blue

Sometimes… Rover got it right.

Much has been written about the general nastiness that was British Leyland in the 1970s. Some truly awful cars and some truly great cars ruined by quality resulted from the merry factories of the Midlands during that time, and the beancounters did an excellent job of failing to invest in any meaningful development of the ranges that were inherited from the 1960s. One only has to look at the Triumph Stag (no Rover v8? Why????), the Triumph 2000/2500 (positively prehistoric by 1977), and the Morris Marina / Ital.

However…

In the ’60s – when most of the constituents of BMC/BLMC/Leyland were independent or in much more manageable groups, competition was actually a thing… and Rover in particular got a lot of things right. They’d ditched the Auntie image of the P4/P5 with the P5B, and when the P6 appeared it was so technically advanced there was very little else to hold a candle to it. It launched with a 2-litre OHC engine, a frame/panel structure (much like the Citroen DS), proper crumple zones / a collapsible steering column, and the strangest suspension ever to grace a British car.

All of this was great and wonderful and the car sold well, even – for some reason – in Canada. It was a little down on power; the 4cyl Rover lump was a little thrashy… especially to people used to the silky smoothness of the Rover 3-litre that came before it.

Much has been written about the Rover v8, but – in the late 60s – it came together with the P6 to create the P6B – or, in this case, the Rover 3500S.

IMAG2245

This is a 1970 NADA-spec model, which means electric windows, A/C, the totally awesome bonnet scoops, and a few other bits and pieces. This particular one has also had the twin SUs replaced with an Offenhauser manifold and a Rochester 4-jet (*not* a Quadrajet, apparently they’re very different and it’s somewhat insulting to get them mixed up). It has also had cruise control retrofitted; it looks like kit from an SD1 to me, but I will admit I’ve been too terrified of it to actually turn it on.

It’s an absolute peach to drive, and the 170bhp coming from that v8 makes a huge difference to how the car drives. Granted, the BW35 slushbox really takes the bite off.. maybe the spare LT77 in the garage would fit…?

 

By tedlit, ago

Excessive weight reduction

Perhaps I should put the doors back on.

It’s amazing how much lighter a car is if you remove the doors, windows, windscreens, bonnet, and most of the front end. It is, however, not amazing how blue it is if you paint it in the bluest bluey blue paint imaginable.

By admin, ago

The World of Blue

So blue. It's the bluest thing EVER.

I haven’t been entirely shirking responsibility over the winter. Gearboxes have been changed, cars have come and gone, and one car in particular is in the middle of a transformation from “beige and bondo” to “bluest thing ever”.

It’s one of those finishes that’s supposed to be “pearl” – ie, it’s got more than one colour in it – but frankly, I’m not seeing the green myself. It’s ever so slightly metallic, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.. but it’s hard work. I had no idea how easy it was to remove windows from ancient Detroit iron, but apparently all that’s needed is a big screwdriver and a moderate amount of swearing.

By tedlit, ago

Proof that I don’t always drive superior British cars? It’s real

In response to some utterly unfounded and frankly libellous statements suggesting that I refuse to drive any car that isn’t a) British, and b) at least partially broken, I present the following evidence:

The wheels are real.

This is a 2009 Mustang GT, pictured at Muir Beach, CA on November 5th 2009. There’s a fine British pub here, where they have a giant bonfire every November 5th. I just happened to be in San Francisco for more fun training that week, and just happened to have a free evening to watch people set fire to things on the beach. Enormous fun for all and I have the best Mobile mechanic Miami has.

Anyway, back to the car. I had (through work, obviously) reserved a hip-and-trendy Toyota Corolla, doubtless in grey on grey and fitted with the optional economy light and go-slower stripes. I would not have been surprised had it come with pipe and slippers. However, after making friends with the extremely bored girl at the Hertz desk in downtown SF, I found myself in possession of the above electric blue Mustang and an entire day to kill. So, after spending two hours waiting at the Sprint repair centre for my phone to be fixed (number six now), I sped off over the Golden Gate in search of a proper driving road.

(If your mental image at this point is one of wide open spaces, glorious sunshine, and stoned people selling taffy – you’re sadly wrong. This was early November, so all the tourists had gone home and it was raining)

I know virtually nil about the geography of the Bay Area, except how to get places by train – so this was new to me. I know the 101 is the popular road, but this is nothing more than a four-lane mess clogged with RVs, trailers, caravans, minivans, and Subaru drivers. Highway 1 seemed like a much better bet, particularly as it looked like spaghetti on the map. So, after marvelling at the scenery once clear of Sausalito, I attempted to figure out what the manual gearbox was for and set off towards the beach.

This particular part of California looks a lot like North Devon. Twisty, narrow roads full of potholes.. 20mph speed limits through the villages but virtually none in between.. light but constant drizzle.. and a sheer dropoff one side of the road all the way to the coast. Obviously, this was a recipe for over-enthusiastic driving and I found myself at the beach rather too quickly. The car growls, it whines, it groans, it screeches – and occasionally it clunks and coughs as its suspension came straight out of 1955. I’m not sure if Ford were trying to recreate the feeling that you were in some way driving the school bully, but that’s very much what it feels like.

I put 250 miles on that car that day, just driving round the bay and attempting to get over the Bay Bridge before any more of it fell down. Enormous fun, but don’t tell anyone.

By tedlit, ago

Cars I miss, but shouldn’t – #1

Things I miss, but shouldn’t – #1. The 1993 Rover Vitesse.

I bought this little wonder in 2004 as a stop-gap measure whilst commuting weekly to Oxford and waiting for the Primera to get fixed. It cost me a hundred and eighty quid, and came with a years’ MoT. Of course, I’d find out later that there’s no way it should’ve ever passed, but it had the enormous benefit of being big, comfy, able to hold a week’s worth of my crap, and – most importantly – working air conditioning. It also had an oh-so-manly boot spoiler, but we won’t talk about that.

This particular one was a 2-litre turbo that hadn’t really been mucked about with, but was shovelling out around 230bhp. Not a lot by most modern performance car standards, but if you could tolerate the gearbox whine it’d do 140mph without complaining. Supposedly.

It was one of the last things we sold before moving to the US in 2006, and I actually made twenty quid back on it in the process. I put 20k on it in that time, and it is sorely missed, at least partly because it left many any M3 owner open-mouthed at having been overtaken by something as common and rubbish as a Rover.

I’d love to have one again – but sadly the Sterling is about as close as I’m going to get, seeing as US sales stopped in 1991 – right as the mk2 was introduced. On the other hand, free imports start at 21 years old.. so only another two years to go. Will there be any left that haven’t rusted away by then?

Seems unlikely.

By tedlit, ago

Q: What goes “rrrrrrrrCLUNKrrrrrrrrCLUNK”?

A: A 1993 Range Rover with two disintegrated plug leads.

…and a leaky steering box, a broken steering coupling, no bonnet catch, an alarm that unlocks and locks randomly, an air filter from 1993, and no heater.

Yes, I’ve got a new toy. It’s a 1993 Range Rover County LWB, and (aside from the heater) I’ve now fixed all of the above. So I’m just waiting for it to warm up a bit before I actually drive it. It’s got a 2″ OME lift kit, a spring conversion, and about three grand’s worth of stereo in it… which doesn’t *sound* $2950 better than the $50 stereo in the Sterling.. but there you go.

It’s a choice between this or a pickup of some kind – I need something *proper* for towing with.. and it was only after bringing this baby home I realised it doesn’t have a towing hitch. Whoops.

By tedlit, ago