Hello from a (hopefully) soon-to-be first-time owner

D

Del

New Member
Hi everyone,
I'm Del, I'm 41 and I live in Forest Gate in East London.
I've wanted a P6 pretty much since I was a kid, my Mum had two 2200SCs, a brown one that was originally owned by the Labour party and a blue one, but both were scrapped :( I always promised myself one when I passed my test but never felt I could risk taking the plunge when I had to have a daily driver. But now, I live near Tubes and buses and trains, so a car isn't necessary but would be handy, so a P6 would be ideal!
I'll have about £1000-£1200 to spend, and I'd like a Series 1 2000TC or 3500. Would I be able to get something in pretty good nick for that? Are there any specialist Rover mechanics near me or even dealers?
Also, I've always wondered, was black an official factory paint colour for P6s? I think I've only ever seen one...
 
Hello there... You should be able to find something usable in your price range but if you were looking for a V8 P6 you may need to spend a little more... For your budget go for a 4-cylinder model... Keep checking on eBay as some good ones do crop up every now and again! With regards to colours Black was never an official (i.e not in any brochures) shade and was never offered at any stage of the models life... However, if you had the money and the inclination you could ask for your car to painted in pretty much any colour you liked so I'm sure a few P6's left the factory in Black... good luck with your Rover hunt, you've certainly come to the right place for friendly help and advice...
 
Del said:
Hi everyone,
I'm Del, I'm 41 and I live in Forest Gate in East London.
I've wanted a P6 pretty much since I was a kid, my Mum had two 2200SCs, a brown one that was originally owned by the Labour party and a blue one, but both were scrapped :( I always promised myself one when I passed my test but never felt I could risk taking the plunge when I had to have a daily driver. But now, I live near Tubes and buses and trains, so a car isn't necessary but would be handy, so a P6 would be ideal!
I'll have about £1000-£1200 to spend, and I'd like a Series 1 2000TC or 3500. Would I be able to get something in pretty good nick for that? Are there any specialist Rover mechanics near me or even dealers?
Also, I've always wondered, was black an official factory paint colour for P6s? I think I've only ever seen one...
Click to expand...

Hi Del
Welcome to the forum, it's a marvellous place!

To be honest I'd say £1200 is a little shy of a decent car in this day and age, particularily for a V8. Series I TC's are quite scarce on the ground (the only ones I've seen for sale in recent times have been really really good ones).

For £1200 you can probably get a reasonable tax free Series II 2000, there are quite a few about.

Personally, if looking for a car for myself I'd budget a little higher.

There's a lot of folklore about Black P6's, you may well hear some interesting stories, but here are the facts as I know it:

There were some small batches of black cars built by Rover special order in the late 1960's, for export and I think a few for diplomatic use. I've not seen all the production logs but I'd say the total was only about 25 cars. Most notable example I'd seen was a batch of six built for Hong Kong in 1967.

It was also possible to order a P6 with any colour required from Rover, although there must only be a handful of these, and I've never seen any reference to a black one being done by Rover.

Having gone (I think) through all the Series II registers by now, I'd reasonably state that there were no black Series II's produced by Rover at all. I suspect that the couple of apparently 'factory black' cars in circulation were done by the dealers to a particular requirement (undertakers?), when they were new, not by the factory - although I stand to be challenged on this one :)

Cheers
Nick
 
Hi Del, welcome aboard mate!

Del said:
Hi everyone,
I'm Del, I'm 41 and I live in Forest Gate in East London.
I've wanted a P6 pretty much since I was a kid.....
Click to expand...

I coveted a 3500S when I passed my test in 1973, but no way would I have even been able to afford a decent Radiomobile for it...never mind the car! So I ended up with a rotbox A40 Farina. Fast forward 34 years and I finally took the plunge with a (1973!) 3500S...so you're doing all right really! :wink:

As Nick says above, I'd try and stretch your budget a tad and when you do find a suitable P6 candidate try and get someone local to you with a good knowledge of the cars (maybe from the forum?) to go along with you for a good shufti at it. Two pairs of eyes are always better than one!

Good luck with your quest!
 
NickDunning said:
rockdemon said:
Didn't mustapha in one of the austin powers movies drive a black P6?

Rich
Click to expand...

One that had been resprayed black as far as I know!
Click to expand...

Having spoken to Mark Gray tonight I need to amend my earlier statement about black P6's - apparently there were some Series II cars in the registers - most specifically a batch of late build V8's which went to the Met Police. Quite why the Met wanted black cars and not blue I cannot expand on!

Cheers
Nick
 
Thanks for the welcome, guys!
Interesting on the black issue. I wonder why it was so limited? Although I suppose if you look at the competition, they weren't offering much in black at the time, so maybe it was just a sign of the times.
I *may* be able to up the budget slightly, depends on how my annual bonus pans out (I'm not a banker :D) but on reflection, I think the thing I *really* like about S1's is the chrome grille, overall I think I prefer the S2's (bonnet bulges, vinyl C pillars etc). Could I put an S1 grille onto an S2?
 
Del said:
Could I put an S1 grille onto an S2?
Click to expand...

Anything's possible with these cars. Check some of the "Members' Projects" threads. It might look a bit strange with the badge on the grill and the bonnet, but you could always take the badge off the bonnet and fill in the holes. Might be easier to find an S1 and put an S2 bonnet on. Loads of options. Then you have the fun of "customising" it to your own specification once you have it...... :D :D but that means more money too :( ...it is extremely satisfying to get the right car and mould it to your own preferences though :D

Good luck and happy hunting.

Dave

(ps I got my first P6 in my early 40s too)
 
S2's need an (extremely rare) S1 V8 alloy grille because they all have the V8 headlamp spacing. S2 bonnets go easily onto S1's though.

You'll know by now, if you've done any reading here, that the key issue with whatever you buy is condition of the base unit. External panels are easy - just acquire a good one and bolt it on. With your budget I'd be inclined to go for either an S1 2000TC or an S2 2200TC. The latter for the nice instruments and the 2200TC motor is a cracking engine - virtually as quick as the V8. Only snag is that an S1 is likely to be in much better nick than a 2200TC. They seemed to suffer from poor metal and inferior paint by the time the 2200TC was launched. Makes it much more important to go to look with someone who knows their way around!

Best of luck!

Chris
 
hi chris,
a slight correction. series 2 bonnets will only fit series 1 V8's as the slam panel is the same, they will not fit a series 1 2000 shell. that is why you can put a V8 series 1 bonnet or NADA bonnet on a series two.

joseph
 
Hi Del

Nice to hear from another smoke dweller... one BIG advantage about owning a P6 in London is that everyone treats them with utter respect... Cabbies are great, delivery drivers smile, even bus drivers give way - and that must be a first.. perhaps it's the thought of ramming speed and a tonnage of over engineered,chrome plated old battle cruiser against plastic tack on body panels :D
In 4 happy if sometimes challenging years with 'Humpty' (always in bits), despite parking in central london streets not a single bit of vandalism or damage - nowt short of a miracle.

I really wish you well in your search, my old bus was £700 off ebay and all I went on was the pictures - reckoned if someone was keen enough to change the wiper blades then the rest of him should be ok. Taking a chance yes, but I have had such a great time driving and the advice and support from this web site and club has just been brilliant.

If you do find your car I know of one mechanic of the old school kind who operates out of Chiswick, he is hugely supportive and knows his stuff.

Yours aye
 
Hi Chris,
Yes, I did see that one, but the auction will have ended by the time I've got my budget sorted. Still, it does lessen my concern that cars *are* out there that I'll be able to afford!
 
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