1969 Federal P6 3500S Nada for sale. NOW SOLD.

[Pilkie]

Hi all.
Well, I have found myself a new project car.
Its 2 cars actually.
Meet the Feds.
Or as some refer to them,the Rover P6 3500S NADA's. Circa 1969/70.
The blue car needs some TLC a repaint and some cosmetic trim and bringing up to UK MOT spec like fitting seat belts,headlights,possibly tyres.
Inner sills have all been redone with new panels,and all other rust chopped out and replaced with good metal.
3.9L + a webber 4 barrel twin choke,and a GM180 gearbox,new carpets and black leather boxpleat seats.
The green car will be treated as a parts car,,but it may well be salvageable,but only a good looking over it will decide that.
I bought and shipped them both in from The Netherlands.
They should keep me busy for a while,but my main priority at the moment is to get my TR6 fully sorted,and ready for the TR Registers big annual bash at Malvern on 1st/2nd August,where I may put it up for sale.
As I will have to do a preliminary check over of them both,I will keep you updated as how things go and anything I do to them.
First main job will be to get the blue car MOT'd and registered,then do a bit of a transplant swap about and fit the spares cars BW35,SU carbs to the 3.9 in the blue one.
Then will do a few trim issues and prep for a repaint,most probably in solid corsica 2k.

 

[GRTV8]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Two P6's !! and NADA at that . This is another Pilkie project I will be keenly following along their refurbishment back to fantastic .
Good on you Dave

 

[Baron von Marlon]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Glad to see you got your transport sorted out in the end!

 

[roverp5Bcoupe]

Re: Meet the Feds.

interesting that you brought P6 Rover's over from Holland to the UK. I believed that P6's can be found more in the UK and that prices are lower in the UK. Are your cars LHD?
I live in Holland and bought a P5B Coupe in the UK. Did you transport the cars yourself or did you use a Transport broker like Shiply?

Good luck with the restoration

Peter

 

[PeterZRH]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Oh Mr Pilkie SIr, the LHD Dashboard of the green car wouldn't be needing a new home would it???? Wouldn't mind some of the other NADA interior bits too...

 

[arthuy]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Wow.

Look forward to seeing the progress.It would be a shame to break one but then some need to die to keep others alive.

Colin

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Peter P5b.
The cars are LHD but they are also federal spec 3500S or NADA's from the USA/Canada,which are a pretty rare beast in the UK and the EU.
Had them transported for me as it was less hassle and only cost a little more than doing it myself.

PeterZRH
I will be using the best bits of both cars to do the overhaul,and one of those bits is the green cars good dashtop as the blue one is split.
Until I have finished doing the blue one,I will not be selling any parts,and may well keep the rare LHD only bits for myself or a new owner anyway.

 

[SydneyRoverP6B]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Two good projects to be going along there with Pilkie.

Looking forward to seeing your updates.

Ron.

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Green car has had most of its unique bits removed by the previous owners for his other feds.
Rear doors,wings,seats,all now std S2,engine and box are not original from new but the correct spec.
Neither car is as original,with colour changes to body and trim over the years.
But overall there is enough in the 2 of them to build up a very nice car,once a few unique,and some better parts have been sourced.

 

[westOz74P6B]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Well done, I look forward to your progression with this project, I ought to have asked about the alloys and type and size of wheel nuts on the green fed here instead of gallery section, so I'll enquire again here and delete from latter, at your leisure of course, thanks pilkie , they look like the VDP alloys???

 

[unstable load]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Pilkie,
If you decide to sell them, may I have dibs on the bonnet scoops, please?

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

I believe the alloys on the green car are SD1 and are 14".
They have the correct wheelnuts but could do with a refurb.
Tyres all have decent tread.

 

[westOz74P6B]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Thanks, any chance of measuring the wheel nut sleeve OD when the chance avails itself? And what grease caps are on the front hubs, cheers.

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Well not a lot to report really.
Been through it for anything that will fail the MOT and found nothing mechanical or rustwise.
Swapped lights and lenses for UK spec and fitted seatbelts,tuned the webber,and set dizzy.
Tightened up a few nuts and bolts.
Got its birth certificate from Gaydon,built; 3/12/69.
Wrote to HMRC about import NOVA,and a conformation letter is now on its way to me.
Got DVLA forms to register it with an age related plate,and booked the MOT for weds 22nd.
Am not going to do anything major on it until it is fully road legal and I can give it some use,to really see whats what.

