1970 P5B Coupe...

T

Three Thousand Five

Member
Afternoon all... hope nobody minds but I thought I'd post a few smudges of my newly acquired Solihull 'bruiser', which has replaced dear old 'Degsy', my P6 3500 Auto...

'ELC 941J' was ordered from the off in all over Zircon Blue with Buckskin interior and reg'd for the road on 1st September 1970 - it's second owner took it off the road in 1990 and there it sat in his dusty woodworking shed until September 2010 when owner number three got it running again (briefly) in the seven months he kept it, before passing it on to owner number four who promptly stripped and rebuilt it, putting it back on the road in the first half of last year. I bought it from him two weeks ago and have been going round it ever since finishing off little cosmetic jobs here and there... although 95% restored it's not mint but is very, very nice, much better than my previous P5B Coupe inside, outside and underneath. It's been done just as it should be but isn't over restored (it'll be used as much as possible!). I took it down to London at the weekend for a 'Sweeney Forum' gathering and grabbed some photos of it at Lots Road and Battersea Power Stations...







Looking forward to visiting as many shows as possible in it this year - jobs to do include fitting a Kenlowe fan (it warmed up rather a lot in London traffic last Sunday!), a CD player tucked away under the dash somewhere and tidying up a few marks in the paintwork here and there. It was fitted with a period radio / cassette player at one point but there's now a blanking plate in the dash. I've ordered a new set of number plates for it already - the front one in particular is pretty tatty in the flesh and lets the car down somewhat. People keep telling me ''don't put black and silver plates on it'' but the ones I've ordered are the reflective engraved acrylic type which were often fitted to posh motors from about '68 onwards - I've got no-end of period photos of P5Bs, Jensen Interceptors, Jags, Astons, Rollers etc wearing these so I'm happy with that choice. The originals will go nicely on my new garage wall!

Nidge :wink:
 
That looks the dog's danglies Nidge...bit upmarket for Regan though I'd say. :wink:

I'd better not show my mate this thread...he's been hankering after a P5B coupe for ages, but keeps running up against wife-led resistance.

Yeah...we all know the answer, don't we?.... :)
 
Absolutely stunning car, Nidge! I love the Coupe, and in Zircon it looks very flash. Good choice on the numberplates; my 2000 had them when I bought it, and I've retained them. Look forward to reading more about it!
 
Thanks gents :wink: Still pinching myself that it's actually real... I'd wanted another for a long while since selling my previous one, but didn't expect to find the right car so quickly...





(Any advice on fitting an electric fan would be gratefully recieved - I've never fitted one myself before as all my previous V8s came already fitted. I've seen a few P5Bs at shows with smaller twin fans on giving greater coverage across the width of the rad, rather than one centrally placed large one... since I intend to use the car as much as possible I'm wondering if this might be the best move... any thoughts on fitting / price / suppliers etc...?)

Nidge :wink:
 
A good move is to fit a three-row core to the radiator if it hasn't already been done. It was a common modification back in the day as I understand it. For everyday running it does the job of cooling without the fan being needed at all. I had one fitted twenty years ago along with a Kenlowe (although the thermo-switch never worked so I just have a manual switch, much to Harvey's disdain). Any suitably sized fan will do the job so a breakers yard could supply one a lot cheaper than a kit to order. Thermo-switches can be bought too or just wire it to a relay & manual switch (& incur Harvey's disdain :LOL: ). I have the fan mounted on two lengths of threaded rod to save it being fixed on through the rad' itself.
 
Thanks for that RM - I'll look into it... :wink:

The new number plates arrived in the post this morning, unfortunately they're not the style I ordered... :roll:

Nidge
 
... hope nobody minds
Click to expand...
Certainly not. Bring it on - this is the Classic Rover Forum after all. :D

Car looks great Nidge and the body/interior colour combo is super classy. The pictures at the old Battersea Power Station. Iconic setting for an iconic car. Good to hear that you plan to do plenty driving as well. :D
 
Cheers Ron / Steve :wink:

Once the new number plates are on I'm going to get some more 'period shots' at various places on my patch (there are some good '60s buildings round here which are soon to disappear), also planning another trip down to London soon for more of the same, and my mate who lives in Dudley has some wonderful old factory sites on his doorstep which will soon be gone so I'll be wafting up the M6 shortly for another gratuetous photo opportunity.

Nidge :wink:
 
The plate in the picture are originals, Just take the letters off and paint then you will get a better result. The rears in particular look dreadful in anything other than the original plate.

Colin
 
A wonderful example in the best colour (though I am of course biased) - congratulations!

On the subject of cooling - on my saloon I worked my way through components cheapest first tracking down the problem. Eventually a new radiator has left me 'needle in the green' when stuck in traffic. You say yours is mostly restored - did this include the radiator? All hoses? Is the rear heater matrix blocked or bypassed?

When I renewed all my hoses the thin return from the rad cap to the manifold was cleared, however after 1000 miles the good Nick Dunning found it to be blocked and following a drillbit interrogation functioned much better. I believe my flush of the coolant system dredged up the nastiness.

There are several kits available - have a search of the P5 forum to see member's opinions, it may help your decision.

If you are heading back to London do let me know- I am in Wandsworth and it would be great to get a zircon coupé and saloon together.
 
Stunning :)

Please keep the plates that are fitted to the car now - if it were mine, they'd be staying :)
 
Thanks for the comments chaps... still lots of little cosmetic jobs to do though, to justify the 'stunning' tag :wink:

Colin & Tofufi... the white / yellow plates are the originals but I'm afraid I just don't like them on certain cars - I know they were fitted to lots of P5Bs when new but to my eyes they just don't look right! The rear plate's reflective paint is cracking and the front plate looks plain bl**dy awful, a previous owner did a botched 'tidy up' on it and it looks terrible in the flesh. I will keep them though, and rather than respray them (which I did consider at first) I'll leave them as they are.... hung up on the garage wall! I fitted the new plates the other day which I'm very happy with, and despite one or two folk telling me they're ''not correct for the period'' I've done some digging through my car magazines and books and found numerous photos showing high end posh motors wearing this style from '68 onwards - Rovers, Jags, Astons, Jensen Interceptors, Bentleys, Rollers etc.... also when I was a nipper I remember one of our neighbours had a brand new Ford Zephyr Executive with this style on, which he'd transferred over from his previous car, a Jag 420G :wink:





Spinakerr - thanks for the cooling tips, much appreciated... I'm talking to my jobbing meachanic neighbour at the moment with a view to him doing some investigating while he does a couple of other small jobs on the car, he's just finished doing a customer's 3500S which included a complete drive train rebuild so the Coupe will be in very good hands. I'm glad Nick managed to sort your woes out though. Next time I'm down your way I'll give you the nod so we can meet up - could be quite soon as there are some choice locations down south I'd like to photograph with my car before they get demolished. As it happpens I've just read your thread on 'His Lordship'... and what a very fine example of the breed it is Sir!

Nidge ;o)
 
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