The lure of the P6

JVY

JVY

Active Member
Recently I was trying to work out why I had wanted a Rover P6. The urge started nearly 20 years ago and was only finally satisfied last year. Some things that might explain why I ended up wanting to own one:-

1. I am around 40 years of age, so can remember seeing these cars about when I was a kid. Although, where I was brought up near Glasgow in the 70s a lot of working families still didn't even own a car nevermind anything as posh as Rover, so they were a fairly unusual site. I think this meant that they "stuck" in my impressionable mind at the time?

2. The boot mount spare is important. When I was a little kid (pre-school), one toy I remember playing with was a Dinky toy Landrover. Maybe the Rover bit was significant. However, I do remember it had a spare wheel mounted on the bonnet which I thought was great.

3. When I was in my late teens I had a yearning for some kind of muslce car or custom hotrod (anything with a beefy V8 in it). In a magazine I read some article about a P6 V8 still being considered as fast cars (this was late 80's). I remember all of a sudden thinking a P6 seemed a lot classier that some big Yank Tank.

4. Although, I started off wanting a V8 P6, after some research, I had to go for a 4 pot. The fact the the engine was so modern, designed exclusively for the Rover 2000, never used on another model and never changed much intrigued me. Don't get me wrong, the V8 is a great car too and I might get around to aquiring one. I just somehow like the idea of a British engine in a car that was a masterpiece of British engineering and design.

5. Not long after I left school, one of my mates had a P6 as his first car. I think it was a 2200SC auto. Although it seemed a bit gutless in terms of accelaration, the one thing that I remember was falling in love with the interior - it just seemed to be a perfect blend of comfort, style, design and modernity coupled with a "yesteryear" feel.

6. The more I found out about P6s, the more I liked. The way that Rover took such a brave gamble and came up with a near perfect car from scratch using all new parts (apart from the odd bit of off the shelf Lucas stuff and SU carbs of course). The idea of crumple zones, detachable panels, disc brakes all round. Even designing an engine bay to take a gas turbine, splashing out on De-dion suspension and unusal longitudinal front springs. Performance that can match moden cars (and still frighten a few boy racers even today). I guess it represents an era of British design/manufacturing/engineering by a British company that is perhaps gone forever. Maybe if Rover hadn't got dragged into the Great British Car Industry Disaster, there would be a lot of people driving "proper" Rovers around the world today?

Sorry for rambling on. I am still not exactly sure why I needed to get one.............. Would certainly be interested to know what thoughts, motivations and recollections of others are?????????
 
There's an Autocar or Motor long term test article from the '60s headed "comfy as old slippers"...that sort of sums P6s up for me. Not that I don't think they are interesting / exciting cars to drive & own, but they also have a warm dependability about them.

You will also probably remember the '80s VW Golf add with Paula Hamilton walking out of her boyfriend's (should that be 'partner's'?) house, dumping the fur coat & then deciding to keep the car. When she gets in she pats the dashboard (or have I made that up over the years?) & smiles whilst driving off. It's that 'trusted old friend' feeling I get when I drive my P6.

The fact that you can fix them with (usually) basic tools, the tactility of the switches & fittings - they feel properly designed & made - not moulded out of plastic that breaks in a year or two. The fact that everything bolts together, the sprung keeps on the door locks, the side light tell-tales, etc....Then there's the ride quality, the pretty decent handling...

The more you own P6s & work on them, the more you get into them. My eyes have sometimes wandered to other classics, but I'm in too deep with P6s. I have driven about 110,000 miles in them over the last 20 years & haven't tired of them. Someone shows me their brand new car & it may be impressive for a while, but what happens when the 2nd or 3rd owner comes along & things start going wrong, it'll be a garage job every time. My P6s are fixed in my garage..

They are also a very practical classic you can use as an alternative to a modern car if you do a steady mileage, are popular with the public at large (be prepared to talk to strangers whose 'dad had one of those...'), & importantly good ones are still ridiculously good value to buy & run & still look 'a million dollars'. I appreciate it's each to their own, but to me they are a significant cut above most other similarly priced classics.

Sorry to go on & on JVY, but you did ask! :LOL:
 
There's an Autocar or Motor long term test article from the '60s headed "comfy as old slippers"...
Click to expand...

