The lure of the P6

When I passed my test in 1972 I coveted a 3500S...but obviously no chance for a 20-year old labouring through the last throes of an engineering apprenticeship. Directors yes. Dreamers...no! So...it was an A40 for me. :?

Fast forward a good few years...and the realisation that it wasn't just the shape and the sound, although that would be enough. Amongst a raft of other qualities, it's the solidity, detail & confidence of the design, the tactile feel of every part (and yes...definitely including the door handles!) and of course the modern-day relative quirkiness, that demands attention to a car that's perfectly accessible in every respect. You don't just own a P6 - you live it. And there's any number of people who love to come up close and chat about the cars when they see them.

I also love the fact that it takes me back to my earlier engineering days of, for example, UNC and UNF, and the knowledge that despite the problems at BL in the Seventies, a good number of P6's have not only survived but are flourishing.

Vivat P6!
 
The number of times people have approached me at petrol stations to chat and admire!! I lost count 20 years ago.
I have had the police pull me over just to chat as well, on one occasion the officer got very suspicious as I looked like a teenager driving a fine Rover very much didnt fit his picture, I was of course just over 30 at the time but even at that time I was being let into movie theatres and show days at half price coz I looked to be still school age even to students who manned the gates :mrgreen: ( I am just a recycled teenager and often have people much younger than me talk in manner that indicates that they think I am much younger than them).
So if you want to be noticed own a P6B I suspect that a P5 Coup'e will engender the same responce aswell.

Graeme
 
I'm 38, my dad owned a garage in Liverpool in the '70s and he loved P6 3500s. I grew up in them, he must have bought and sold 200-300 P6s in about 5 years. I still meet people now who bought their P6s from him - I bought my P4 through a chap who'd bought a 2200 from my dad in 1978.

My early memories quite often involve a P6. I remember the first time I was in a car and the radio didn't fade out under a motorway bridge, that was probably 1974ish and it was in a brown 3500S - NFF 355K (it was also doing about 110 mph). I also remember a fair few winter mornings when my dad would be in the kitchen, late for work with a pan full of boiling water and an AED unit. He hated those things with a passion. Another memory is long motorway trips in the back of various P6s and the temperature of the seatbelt mounting bolts on the transmission tunnel. They got more than a bit hot when Dad was blasting up to the Lake District at 100+ mph. Funny the things you remember isn't it?

P6s are a bit special. I bought the one I've got at the moment after not driving one since 1994. I'd forgotten just how good they are. The one I bought in '94 JUE183N was a nice enough car, but I was 23 and skint. I couldn't afford to run a V8, and I really didn't want a four cylinder one. To me, the P6 should have a V8. Nothing against the 4 pots, I was brought up in V8 ones and that is how I like 'em.

I've got my heart set on a P5B Coupé at the moment, so I don't know how long I'll keep the P6 for, but it is a lovely thing to have about. It's quieter and a lot more relaxed than the Volvo I use as a daily driver, and it's got a lot more charm. A 3500S Estate would tempt me to stay with P6s, but it'd have to be Paprika with black leather and PAS.
 
Pete M said:
I've got my heart set on a P5B Coupé at the moment, so I don't know how long I'll keep the P6 for, but it is a lovely thing to have about. It's quieter and a lot more relaxed than the Volvo I use as a daily driver, and it's got a lot more charm. A 3500S Estate would tempt me to stay with P6s, but it'd have to be Paprika with black leather and PAS.
Click to expand...

I have admired these since my uncle owned one in the 70's (p5b coupe) he could keep all his new Rollers and Mercs that he had several times a year I just wanted his bloody P5 Coupe lol.
Even today every time I see a Chrysler 300 I am instantly transported to a different place the P5 coupe looks more refined and has more charm and will always be a classic.

Graeme
 
Autshh.P5B coupe would be very nice indeed in efi confirugation if you mean what i am looking..as i have a P6 efi
Rgds:Jukka
RR92 Westminster 4.6
-73 Rover P6 3500 Si
 
chrisyork said:
Can you think of any NEW car that's been true for in the last ten years - I can't
Click to expand...

