Brookjm's Rover p4 detective work

[Ghosty]

 What would Rovers P7, P8 and even P9 have been like?

SD1/600/75?

[Uncle Jimmy]

No, not the SD1... I envisage a 6cyl, Rover fi, Saloon/shooting brake, BMW meets Bristol.

[Junkman]

Rover P7:

 

Rover P8:

 

Rover P9:

 

The P8 is what effectively morphed into the P76, after carefully removing all traces of sophistication from it.

[Angrydicky]

Excellent, top work!

[HillmanImp]

For many years I never noticed that Rover P4s weren't Rover P5s. You know like when you know two people that seem to look really alike and you keep getting them confused but then when you finally see them together they look completely different to each other.

 

That's these.

[Junkman]

On the day I was born, you could walk into a Rover dealership and buy a P4, P5, or P6.

For a brief period, they were all available at the same time.

[HMC]

Ace that, looks like it's on a re-registered Chester area plate as well.

Yes, Chester registered. In fact it hasnt been plate raped or re registered, Chester suffix regs started in Jan '64 and the P4 was registered the following month. A 'personal' reg for me in the sense my initials are the chester identifier. It does look wierd on these - only the last ones slipped into being suffix registered originally.

 

 

Lovely. Rovers are for winners, especially the olde worlde ones. Nice bit of patina going on there, but looks a solid old thing too.

 

I'm also glad to see the fleet reduction didn't last long Matthew!

 

Yes, patina definitely happeing all over the place, and yes fleet reduction-I have no willpower basically!

 

 

Absolute bounder!   Very nice car, is it true these are best on crossplies?

Unsure, It felt a bit wayward on some S-bends in the drizzle, but do fill the arches and (possibly the only time this phrase has been used about a P4) the 'stance' seems to suit it......

 

 

The steering seems a bit lighter than on my old  radial shod 100, but various other things on these can play a part in that.

 

Ive been pootling about in this a fair bit of late. Its in the sort of shape that stops you being too precious with it- smart enough on the whole but not really either totally original nor has it been restored as such. In fact there are a few giffer type repairs dotted about that are a bit bodgey.

 

The first thing That I wanted to look into was the performance, or lack of. Its never going to be a ball of fire but it was a right old slug on the hills. First off- the handbrake was binding a bit. I cleaned up and lubricated the rods and linkages. Its almost a shame its on the underside- some nameless drawing office clerk I assume came up with a lovely bit of (over)engineering under there. Test drive. Still embarrasingly slow. Looked at the dashpot oil- fine, then the dizzy- seized vacuum advance , kinked vacuum pipe and a various bits of wear. I chucked that away and bought a Powerspark electronic distributor- 80 quids worth. After much scrambling about under the car finding the inaccessible timing cover on the flywheel I fired it up. Started better, idled better and driving much more like it should. In fact I think someone was richening it up to try sort the sluggishness- needs weakening off at idle now, I suspect the timing was too retarded also.

 

It also warms up well but then almost overheats before settling back down, I may check the thermostat isnt sticking as a starter. The old battery was on its last legs so despite coming with a starting handle I decided on a new more decently sized battery as I'm lazy.

 

The grill is falling to bits and is pop riveted together

 

Old person cushion was free

 

Next up im off to put it on stands and sort out the superficial but fairly widespread surface rust underneath, waxoyl the way to go?

 

[oman5]

I'd use vactan to neutralise the rust before waxing it

[scruff]

LOVE IT

[Shep Shepherd]

That last shot is so 'Radio On' 

[Pillock]

 

 

You mean professional kiddlyfiddlers? Way harsh!

 

Right, so I should stop giving up my time to be a scout leader because I'm obviously a kiddyfiddler, right? Brilliant, absolutely fucking golden!

[dollywobbler]

Another vote for a good rub down, a coat of Vactan and then wax. I'm not a huge fan of Waxoyl - try Bilt Hamber's Dynax UB for exposed metal, S50 for cavities and box sections.

[hauserplenty]

If they hadn't got Shanghaied, who knows what they could have done. I think they were on to something with those Oxford Editions, during their "posh Honda" period. I've often thought of these as "typically English" cars, but I'm quite sure they weren't designed for US roads and would be better suited to garages and museums round this way.

Somewhere, Rover ended up sideways but it seems the engineers were the first to know. A shame, since they were often only a pound light, a day late, and a dollar short.

[trigger]

Wonderful! My auntie had a 110 back in 1991 when we visited them in North Wales, she took me for a drive in it around the town and I was in love, especially with those suicide doors!

[Uncle Jimmy]

Colour is rather critical with these P4s. Lighter hues look much better to me; white and light blue suit them,as would that light green '50s shade. Imagine a silver one- it would look amazing.

[HMC]

This old P4 has needed its fair share of TLC lately. I recon simply from having been abandoned for a couple of years and having done little recent mileage before then, looking at the vosa online MOT history. Suddenly being asked to be a car again hasnt gone down too well, it seems. Hence the old battery died pretty promptly, and its been running hot.

