre reason) as it meant a lot of cars did without it. If you have full leather, you really should have (and need!) it.

Remember leafing through the owners manual of my parents’ car and seeing the section about A/C (*optional extra, if fitted), which seemed such a luxury then!

They specced it on their subsequent 200Vi, which had to have it fitted at the dealer by a specialist, as it was a stock car rather than a factory order.

[itcaptainslow]

clayts450 said:

Seeing this in the flesh yesterday, it really is a remarkable looking motor., one of the cleanest, least worn out R8s I've ever seen.

captainslow is probably far too modest to announce he won an award for Best R8 200 series at Gaydon yesterday, and rightly so.

Thanks! I was debating whether to post about it as I’m not a shouty sort. Credit to the owners club, rather than the usual plastic trophy that to be honest, looks a bit pants, they’ve had some classy awards made up. Maybe if I win some more, I can play Jenga.



The car is in Reader’s Rides in Practical Classics this month after Danny the editor took a snippet of an email conversation we had (which I’m absolutely fine with!) about the car-only thing is he’s listed it as a 400!

I’ve just got the car back from the bodyshop after having a few bits done to make things as close to perfect as I can get, which I’ll do an update on soon.

[itcaptainslow]

A couple of little touches to the 214-had a replica tax disc made up from the first year of the car’s life, and a holder from the original supplying dealership reprinted. Goes well with the Rover Service sticker!

[itcaptainslow]

C. Grimsley said:

Lovely car, love the golden oldies, one thing to mention the tax disc telephone number would it not have been a different area code at that time?

Carl

Number and design were sourced from the original dealer sticker in the back window

Think an extra digit was added into the UK dialling codes around 1993 so a couple of years before this car was registered.

Got some pictures of the underside after I’d cleaned it up, I’ll try and upload them soon.

[itcaptainslow]

The 214 has been living a typically cosseted life over the past couple of months, tucked away under a cover in my “prime” garage. I’ve done a bit of underside detailing which I’ll get some pictures up once I’ve got some decent ones.

I hit a pothole in my daily drive a couple of weeks back on the A1-thanks to the dry, salt free weather we were having I thought it would be a great excuse to get the 214 out one Sunday evening.

Failure to proceed happened.



I have to admit it was one of the more scary motoring events I’ve had-rounding a sweeping bend on an unlit NSL A road, the car cut out with the loss of all electrical functions-even exterior lighting. Obviously not desirable when you’re on an unlit A road...

Fortunately I coasted to a stop in a straighter bit of the road, and managed to warn traffic behind me while doing some kind of random rave dance holding a lit iPhone,

I managed to coax some life back into the electrical system enough to elicit function from the hazard warning lights, and with the help of a friend who kindly came to my assistance with a car full of electricity and functioning lighting, drove it to a lay-by half a mile up the road. Then waited two and a half hours for the RAC after being promised initially 45 minutes, but that’s another story...

After getting the car home, a few checks with a multi meter of the earths (initially my thought), battery and alternator charge rate when I got the car restarted found the charge rate randomly spiking from 1v to 15v. No wonder the electrical system got stroppy.

Genuine new alternators for early K-Series are NLA-however I was fairly sure the regulator was the cause of the fault (these get fried thanks to being right next to the exhaust manifold. Early R8’s had a protective cover over them, deleted on the later cars. Go figure...) which are delightfully available and only £36.

Turned up in a nice box which looked like it had been on the shelf since 1998. Probably because it had.



Fitting the new regulator was easy-remove the drive belt, then the alternator, marvel at how tidy the alternator is and how the date stamp has survived, unbolt naughty regulator and fit shiny, shelf warming regulator. Refitting is the reverse of removal, apart from the addition of a prayer you’ve fixed it.





Seems like I have-the car now starts, runs happily and the introduction of electrical load no longer creates the panic a Daily Mail piece about cancer/weather/foreigners/Jeremy Corbyn does. A steady 14v of electrical stream is nice, too.

The Roewe lives on. I’ll take a set of jump leads and a multimeter when I next go out though, just in case.

[itcaptainslow]

As promised, a few underside pictures. It’s beautifully original-next step is to get the calipers painted.