Assuming I'm allowed another "old cars" thread.
When I was a child I always liked Rover SD1's. I was always excited to spot a Vitesse or the last Vanden Plas 3500EFi models.
But what were the actually like to drive and own?
Edited by Pugugly on 04/04/2008 at 19:57
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They looked fabulous, and I day sare made a few decent ones. The smaller engined variety, 2000, 2300 etc were nothing special but 2600 upwards to the 3500 and Vitesse were lovely. Problems were embarrasingly common for the maunfacturer though, from electrical gremlins, doors that wouldn't close, wipers that flew off and trim that would simply disintegrate. However, loads of motorists still have a soft spot for them and rightly so.
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my friend has a vitesse3.5v8. its been in the family from new and still looks fabulous.
it now gives out around 220hp and is very quick and refined. he's always being offered silly money for it but will never sell. its done 325k on original engine and auto gearbox. however it does get serviced every 4 months by a sd1 specialist. in the summer he;s getting new Leather trim throughout and new carpets.
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A schoolfriend's dad had several of them when I was growing up - all 2600 versions. I used to drool over them. The SD1 was the car I wanted to own when I grew up.
One of the best looking mass production cars ever made in my opinion. A twin plenum Vitesse is in my lottery win garage. Those looks and that engine - who cares if it falls apart?
Cheers
DP
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Couple of friends owned them.
The V8 engine was pretty good but the rest of the car was poorly executed.
Dashboard and all the power windows packed in IIRC. My friend later sold it for the engine basically as the rest was scrap.
A friend/colleague had a couple of the smaller engined ones a 2.3l and a 2 l. Both had terminal engine problems IIRC and the odd snapped head bolt. Probably why they ended up at auction.
They were indeed good lookers.
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it would look fantastic if brought out again with todays inset headlights and rear lights. i love the shape and would buy one but most knackered and minters are going for loads of money
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From experience of them driving hired ones or as a passenger. Great cars in many ways powerful engines especially the 3500 and even the 2600. Big comfortable cars but had poor rear headroom which annoyed more than one owner I knew.
Very very light power steering with not a lot of feedback I put one sideways on a motorway slip road near Manchester airport on an icy morning, no contact but one heck of a fright.
Build quality was supposed to be poor but there are still a lot of them around.
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I bought a brand new one and the wife picked it up it then proceded to set on fire on her way home shortest ownership in my life.The replacement lasted longer it was rather nice from what I can remember but they had the inbuilt rust bug.
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SD1's had a reputation as a bit of a joke, for falling apart, breakdowns etc. However Police used lots of them, and they were .... Rear Wheel Drive (Yippee). So they were not all bad.
They were even used in motor sport at the time to some good effect.
There has been a thread I have seen recently about a couple of SD1 prototype 2 door shells built as rally cars.
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Design inspired by Pininfarina models:
www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?sd1inspf.htm
A friend had a 2600. I recall being surprised and disappointed by the roughness of the engine.
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In the early 90's I bought 2 SD1 V8s for £150. One was a red stolen-recovered 5-sp manual with a lamp-post shaped dent in the centre of the front bumper, the other was a yellow donor car (mostly in bits).
I straightened the front by fixing a truck tow strap to the dented bumper, the other end to a solid concrete post and reversing short distances several times. The now mangled bumper and bonnet were swapped over from the donor, a fresh MOT and the door was opened to my second most fun year of motoring. Like many I had hankered after a SD1 V8 for several years since I was 17 and passed my test.
I love the exterior and dashboard styling, and it was a great drive. The torque, the sound. I remember getting mid-20s MPG. I was again drooling over photos of them only the other month...
I sold it 12 months and 20,000 reliable miles later for £90.
I have said before that I wish they would do a Fiat 500/ Beetle on it (only better than the Beetle, of course).
Great memories :-)
Edited by Billy Whizz on 04/04/2008 at 16:15
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I still have a Matchbox model of the Pininfarina design. Described as a BMC 1800 underneath - not quite the landcrab!
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He He, not much info about what these cars were like but when I was a GP trainee the holier than God doc in charge of training had one of these.
We all took great delight when we found out that his young son had written said motor off, suffice to say the lad involved came to no harm.
