Rover 75: Its life in your hands

[Skizzer]

The problem is, you can get a better one by just buying a different one.

Exactly.

 

General electrics fault isn't the age old blocked-drains-fry-ECU is it?

That's my guess. So far I've been afraid to look. Tomorrow I'll man up and investigate.

[Bren]

If you bridge it the world has lost another 75.

 

Therefore, if this goes on long enough, the values of 75's will surely start to rise due to their rarity.

 

I apply this twisted logic to sd1's, however I am still waiting for their values to hit the heights.

[Skizzer]

^ me too.

 

...and Series 3 XJ6s

...and Dedra Turbos

[hairnet]

Any car that needs the engine out to replace a service item probably needs to be bridged anyway. What a hopeless bit of design work.

 

Personally, I'd find a big field, some concrete blocks, pallets and scaffold boards and do some stunts in it first. Yeehaa!

joe has room id pay to watch

[CortinaDave]

the flip side (and this isnt what I would do but) is that at some point in most of the 70's/80's cars that still exist's history there has been that one hero that has spent the money or tackled that bastard of a job that sent the other 99% of the type to the scrapyard.

 

If you like it and do the work, theoretically you buy it a future as the belts wouldnt need doing for 90k miles.

 

If you are even considering it, pinpoint that electrical fault first.

 

as its an early one, pre project drive etc, it might have been worth doing if the car was otherwise in great nick, but if its battle scarred it does just sound like its life expired and time to cash in its chips.

[Junkman]

I stand corrected, but when I went to look at one in Graypaul, they told me that the service interval was 1,500 miles

and that a major service at 3,000 involved engine out and repainting the sills.

The bastard, I bet he thought I couldn't afford one and was just trying to fob me off.

 

A friend of mine uses his 308 as a daily driver - for the past 200k+ miles. He would not even raise an eyebrow over such misinformation.

10k km is service, 30k km is big service, which means you change the oil and the spark plugs. The engine was never ever removed from his car. At 150k the gearbox came out for the first time (a 45 minute job) to do the clutch. Not a single thing was ever painted on his car.

[Lukas]

Get it to Austria and get some money for it...

 

http://www.gebrauchtwagen.at/ergebnis_suche.php?order=preis&aktseite=1&orderby=asc&limit=25&nostat=1

[Lacquer Peel]

A friend of mine uses his 308 as a daily driver - for the past 200k+ miles. He would not even raise an eyebrow over such misinformation.

10k km is service, 30k km is big service, which means you change the oil and the spark plugs. The engine was never ever removed from his car. At 150k the gearbox came out for the first time (a 45 minute job) to do the clutch. Not a single thing was ever painted on his car.

 

Ah.

[dollywobbler]

Isn't the big service also timing belts on a 308? Not a bad job apparently as you can go in via the rear wheelarch.

[barefoot]

Whoops I wrong -

The key then to a happy Ferrari 308 GTS ownership experience is to find and buy a car that has a complete documented service history. Ferrari made more than 8000 308 GTS’s, so finding cars with complete service histories shouldn’t be that difficult. a brief list of service intervals and costs are as follows:

These estimated prices are for having an independent Ferrari shop do the work.

A service should be performed every 3000 miles or 12 months, which ever comes first.

A 3000 mile minor service will average $700-$1000.

A major service to be performed every 3rd year, at an average $2500-3000

A complete brake job will run between $4000-5000

A new clutch will run between $2000-2500

New O.E.M. tires will cost at least $400 each.

[Lord Sterling]

I voted for spend n' save. But then I have a unreserved love for Rover cars.

 

I want this car, but I'm too far from you and have bid on yet another Sterling in England.

[Skizzer]

Get it to Austria and get some money for it...

 

http://www.gebrauchtwagen.at/ergebnis_suche.php?order=preis&aktseite=1&orderby=asc&limit=25&nostat=1

 

Crikey Lukas, you're not joking:

 

 

1999 2.0 V6, dents in most of the panels, 170k miles...  Ã¢â€šÂ¬1550

[Lord Sterling]

^^^ Same in France. Second-hand cars are stupidly expensive. British cars here enjoy the 'premium' status that they don't in England.