 

Flushing out the cooling system brought out a load of brown gunk and silt, and a test of the old stat proved it wasnt working properly. Disturbing the old and brittle hoses didnt do them any favours so at the moment I'm waiting on those and a few gaskets before I can bosh It all back together and see it thats done the trick. The leaking front screen now doesnt thanks to some evo stick roof and gutter sealant, but this has been too late for the carpets that have rotted away in places.

 

[dollywobbler]

Fab progress. Though I think you need to remove the number plates, tie them to the rear bumper with a long piece of string, then drive quickly down a gravel driveway to patina them up a bit.

[Lankytim]

Best car on Autoshite! I was offered one about 10 years ago for £200. It had been garaged for a couple of years and had had a respray. I turned it down as the engine was really lumpy. Gah!!

[HMC]

Rather than get too hung up about the cosmetics I've decided to pretty much leave that side as it is, replacement grill aside.

Actually I've decided it looks like a lot of them did in the 70's - make do and mend, and probably an MOT or two away from the knackers yard. To complete the look I've dug out some old disc or other from that sort of era and popped it in the window....

[scruff]

Actually I've decided it looks like a lot of them did in the 70's - make do and mend, and probably an MOT or two away from the knackers yard. To complete the look I've dug out some old disc or other from that sort of era and popped it in the window....

image.jpg

 

The look of champions!! I would love to get a photo of my Land Rover and your Rover. 

[HMC]

I must admit I havent spent much time on the old barge lately. Today was an exception as it was pissing down, and the P4 is the only old croc of mine that lives undercover. I could never quite get to make the handbrake to work properly. It always seemed to stick a bit no matter how thoroughly I cleaned everything up. Browsing through a partly decomposed  parts manual I had I reallised that a spring was missing from the wheel cylinders each side at the back.

 

 

I got a pair from J R Wadhams and the handbrake works perfectly now. Its a shepherd's crook type affiar that sprouts out from the floor by the A pillar.

 

 

I recently fitted some new carpets. I'm all for a pit of patina, but the off cuts of domsestic carpeting in a strange tan colour were hanging have now been binned. They were quite hard to remove as they were partly stuck down and partly rotten from the leaking screen seal ive now fixed. Some bits of the original red carpet remained up under the dash, and like a lot of repro stuff the new carpets arent as nice quality wise, but they're not bad and smarten it up. The guts of the dash are hanging out as I'm fitting a replacement bonnet and the hinge mount bolts are up under there.

 

Meanwhile, AMB came with no history aside from the V5 and MOT. A shame in some ways as having a wad of paperwork tells you a bit of the story of a car, especially something over 50 years old. Equally I do like a bit of detective work, and theres always the (very unlikely) possibility that someone interesting or famous was a former owner. However porridgey the car the fact it has survived this long is unusual and theres usually a story somewhere.  I did the usual of sending a V888 keeper history check. This took a couple of months to come back, but a satisfying chunk of papers were in the doovla brown envelope.

 

Turns out one guy had it from 1964 to 1989. His wife then for about 2 weeks and then another keeper from 1989-2001. I then checked using the BT phone book and this owner during the 1990s was still at the same address as per the old DVLA details. I sent him a breif letter with SAE in the hope he might reply. This may sound a bit stalkery but a letter at least gives the option to lob it in the bin, and usually if people have owned old cars for that long they are often keen so ask after the car. Within a couple of days  I had this reponse...

 

 

4 sides of A4 and a whole heap of pics!!!! I was really grateful that he took the time to reply. He writes he's had over 60 classics but I'm only the second to write to him. Nutters eh? Apparently the original owner was a chauffeur for Pilkington Glass in St Helens. He writes he reconned that it was bought off Pilkington's on his retirement and used it as his own car after that. Im not so sure as the DVLA sent a copy of the original buff log book

 

 

Which only has the long term owner as the first keeper and not Pilkingtons. Maybe he was a self employed chauffeur? Who knows. They used it every year for a holiday trip to North Wales. I can picture it holding up traffic. It sat out and the body suffered a bit. I rightly summised that sadly the very sudden and short change of ownership to his wife was because he passed away. The car was away having a respray at the time. The former owner writes that he was in the pub with his friend one night and his friend remarked that his Aunt and Uncle's old p4 was sitting in a bodyshop effectively unclaimed and if the bill was settled the car was his to take. He bought it and kept it for 10 years.

 

 

Out at Pilkington Glass HQ in the early 90s fresh from a blow over.

 

As he had several other cars (you can just make them out above) The P4 sat under a tarp by the side of the house and didnt get much TLC. He sold it on to a dealer who was going to break it for spares but it turns out it somehow avoided being pulled to bits 15 years ago. So that at least fill a few gaps and I have a bit more of an idea about the story of how the car came to be here festering in my garage!

[scruff]

Fantastic, top work that man

[tooSavvy]

My IMP, '64 - bought around '84 - shirley had a bit of a story??  Bought from a couple who DEFFO needed the money, in Brum.

 

Totally 'un-kiddyfiddled with', pneumatic throttle.. the lot & NO RUST!!!

 

 

 

.... must have had a good life....

 

*..yep, NE Crapi Club membership event...

 

 

TS