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I only drove one once, a V8 auto in London in the daytime. It felt big, always a sign of less-than-perfect design (the MkIII Cortina was worse in this way though). The Rover behaved all right but I didn't have time to get comfortable with it, although its owner, a photographer, punted it about with abandon.
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When I left the RAF in 1977 I had a terminal gratuity sitting in my bank account and I went to the local Rover dealer with a view to buying an SD1.The long and short of it was that he couldn't give me a delivery date so I bought a 2nd hand BMW 3.0 si which was a fantastic car. Before the days of the motorway 70 mph limit (or was it?), I did 126 miles in one hour up the M6. A man in my village has a fine collection of 70s cars, including an SD1 and it looks very good but I recall that rust was a major problem on this model.
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I recall that the 70mph limit for motorways was introduced in 1967, also that the SDI 2600 had a first year depreciation rate of 40%.
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Setright claimed to prefer the 2600 to the V8 but on the somewhat specious ground that the straight six was a more 'gentlemanly' engine that did everything necessary. Tosh really, it wasn't as quick as the V8 or much more refined but still drank plenty. The 2300 was a dog by all accounts though, and the 2000 just a taxi.
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You won't get far in bar room chats today with one. Only 155bhp, solid rear axle with drum brakes....
Having said that they were pretty good for the time, a time when Lancia outsold BMW in this country! I have a sneaky suspicion a Granada V6 might be better in everything but engine noise and looks if you're after a 70s barge.
Park either next to a Peugeot 407 today and you'll feel small!
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I recall.... that the SDI 2600 had a first year depreciation rate of 40%.
Actually it was the first yard; if you'd changed your mind, even while driving out of the showroom, you'd only have been offered half of the sticker price to trade it in.
That's how bad they were.
[So why do I still like the things? A late Vitesse still looks quite modern too.]
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memorys...very brief drive in a rare 3.5 v8 manual....also first time i got nicked by the met taken to paddington green in a sd1. not so good memory !
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memorys...very brief drive in a rare 3.5 v8 manual....also first time i got nicked by the met taken to paddington green in a sd1. not so good memory !
Manuals were far from rare. Brilliant car. Drove both manual and auto quite extensively, but absolutely lurved P6 prior.
MD
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A mate of mine many moons ago had a late 70s 3500 and spent many a weekend fettling it. Gearbox rebuilds were essentially part of his routine maintenance schedule. As was trying to keep the twin SU carburettors half way in tune in order to keep the fuel consumption above the low teens.
For its time though it was a fabulous car to ride in and drive. The interior was very space age and just the view from the driver's seat was quite unlike anything I'd seen before. It also had a 5 speed gearbox which was still an exotic extra in 1982, and the steering was incredibly light for such a big car, being as power steering was also not commonplace. I remember the burble from the engine, the surge of torque when you put your foot down, and the uncanny way it just seemed to effortlessly gain speed. I also remember the travel in the brake pedal getting longer, indicating that the brakes were probably underdimensioned.
I also once drove an automatic version. This seemed to lack the "surge of torque" sensation of the manual version and was probably only a 3 speed.
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At the time this car was launched I was employed by a well known large (now gone) British automotive electrical and fuel systems component supplier.
This vehicle had the highest rate of warranty claims - and hence cost - ever.
It was iconic in many ways - for me, it heralded the age of British engineering which was no longer fit for purpose.
659.
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There was something wrong with the SD1's styling to my eye anyway. Heavy looking. The Rover 3 litre/3500 coupe and saloon were much better looking if conservative, chubby and staid, and they didn't feel as big to drive either. They were proper Rovers, as were the 2000 and its variants up to and including the V8 model, but the 2000 was already showing BL quality slippage and the SD1 showed it in spades.
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Our local police had some V8's;said it was a good engine spoilt by a bad car.And BL showed zero interest in their concerns!!
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Still made and sold in India I believe.
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Not any more Pug, Rimmers of Lincoln have just bought all the parts, including a few new bodyshells.
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I have one, series one but a little modified with a breathed-upon 4.6. Have a look if you're interested
tinyurl.com/6pwxr6
(sorry about Miss Kit Car, not very pc I know).
Great design, if only Mercedes or Toyota had built them.