That is one of my favourite articles. There is a series of articles on the Motor long term test car, the first was written by the editor Charles Bulmer and then the car was passed on to a staff writer Rab Cook. He wrote the next few (3?) articles on the car and it was really apparent that he had totally fallen in love with the car and refused to give the car up. He emigrated to Australia in about 1970 and made sure he was driven to the airport in 'his' Rover and upon arrival, promptly bought himself two Rovers (one for Sydney and one for Melbourne as he had to travel for work).
I loved the fact that a hardened motoring writer who spent his days driving all sorts of exotic machinery would rather drive his aging 2000 than anything else!
I wonder what happended to him, the last article of his I read was from about 1973.

As for me, there is a certain kind of familiar cosiness to the cars. I particularly love driving on a cold wet night with the heater on and the feeling of being insulated from the world in your own snug little cocoon :)
I was prompted into buying my first P6 after reading an American Road & Track road test from 1965. They loved them!
 
For me it was by accident. I was thinking of getting a Triumph 2000 to bring back to NY but my beautiful wife (she made me type that) saw one at a car show and said 'why don't you get one if those it's much prettier?' I hadn't thought of one but I had always liked them. I remember P6s as the instant response cars in London as a child and still equate Zircon Blue with police cars today, I think that left a seed in there too.

After four years of owning one I can honestly say it's one of the best cars i've owned. The engneering is fantastic, every time I work on it I'm amazed at the quality ofthe build and design. Working on it is easier than expected (even the rear brakes) and over here it starts a lot of conversations. Even if some people think it's a volvo (longship badge).

I've been told by my better half that I can never sell it and two of our close friends requested I drive them to and from their weddings, so I guess it's part of the family now.
 
I've spent 29 years wanting a P6. Over those years I have owned Carpri's, Spitfire, MG BGT, Scimitar, Jenson, and a couple of modern cars. I finally bought my first P6 just over a week ago. Although I am now waiting for the selector rod bushes to arrive before I can start driving, I am so glad that I bought the car.

Growing up, my Father drove a collection of what would now be described as classics, MG's Austin's and a fantstic Ford Corsair. Unfortunately, they were always "bangers". I'll never forget my friend passing his test (aged 17) and his Father letting him use the family 3.5 s. What a car, almond with a vinyl roof and, boot mounted spare. What a fantastic car it was. I loved the design, the look and the ride quality. I've wanted one ever since.

I love the layout of the instrument panel, and agree that it is far superior to the inside of a modern car. I love the fact that it has "proper" doors, doors that clunk when you close them, they feel substantial. The car is everything that I want.
 
I remember them from my youth generally towing caravans, they always stood out as an 'Art deco sort of design which was really reinforced by there pastel colur range which was like nothing that had ever been seen in NZ before. As a family we had always owned odd cars such as Essex straight 6's, Hudson terraplanes and a very rare 1957 Hornet and even a stutz bearcat plus a range of other exotic for NZ cars DKW's you get the picture nuthin normal so well a P6 was hardly a stretch one could almost say pedestian and on that count I am pleased to guilty as charged.

Graeme
 
I relate strongly to everything said so far! For me, the explanation is simple. My Father and Grandfather both worked for Rover's and my Father always drove a Rover, so I grew up with them. The P6 was different though. The effect on the car market and on enthusiast owners when it was launched was electrifying. For some years after if you saw another P6 coming the other way both would flash their lights at each other. Can you think of any NEW car that's been true for in the last ten years - I can't. The nearest I can think of to the effect of the P6's arrival would be the launch of the Subaru Imprezza Turbo in the UK. In my teenage years there were of course flirtations with other cars of the moment. I remember the 1600E Cortina with affection- but doesn't it look naff and dated today. Then I learnt to drive on our '65 2000SC - father had hung on to it to 7 years old in the expectation of teenage abuse! If that didn't seal the deal then two cars later we had a 3500S, which remains one of my all time great cars. Plus the P6 introduced me to engineering. That '65 2000 was old enough to start needing things done to it. In particular, at 15 ish, I became OIC exhaust systems. We bought a spare set of Rover exhaust sections and as one blew I would replace it with the spare and drop the defective one round to the blacksmiths on my way home from school. You learn enough about engineering that way to know you want to follow it as a carreer, which I did, but in Railways.