 

[Phil Robson]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Personally I don't like the NADA look, but somehow the blue one in your photo Pilkie is just 'right'

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

My Federal 3500S has passed its MOT with only a couple of easy to fix advisories.
HMRC have issued a NOVA letter for the DVLA and that is in the post.
Heritage certificate has arrived.
Its insured on the chassis number.
So all is set to send off paperwork to the DVLA for an age related reg number. 8)
Its then a waiting game to see if they will deal with it straight away or bounce it back asking for other info they don't really require. :roll:
All depends how switched on the official who deals with it is. :?
I will add a covering letter,hopefully that will help clear up questions they may have. :wink:
Happy days.

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Well the registration paperwork is on the way to the DVLA.
Checked and double checked everything that they said was needed is included,as well as a covering letter and some pictures.
And addressed to the department I was advised to send it direct to.
It can take up to 6wks apparently to process,unless they find some reason to send it back.
I remember having a bit of a faff with the ex California 1954 MGTF1500 I restored in 2012.
Think it went to a muppet at the DVLA before it got in the hands of somebody who knew what they were doing,despite at that time me visiting the local office,and the clerk saying all was in order. :roll:

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

Just fitted a wood and alloy spoked 15" Speedwell universal fit steering wheel to the Nada.
Was looking for a Moto-Lita small boss wheel but very hard to find and quite pricey. :shock:
Once the center had been adapted to fit onto the P6's PAS boss and accept the center badge it fitted a treat and looks good.
The original PAS wheel will stay with the car.

 

[Pilkie]

Re: Meet the Feds.

The throttle pedal design on the Nada is as far as I can ascertain,unique.
Its very similar to those fitted to the P5b and Jaguar XJ6's but I cannot find another car that this exact part was fitted to,and it has a design flaw that cause them to eventually break.
They are made as a single moulded plastic unit with the hinge point between where your foot goes and where its bolted to the floor being only a thin slither of moulded plastic,that after a few years of operational flexing cracks under the stress.
The previous owner of my car obviously had a broken one,and he took many months to find a complete one.
Not long after I bought the car and not even having driven it on the roads,the weak point split.
Knowing it was one of those nearly unobtanium parts,I had 2 choices.
Fix it or adapt the throttle to the more conventional LHD pedal set up.
So I decided to fix/repair it and let you know how it was done,so any of you with a Nada can fix yours if the same problem arises.
Using some strong reinforced rubber cut from an old welly boot,I cut it to shape,cut the holes out for the mounting nuts,and using a strong but flexible glue,stuck the repair patch to the broken parts of the pedal.
Hopefully this repair will last a good long time,"As long as the glue is good enough"and is quite hard to see,unless you know what to look for.
I will still be keeping my eyes open,just incase a NOS one shows up.

Pedal has split along the weak point in its design,and actually totally failed.


Rubber cut to shape and glued in place,then mount holes cut out.


All fitted in position and an almost invisible hopefully long lasting repair.

 

[Pilkie]

Re: A 1969 Federal P6 3500S Nada refurb.

The next job on the list is to put the engine and gearbox out of the green car into the blue car.
I will keep the 3.9ltr engine from the blue car as a good spare.
Sell the manifold and webber carb set up,and the GM180 gearbox.
This will bring it back closer to original as the engine is the correct spec and all I have to do is fit the proper set of carbs to it when I find a good set.
I will probably wait till the DVLA give me a reg number making it road legal,as then I can give it a good road test as it is now before doing the swap over.
Won't be able to do much on it for the next 2-3 weeks anyway,due to commitments,and theres no rush.
I can however start cleaning and prepping the leather seats for a bit of fresh colour.
There are a couple of bits that need a restitching repair,and I know a good p/t trimmer,who I may get to re-colour the lot while he is at it,if the price is right. :wink:
There is also the possible availability of a nice set of black boxpleat ambla seats I need to look into.