BMW MINI. When they were new, every time I saw two, their drivers would wave and/or flash and/or beep horns at each other. Lasted a couple of years.
 
JVY said:
I would agree that there are few cars today who's launch causes much of a stir and that the Subaru Imprezza is probably one of them. Due to the complexity of moden cars, I cannot see how many of them will ever be around long enough to become classics. Only where a modern car gains "neo-classic" status when new can I see much hope of them avoiding the scrapyard. As well as the Imprezza, another obvious one might be Mazda MX-5? Though, I can't quite get my head around retro cars like new VW Beetles or BMW Minis - I guess poeple want a car that looks like a classic without any of the disadvantages - at least what they see as disadvantages. Although I quite the new Fiat 500.
Click to expand...

My parents bought a BMW 520i Touring (E39 generation, 2001 Y reg) a couple of years back, the P6 3500S (rotten to hell) and E30 318i Touring (electrics buggered up beyond economic repair) having been sold for spares - we also had an E46 318i Touring from 2002 until this year when it got rear-ended and the bodyshell deformed slightly at the rear, writing it off... E30s are cult classics now and the six-pot ones are beloved of the drifting community. They also ride quite nicely and those old sixes snarl and howl something wonderful... pity ours was only the 4-pot. The E46 was flawed in many ways, nasty ride, interior plastics scratched too easily, and the 318i had no more power or torque than the E30, although the E46's engine only appeared first in about 1995, whereas the E30 one basically went back to 1962 (in 1.5L form, anyway), but the E46 was a quarter of a ton heavier... it had its good points, though. The E39 has proved a wonderful car - smooth riding, smooth engine, throttle response like nothing else this side of exotica, nice noise, bombproof build, unbelievably good handling for a 1680kg estate, lovely metallic dark green paint, lots of clever little touches where you can see the Germans have been thorough and demonstrated that 'longer mental reach' - and fellow E39 owners stop to comment on it. The sense of community with E39s has surprised us all, and most E39 owners swear by them and insist that they were classics on the drawing board. They also seem to have hit rock bottom price-wise and are on the way up again... as a modern 'daily' goes, you can't do much better. I still want a P6, though...
 
Retro cars I like are the modern Ford Mustang and there's another one , but I've forgotten
No need for I am the Resurrection to quote endless figures at me to suggest BMW's are better
 
Wife has currently fallen in love with the new Camaro, as seen on Hawaii Five-0, she's been firmly put in her place and reminded that we only own Rovers !
 
DaveHerns said:
Retro cars I like are the modern Ford Mustang and there's another one , but I've forgotten
No need for I am the Resurrection to quote endless figures at me to suggest BMW's are better
Click to expand...

Not suggesting that BMWs are better than Rover or indeed any other brand. I was just responding to a question about modern cars engendering a sense of community in a way that would allow them to escape terminal bangerdom and become classics...
 
webmaster said:
Wife has currently fallen in love with the new Camaro, as seen on Hawaii Five-0, she's been firmly put in her place and reminded that we only own Rovers !
Click to expand...

I dunno, couldn't you get rid of your Fauxvers (the rebadged Hondas)? :twisted:

Anyway, the Camaro is a big, soft, lazy V8-powered thing, a fun, relaxed way of motoring and pretty cheap for the HP too.

Also, the Mustang and Camaro have been mentioned - what of the Dodge Challenger?
 
Not really paid much attention to the challenger, looks pretty good though. Here are challenger and camaro.

challenger-vs-camaro.jpg


Not a fan of the new mustang, it's got a couple of obvious styling mistakes which I can't ignore, mind you after the first generation or so the originals were pretty hideous too !

They're all nice to look at etc, but I'm afraid there's only one yank motor for me, has to be a Corvette, virtually any model or year, just been ingrained from birth I think.

For now though, I'm still dreaming of finishing the P6 coupe :roll:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top