Nowadays I know a lot about the P6's shortcomings and ideosynchrasies as well. But in a way that only increases the attraction. To know that it is entirely sensible to upgrade gearboxes on the V8's, speculate on how the 2000S suspension might have been configured (I'm pretty sure Lucky is now a very close match to 2000S spec) etc etc is all part of the fun. And the cars do seem to attract interesting people. And they still look really good in the company of modern machinery. And you can drive them in ordinary traffic without feeling an embarrassment at the performance , braking or handling (unlike a poor old contemporary Hillman I nearly tailended on the motorway recently).

Chris
 
I'd not owned a classic car before and nor had I ever owned a car purely for the enjoyment of owning it but I've had my P6 for over 3 years now and they do get under your skin (quite literally on a couple of occasions but I forgave it). I was born is 1976 so whilst I do recall seeing them on the roads, most were into banger territory before I knew what they were although when I was in Scouts our leader had a '67 2000TC in white/red leather with Vitesse wheels and I remember thinking it was cool car then.

I'm with JVY on reason number 3 though. When I was at school I used to buy Custom Car and Street Machine magazines so I was influenced by American cars and V8's but I found it strange and almost disappointing that most British custom builders fitted a little Rover V8 into what ever the built rather than using proper Detroit iron.

Fast forward 15 years and I'm stuck in front of the telly on a wet day watching Mark Evans' A 4x4 is Born where he built a Land Rover Defender with a 100 inch wheelbase rather than 90 or 110 using a Range Rover chassis. During the show he stripped the engine down and overhauled it and I was hooked. I had to have something with a V8 in it, but what to buy?

On a budget of not very much anything American was out so I'm basically left looking at Rover engined cars. A V8 Land Rover was a possiblity but I didn't need a 4x4 really so that discounted Range Rovers too. SD1? Maybe but hopefully not, they look too modern plus they're not tax exempt.

Ahhh. Rover P5 and P6. Now were talking, but a nice P5 is how much?? Crikey, I haven't got anywhere near that sort of budget and they're not really what you call a muscle car either. So, that leaves me looking for a nice tax free P6B and trying to convince those around me that I haven't lost my mind and that I'll still be able to afford the mortgage/food/holidays/etc.

Anyway, I bought one and it's been a fairly steep learning curve over the last 3 years. I'm not sure I agree with the others who say that they are easy to work on though. Everything I do on it takes twice as long as I expect and usually creates another job in the process but it has never failed to get me either to my destination or home again so it can't be bad.

When I first started looking around at classic cars I was fairly sure I didn't want a convertible but having owned a nice saloon now I can see why most classic enthusiasts choose convertibles - you only ever drive them in the sunshine so you may as well have the roof down. I reckon the car that most fits the bill for me now is 1980's Mercedes SL, it being V8 powered with an auto box and a soft top.

But, as I said earlier they get under your skin, and I'm not sure I could bring myself to sell my P6 to (part)fund it or make space so it looks like we'll be having plenty more adventures in it for the time being.
 
I should add actually having read Chris' post that they do look good on the road and the fact that everyone has a story about then even though there aren't many left is very endearing.

I've been on two motoring holidays in the company of some far more exotic and expensive machinery and my P6 was universally accepted as an equal. The car's worth in the eyes of real car buffs is more than just the monetary value - it's a genuine piece of good design.
 
The column stalks - indicators and lights - have a unique feel to them with such delicate stalks and the shaped ends
 
Well it goes back along way.

All I know is that I wanted one from about the age of eight. I had Corgi 2000TC with headlights that lit up when the light hit the rear screen and that was the car I was going to have when I grew up
 
For me it stems way back to my early childhood, round about 1974-5, I was about 6. My dad had a White early series 1 P6 2000, with red leather interior; The car would have been about 10 years old then, so already almost a classic. The reg no. was 417 BAN (I think). I used to love the look of the car, and the oh so lovely leather smell inside it. We'd never had a car with leather seats before, so it was a big thing. Fast forward 34ish years to when I got my P6 and was reacquainted with that same leather smell, it brought back many childhood memories.. 8)
 
Yep,i am 39 years old and i really like P6 since i purchased it last summer :D I am a long time Range Rover owner and finally also a Rover.Last year i was looking efi Rover SD1.. :shock: but then my garage sell me a -73 Rover P6 with V8 efi engine and 5 speed box and what i like most is central locking and good hifi system..so in this P6 i listen British rock before 1973..Uriah heep,nazareth,The who etc..I really like those funny switches in the dash.

