P4 - Auntie
Tickford Drophead
Soon after the P4-introduction in 1949 Rover started to work on other versions of the car. One of the first alternatives was built by Salmons-Tickford in 1950-51 and was a two-door drophead. Two of these prototypes were built, but this elegant version never reached production. At least one of the prototypes are still running, in the hands of Rover-enthusiast George Hamill.
Tickford Drophead by Crossway!
Another picture of George Hamill's Tickford Drophead.
Racing Cyclops
In December 1994 Ian Glass took his Cyclops to The Land's End to John O'Groat's reliability & touring trial. It was a tough, wet and snowy trial.
Rover 75 from 1952 and 1999!
Engine compartment in a Rover 75 from 1952.
Interior of a Rover 75 from 1952.
Rover 75
In 1999 Danish henning Helmer bought this Rover 75 from 1953 from the original owner, who had used the car as a daily driver all the time. In spite of all miles on the clock the car is in exceptionally good shape.
The original owner was the architect Gerner W Elgaard.
Jan Welde
I was born and raised in a "Rover family". My father had 2 P4 and a P5 in the 60:ies. And I had a P6 in the mid 70:ies. But for me there's no doubt; P4 is the real ROVER. So for my 50th birthday last year, 1998, I bought myself a P4, a 95 from 1963. It's vel kept and fine, it has non-standard overdrive, and needless to say, I'm very happy and proud when driving it on fine days.
My Rover 95 was bought new by a Norwegian shipsowner in August 1963. As far as I know he was an elderly man that used the car fairly little, but unfortunately bumped into other cars a few times. He owned the car more than 30 years and drove it about 115.000 km. He brought it over to England a few times for overhaul. At one of these occassions an overdrive was mounted along with a "hengerfeste".
The next owner was a doctor and vet-car-fanatic. He had a lot of cars and used this Rover very little.
But he fixed some rust in the doors. He also had the transmission overhauled and changed all the rubber in steering. At this time the electric system was changed from positive earth to negative too. But the man had som many cars, and he really fell in love with a Jaguar drop head coupe, and put the Rover up for sale.
I bought it in May 1998 and I have only fixed a few small things, mainly for the fun of doing it. But now I a bit irritated by a low sound from the gearbox. The sound is there whenever the clutch is released, and is most noticable in neutral. I figure that the sound comes from one of the bearings in the gearbox or possibly from the clutch release bearing. So I have ordered a full set of bearings and will soon bring out the whole box to fix it.
I have one question in this respect: What kind of oil is recommended for the gearbox? In my fathers P4 och P5 we used engineoil in the gearbox. In the manual for my 95 Gearoil 90 EP is recommended for the gearbox. And in other workshopmanuals and articles I have seen recommendations for both engine oil and gearoil. So - I would really like to know which type of oil is the best for my gearbox, now that I'm going to fix it.
Best wishes and Happy Rovering
Jan Welde in Stavanger, Norway
rover9273@organizer.net or jan@welde.com
Peter Siemerink's Rover 95 from 1963
During ten years Peter Siemerink in Holland has been working on this P4 95 from 1963. The car was in pretty bad shape so it was necessary to do a body off restoration.
In May 2002 the car must be ready for inspection! Peter has promised to drive a Just Married couple by then, so let's hope he succeeds - and that he sends us some pictures of the car at that event!
Peter also have another P4 waiting for restoration.
Rover 95 from 1964
Rover 95 in Irish mud
Auntie with owner outside a friendly Irish pub at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, Ireland.
A road sign erected to warn motorists of leprechauns crossing. Leprechauns are the legendary "Little people" of Ireland who are never seen by day. They emerge at night to do good deads for people who have been kind the previous day. So Keith imagines the two in front of his Auntie to be imposters!
The first Rover at the new Öresund-bridge
Joe Carney in a local junkyard.
Joe lives in New Jersey, USA and saw this Rover 100 at a local junkyard. The body, save for a few dents and interior were in great condition.
So he bought the car and is now planning for a restoration. We hope he will keep us continuously informed about the progress!
Rovers in Thailand
Stuart Penketh is an English guy working in Bangkok, Thailand. When he left UK for Thailand he brought his Rover P4 100 from 1960 to work on it and hopefully get in Concourse condition.
Ha has joined the two local car clubs and participates in many events, and now he's looking for another Rover, P3 or P4, to work on.
At left Stuart Penketh and at right his friend Tewee. They are admiring a 1948 P3 75 6 light saloon.
Stuart Penketh's P4 100 from 1960
Rover100 in the Netherlands
Rover 110
Farina Drophead
In 1952 the Rover Company approached Pinin Farina in Turin, Italy, and ordered a design of a P4 70-based drophead. The car, in gold metallic with red convertible top, was shown at the Rover stand at the London Motor Show in 1953, and many showed interest in the car. Rover planned to start production of the car and ordered at least one copy of it from the Mulliner Coachbuilding Company i Birmingham. But the production cost would have been too high, and the project was cancelled.
Shortly afterwards a fixed-head version was built and fittid to a 90 chassis.
The drophead is still running and owned by Rover-enthusiast George Hamill, while the fixed-head was sold to Rover concessionaire i Spain. This car was probably written off in an accident.
These Farina-models inspired David Bache when he designed the P5
Tony Rowland of the RSR managed to locate this superb original picture of George Hamill's Farina when new in Italy. In its own right the photograph is probably of little photogenic merit, but when you look on the reverse the stamp and legend make it all worthwhile.
On the back of the photo it basically says: Photo 608, Rover cabriolet, 4 light(luci).
Mulliner Drophead
In 1954 the Mulliner Coachbuildning Company in Brimingham built at least one copy of the Farina Drophead designed and built 1952 to 1953. The aim was to start production for the Rover Company. Mulliner built the copy in aluminium. The first copy, however, showed that production costs were too high and the project was cancelled.
The Mulliner is built as copy of the original Farina, and at least from photograhs, it's hard to see any differences.
The Mulliner Drophead is still around though, and is owned by Frank Butler in the UK.
Coachbuilt 800 Coupé
At The Frankfurt Car Show in 1997 Rover showed this Coachbuilt 800 Coupé. As far as they said, there are no plans på put this one in production. The aim is to show that Rover is still able to build cars like this!
Models:
60 was produced between 1953 and 1959
75 was produced between 1949 and 1959
80 was produced between 1959 and 1962
90 was produced between 1953 and 1959
95 was produced between 1962 and 1964
100 was produced between 1959 and 1962
105 was produced between 1958 and 1959
105R and 105S were produced between 1956 and 1958
110 was produced between 1962 and 1964
The very last P4 was produced at May 17th 1964. It was Maroon Red.
1950 and 1951 15 chassis were rebuilt to Marauders.