[Skizzer]

I want this car, but I'm too far from you and have bid on yet another Sterling in England.

 

I once drove my Golf from Gatwick to your bit of France with a blown head gasket, stopping at every service station on the way to refill it with water... 

 

Fly over for Shitefest, drive it back.  It has a towbar that's perfect for dragging Sterlings southwards to warmer climes.  G'wan, you know you want to.

[Split_Pin]

I was in exactly the same situation with my old Vectra last September.

 

I ended up 'parting it out' as they say and Car-take-backing the remains.

 

I did actually physically cry about this at the time, standing in the lock-up.

 

But it was the best thing to do financially, and now the lock up that it was languishing in is rented out.

[Mr Livered]

I've noticed the mad prices of secondhand cars in France too; they all seem to be 3-4 times what they would be here.

 

But then there seem to be reasonably priced cars on leboncoin, judging by links posted here. I'd love to know why they seem to be so cheap on that site.

[Lord Sterling]

I once drove my Golf from Gatwick to your bit of France with a blown head gasket, stopping at every service station on the way to refill it with water...  Fly over for Shitefest, drive it back.  It has a towbar that's perfect for dragging Sterlings southwards to warmer climes.  G'wan, you know you want to.

Hmmm......

 

Only problem is I won't be back in England until at least August. If your happy to wait until then I think I could take it on.

 

However, if it needs to go soon, my mate 'Tinworm' Steve might well be interested. A PM will be heading your way....

[Skizzer]

PMs exchanged.

 

 

This place IS what it used to be.

 

   

[Lacquer Peel]

I thought he was talking about the gopping Peugeot hatchback.

[Partridge]

Good save, Sterling!

[carlo]

I've noticed the mad prices of secondhand cars in France too; they all seem to be 3-4 times what they would be here.

 

But then there seem to be reasonably priced cars on leboncoin, judging by links posted here. I'd love to know why they seem to be so cheap on that site.

 

Seems to me the real 'classics' i.e. Panhards, are cheaper but the 80s/90s chod is far dearer in France, don't know if I'm right on that

[dollywobbler]

It's mainly because the French aren't as snobbish, so they don't see anything older than 5 years old as hopeless old shite. Which most people in this country seem to. My guess is that stuff on Leboncoin is mostly utterly worn out. Very similar to here in rural Wales. If stuff is for sale locally, it's usually with good reason!

[chaseracer]

I am currently watching an item about Rover on 'Midlands Today'. Of the 100000 Rover 75s sold in the UK between '98 & '05, 62% are still on the road.  Apparently.

However, this is BBC local news - so it could* be utter bolleaux... 

[wuvvum]

Well I'd abstained from voting on this as I would be biased, but I'm glad to see that it looks like the old girl is going to be put to some use.

[Lord Sterling]

Good save, Sterling!

Not quite yet. It could still go either way. Basically if someone really wants to save it, then I say go for it, if not then provided if I don't go for it I have a mate who may also take it on.

[EssDeeWon]

I have a 75 itch but ideally a 2.5 V6 Connoisseur in primrose yellow.

[Skizzer]

Upshot is, between my noble Lord S and his mate there's enough potential interest for me to hang on to it for a while longer and do a bit of spending to get it up and together. If something stupidly expensive is needed or the deal falls through then... well, we'll drive over that bridge when we come to it.

[CortinaDave]

I am currently watching an item about Rover on 'Midlands Today'. Of the 100000 Rover 75s sold in the UK between '98 & '05, 62% are still on the road. Apparently.

 

However, this is BBC local news - so it could* be utter bolleaux...

I looked at how many left a few months back for the ZT survival figures. Of the 19000 built between 2001-5 over 13500 are still going, plus 1300 odd on a SORN

 

Pretty impressive survival ratio for a car out of production for nearly a decade.

[Station]