Rgds:Jukka
RR92 Westminster 4.6
-73 Rover P6 3500Si
 
I like your thinking and sense of humour lol hey and I probably like your car too with all it's funny switches :mrgreen:

Graeme
 
I'm coming up to 33 now and have loved the P6 ever since I can remember.
I think it may have started when the next door neighbour had a blue (iirc) 3500S, originally as a company car but had kept it for several more years afterwards. One day he gave me an original P6 showroom brochure. I was only very young at the time, but I thought they looked fabulous, and the V8 just made it more exotic. I became besotted!
I've had P6's for the last 19 years now, and for the short time I was without one I really missed having one.
 
All the posts so far are very interesting and I have certainly enjoyed them.

I can certainly relate to having to be prepared to talk to people whenever you stop anywhere (shops, garages, in the street). Nearly always it is a gentleman of a certain age across the street who spots the car and then eagerly makes his way over the road to reminisce about fond memories of P6's.

Like one or two others on the forum I am an engineer (electronics) and I think this is why I admire the engineers who designed the car so much. While it might be nice to own another classic car in future, I can't see me being without a P6. I think I would rather get rid of my everyday car first! Modern cars are very well engineered but to the point of boredom. Although the car has been very dependable so far, I kind of like the notion that, when you get in it and drive off, you might breakdown and embark on a little unplanned adventure.......... I've just realised that life must be pretty mundane for me to have said that!

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.

In terms of cost, P6's still astound me. I can't understand why they are so comparitvely cheap. Only theory I have is that they were so well engineered and so often cherished by their owners that a good number still survive - simple supply and demand. I suppose the only downside is that when they need serious restoration they are so often broken beacuse their values are too low to justify serious restoration expense. However, I suppose this situation may not last forever. Perhaps a lot of classic enthusiasts reckon P6s are not exotic enough? For me, I have always been drawn to the everyday family saloon type cars - the ones that often just fade away because they don't seem to be of much value - yet these are the ones that evoke the fondest memories in people. Just look at the price of good condition Ford Cortina now!
 
Another electronics engineer, there do seem to be several of us :D .
Like you the engineering of these cars is a great draw card, one of my past times is just opening the car doors and letting them go and watch as they self close with a couple of soft clicks absolutly marvelous! and then looking at the egineering of the door hinge system pure artistry. Whilst there are some letdowns with some of the genreic componantry such as the Smiths heater in general most things are simple accesable and easily maintained.

Graeme
 
Just take a P6 up a gravel drive to a stately home and you'll get it, the car just belongs. You just don't get the same feeling in a Ford Escort Mk1. :)

Many feel the P6 was the last good car ever Rover built.
 
I am 39 , one of my earliest memories was a farmer I knew driving a P6 and as a kid I always liked the look of the car but as I grew up never actually thought of buying one. Moving on I had to cut back on motorcycling when I had children of my own but wanted to still drive something interesting - bingo - buy a P6 and take the kids too.
One of the little things I like best about driving my car is the side light tops which can be seen lit up at night, I think it looks great.


Robert
 
There must be something more to this electronics engineer thing - I bought my car off the daughter of a gent who had sadly passed away and he too was an electronics engineer.

On a different note, I was driving the P6 the other day along a nice straight stretch of dual-carriageway. I was doing 60-70mph. In the distance saw another old car come up behind me at speed. It was a Saab 96 and the guy waved as he whizzed passed me - he must have been doing 80-90mph. I was quite impressed. The Saab didn't sound like a 2-stroke, so assume it was a V4. Pretty impressive and has rekindled a bit of an interest in Saab 96's. I briefly talked to a 96 owner at a car show recently and he said the 3 cylinder 2-strokes are now quite rare.

I have young kids, so recently fitted rear seatbelts so I could take them out. Now, whenever we are going out in the car they are dissapointed if they don't get to go in "Dad's old Rover". The two littlest ones are only 3 & 4. Here is a summary of what they have decided they like most about Dad's old Rover:-

1. When they are in the back they can see out better - lower windows than a modern car plus he rear seat seems slightly higher.

2. The quarter lights - they always have to open them.

3. The little map light on the passenger side of the dashboards - we have to test it every trip.

4. The spare wheel on the boot -the 4 year old repeatedly asks me to explain again why there is a wheel on the boot.

I'm definitely with everyone else on the door opening/closing thing and I really like the proper chrome handles on the outside of the doors. They remind me of a big old fridge we had when I was a kid. It too had a "proper" big chrome handle - none of this plastic chrome effect stuff you get nowadays :LOL:
 
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