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That one may well be a bit tastier than the general run I must say.
Are the Daimlers yours too nick?
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Yes, a '53 Conquest and a '63 SP250. A bit of a sucker for old cars I'm afraid. The SD1 has been lowered a bit but apart from that and the bigger exhaust, looks standard. It was featured in a couple of magazines before I bought it. I can take no credit for putting it together but the guy who did it made a wonderful job. Goes like absolute stink and still returns low 20's mpg, manual of course.
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now that's a nice looking sd1.i want one. where do i send the cheque too?
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I bet that Conquest is a charming old girl. Very restful somehow, preselector Daimlers, I suppose because hurry isn't in their lexicon. Never liked the look of the Dart variants much although I understand they go well.
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Yes, a Conquest, especially the earlier version i.e. not the 'Century', is very leisurely with 75bhp (when new) from a 2.5 litre straight six. It's a bit tatty and a bit like steering a boat as the steering box is worn, that's my next job and I'm not looking forward to it.
The Dart is great fun to drive, in a hairy-chested 1950's way. Oodles of torque, 0-60 in around 8.5 seconds, 125mph maximum. If one is properly adjusted and in good health, at tickover you can let the clutch up in top and pull away gracefully. An amazing engine, revs so freely too. 30+mph on a run is possible if you take it easy as it only weighs around a tonne (or is it a ton, can't remember). Just over 2600 were made and I think around 2/3 still exist.
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Weren't they based around the looks of a Ferrari Daytona ?
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Weren't they based around the looks of a Ferrari Daytona ?
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Reputedly.
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The main thing to remember about SD1s is that they dissolve in rainwater.
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I owned a 2000 SD1, rare then, even more so now, only the diesel is more scarce.
Nice car by all accounts and today, fixes for the faults are pretty well on the books so make a better buy now than when new.
Light steering, comfortable and characterful with a great interior. If I had the money and the time, id have one in a second.
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In the early 80's the company I worked for had a white 3500 as a test car for developing their temperature sensing fan drives.
Prototype units were fitted and we then used it intensively to prove durability in normal use.
I did several trips from W.Yorks to Birmingham to collect components in it, in those days the return trip via M62/M6/M5 took under 4 hours.
Super performance and handling, not a lot went wrong with it either, in spite of every user hammering it for some thousands of miles.
My opinion is slightly coloured of course by tax, insurance and petrol not being paid out of my pocket :-)
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In around 1994 an associate of mine picked up a rather tired convertible SD1. It was originally finished in a "baby pink" colour but repainted white and, if memory serves me, also converted to 2 doors (using the same front doors from the original 4 door) with a shortened wheelbase and a large rollover hoop. Not sure where the conversion originated from but the guy was adamant there had only been 2 like it. I had a drive and it was.....interesting. To say there was body flex would be a grave understatement but to hear the roar of that V8 with the (poor fitting) hood lowered put big smile on my face. Sadly the noise did not match the leisurely pace and performance was no doubt blunted by the many strengthening steels that were welded in and around the car. It looked odd from sideways-on due to the shortened length and was pretty obvious why only a couple were allegedly made.
This was from the Canterbury area in Kent if anyone recalls seeing it but it's probably long since scrapped.
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Diesel?Dont rememember those,but i have had the misfortune to have owned a few SD1s inc an ex Met V8 and without exception they were all junk.Poor design,badly executed,with as far as i can remember no redeeming features.
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They did a turbo diesel, 2.4 90 bhp in 'S' spec, same engine as used in Range Rover and not the best, hence lack of sales and now there are approx 10-15 left on the road.
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Pretty fast, especially when I saw one driven properly by Tony Pond on the IOM.
Those were the days.
Sorry I'm reminiscing again...now going to have a look on YouTube, or so I think its called.
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If anyone is interested you can still pretty much build a new one.
rimmer Bros have been re-importing vast amounts of Rover SD1 parts from india where they have located containers full of parts for them including shells. No idea how much it would cost to build a new one from scratch but it would be a breath of fresh air considering all the current bloated offerings.
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The autos were designed with a high stall speed which meant the engine would race ahead for a second or two when booted from standstill.
It felt like a slipping clutch and some owners wrongly reported the sensation as a fault.
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