Over the last couple of months or so I've been looking for a classic car, and recently I turned my attention to Rover 2000SCs. After having a look at a few online and phoning, only to discover they were sold, I happened to stumble upon an advert on classic cars for sale which had no photos and a rather short description. The advert had been up for quite a while, so I didn't really hold out much hope, but it transpired that the car was still for sale, the seller was prepared to move on the price, and throw in a large quantity of spares. At this point I put an appeal on here, and 02man pointed me in the direction of Harvey. After PM'ing Harvey for a few days, he said he could go and look over the car for me which was very helpful indeed. Harvey provided me with a detailed report on the car and said it was well worth my while to have a look.
At this point I discussed the idea of going down to look at the car myself, and possibly buying it with various people, I jokingly suggested to Calum that he wouldn't mind a run to Chelmsford, and he said yes. What we decided was we'd get the train down, look over the car, take it for a run, and then decide whether to get the train home or drive the Rover North.
We got up at just after 7 in the morning to get the bus in order to get the 9:20 train from Manchester. After a few changes, we arrived in Chelmsford. We were driven back from the station to the seller's house, then we looked over the car thoroughly, and he suggested we take it for a run. We set off from the house and got about a mile, when, after braking to let some traffic through, the rear brakes jammed on. When this happened I really didn't know what to do. So the seller, Calum and I walked back to his house. I phoned my Dad to see what he could suggest and he thought that rather than walk away, if the car could be recovered through my breakdown cover and the brakes weren't going to be too much of a problem that I could buy the car and get it taken up to my house, or Calum's. At this point I phoned Harvey, and he really couldn't have been more helpful, he suggested that a brake house had collapsed internally and this seems to be exactly what has happened. At this point I agreed to buy the car, the seller knocked a bit off and I was happy, I'd also like to say just how helpful the seller was, I couldn't have asked for more, and I'm glad he was prepared to sell to me. My Footman James breakdown cover let me down, but luckily Calum's didn't. The AA were very good indeed and after we called them at 4, they had the car on a lorry by 7. Originally, our plan had been to have been on the road by about 4 at the latest but this didn't quite work out, like all of the best laid plans!
We left Chelmsford at 7 in the evening, and it was well after 2 before it was back at Calum's house and unloaded. The car was now at Calum's house, with two flexible hoses on order which would be ready to be fitted on Monday, with the aim being for me to drive it back home on the Tuesday. The hope had been, prior to collecting the car that I'd take the car to the show at Dalemain, near Penrith and meet up with some more friends there in my P6, but the car wasn't usable so Calum and I were able to drive up in his mum's lovely MGB GT.
On Tuesday we realised that we weren’t going to be able to do the work ourselves, given where the car had been unloaded, so I arranged for recovery from Calum’s to a garage near us where there is a 4 post lift and the work could be carried out far more easily.
I must say that the P6 is far better condition wise than I'd ever expected when I first read the advert, the body is very nice, and although the interior is a bit tired, it won't be impossible to change to a nicer set of seats. Mechanically it appears to be sound, with just a few, relatively minor issues to deal with. The car is a 1967 car with a relatively low number of owners, it's an SC Auto, and it has a boot mounted spare too. It's certainly not original and it has a number of Series 2 car bits on it, but I think it's very attractive as it is. Overall I think it will be ideal for my purposes and I'm sure I'll really enjoy it. I'd like say that the purchase of this car really wouldn't have been possible without Harvey and Calum's assistance and I really am very grateful for all of the help I have received from them. Already when I’ve been around the car, people have been very surprised to hear that it belongs to an 18 year old, so I look forward to covering many miles in it.
Here are the photos of the car's journey on Saturday evening/Sunday morning
and a few more from Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.
If you've got this far, well done, and feel free to ask any questions about the car.
At this point I discussed the idea of going down to look at the car myself, and possibly buying it with various people, I jokingly suggested to Calum that he wouldn't mind a run to Chelmsford, and he said yes. What we decided was we'd get the train down, look over the car, take it for a run, and then decide whether to get the train home or drive the Rover North.
We got up at just after 7 in the morning to get the bus in order to get the 9:20 train from Manchester. After a few changes, we arrived in Chelmsford. We were driven back from the station to the seller's house, then we looked over the car thoroughly, and he suggested we take it for a run. We set off from the house and got about a mile, when, after braking to let some traffic through, the rear brakes jammed on. When this happened I really didn't know what to do. So the seller, Calum and I walked back to his house. I phoned my Dad to see what he could suggest and he thought that rather than walk away, if the car could be recovered through my breakdown cover and the brakes weren't going to be too much of a problem that I could buy the car and get it taken up to my house, or Calum's. At this point I phoned Harvey, and he really couldn't have been more helpful, he suggested that a brake house had collapsed internally and this seems to be exactly what has happened. At this point I agreed to buy the car, the seller knocked a bit off and I was happy, I'd also like to say just how helpful the seller was, I couldn't have asked for more, and I'm glad he was prepared to sell to me. My Footman James breakdown cover let me down, but luckily Calum's didn't. The AA were very good indeed and after we called them at 4, they had the car on a lorry by 7. Originally, our plan had been to have been on the road by about 4 at the latest but this didn't quite work out, like all of the best laid plans!
We left Chelmsford at 7 in the evening, and it was well after 2 before it was back at Calum's house and unloaded. The car was now at Calum's house, with two flexible hoses on order which would be ready to be fitted on Monday, with the aim being for me to drive it back home on the Tuesday. The hope had been, prior to collecting the car that I'd take the car to the show at Dalemain, near Penrith and meet up with some more friends there in my P6, but the car wasn't usable so Calum and I were able to drive up in his mum's lovely MGB GT.
On Tuesday we realised that we weren’t going to be able to do the work ourselves, given where the car had been unloaded, so I arranged for recovery from Calum’s to a garage near us where there is a 4 post lift and the work could be carried out far more easily.
I must say that the P6 is far better condition wise than I'd ever expected when I first read the advert, the body is very nice, and although the interior is a bit tired, it won't be impossible to change to a nicer set of seats. Mechanically it appears to be sound, with just a few, relatively minor issues to deal with. The car is a 1967 car with a relatively low number of owners, it's an SC Auto, and it has a boot mounted spare too. It's certainly not original and it has a number of Series 2 car bits on it, but I think it's very attractive as it is. Overall I think it will be ideal for my purposes and I'm sure I'll really enjoy it. I'd like say that the purchase of this car really wouldn't have been possible without Harvey and Calum's assistance and I really am very grateful for all of the help I have received from them. Already when I’ve been around the car, people have been very surprised to hear that it belongs to an 18 year old, so I look forward to covering many miles in it.
Here are the photos of the car's journey on Saturday evening/Sunday morning
and a few more from Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.
If you've got this far, well done, and feel free to ask any questions about the car.
