Italianjob's Preproduction Rover 75

[HMC]

I've had previous with Rover 75s I originally bought a category C early tourer that sold me on the charms of these lovely barges. "Next time" I wanted a Cowley built saloon, with a wafty V6..... which is what I've ended up with. I fancied something a bit different maybe in spec or colour so had been half heartedly searching around for a while. After browsing a very early tourer and a few launch cars I settled on a pre production car.

T82MOA was built in early January 1999 and is unusual as it's a 2.5 v6 classic. Build number 3 in this poverty spec. They pushed the Flagship stuff early on and didn't release the classic models until the end of that year so it seems likely it was done as a trial. Chassis numbers well after mine were registered on an S plate soon after assembly, but this one was'nt registered until April, around the time volume production commenced prior the the U.K. Launch in June. It's not clear what it was used for during that time before being road registered; maybe staff training, publicity images or some sort of development work?

Hardly any earlier ones survived as they were often scrapped after their initial use was over. It's got a few detail quirks that were not on later cars, and came with a load of launch publicity. Initial work has been to fix the bonnet lock, clear the blocked plenum drains and remove the interior carpet to let it dry off as water had been leaking in via the (submerged) pollen filter. Having said that it's in really decent condition and I'm really happy with it! Got a few pictures on my first proper drive of it this morning.....

[Six-cylinder]

I love the colour and manual aircon always seems to work better that climate to me.

[Guest Lord Sward]

I think I've got some really bad memories of that bloody car.

[BorniteIdentity]

Looking swish, IJ.

 

Where was it advertised, or was the car known to you?

[Guest Lord Sward]

Does it have a velcro'd black box for reverse sensors or something in the boot?

[oldcars]

I think I've got some really bad memories of that bloody car.

Tell us more, have you owned it or did you work for Rover at the time?

[EssDeeWon]

That is very nice!  and quite an interesting car too, just a shame you don't know why it remained unregistered for those months in classic form but on 15" connie crowns. Perhaps the classic contour alloys had not been produced at the time?

 

[Split_Pin]

Ooft!!! Nice colour too. 12/10.

[carlo]

I think that charcoal velour with the white trim is the best look for a 75.

[Sir Snipes]

What are the detail quirks?

[Skizzer]

That looks really, really good in that colour and on those wheels. I really like the teddy bear fur seats in these too, more so than leather. That plus the pre-production-ness makes this a cracking purchase. Chapeau.

[sierraman]

Great to see it preserved. Surprising how like the pre pro SD1s knocking about how they've escaped captivity. How did it come into the general publics hands? I thought these sort of things usually got baled once Rover had done with them?

[FrazzleTC]

I'm sure I spotted this in Wetton about three weeks ago? Looking a lot better now than it was when I spotted it!

[EssDeeWon]

Great to see it preserved. Surprising how like the pre pro SD1s knocking about how they've escaped captivity. How did it come into the general publics hands? I thought these sort of things usually got baled once Rover had done with them?

 

All sorts of reasons, perhaps given to a member of staff or middle management, or it could have been bartered for some media i.e. Instead of Rover paying a leading car magazine £50,000 they throw a few cars in their direction to reduce the fee's.

 

There are numerous reasons, It would be interesting to know but we probably never will, sadly.

 

My Primrose car was not sold by Rover to the general public until it was about 18 months old, it was registered by Rover in Birmingham also with an 'OA' plate but no idea why. 

[HMC]

I'm sure I spotted this in Wetton about three weeks ago? Looking a lot better now than it was when I spotted it!

 

That would be the one and the same car. Had it transported from that area last week. Small World!

[Guest Breadvan72]

Random R75 spottage for all you 75 lickers. Parked at a local shite garage.

 

 

[Ghosty]

I spotted a grey T plate 75 not far from my gaff earlier today!

[tommotech]

Damn, I've now got an itch but must resist the urge to scratch.........

[Mally]

There's a newly bought tourer on my drive, I've not seen it for a fortnight, had to leave it to go on holiday.

Hope it's missing me as much as I'm missing it.

Also hope the clutch lasts a while.

[Rod/b]

Isn't this the velcro special that has knackered interior plastic bits?

[HMC]

Funnily enough Since I bought it at the beginning of the year I've been trying to find out about its history. What do you know about its past? As far as I can tell mg rover disposed of it in about march 2001, and certain bits of the interior have pre production date stamps but the seats and other items have dates that suggest a fair portion of the interior was replaced just before mg rover got rid of it. Anything you may know would be much appreciated!

 

Reading back to earlier posts and lord sward has said something similar. Here are my scrawlings anyway- I put the cars known history in the context of general model developments. If anyone can fill in the big gaps It would be much appreciated thanks.

[EssDeeWon]

I cant read some of the writing but it looks interesting and it would be great to know more. Perhaps someone who worked at Rover around that time could help? There would have been cars that were used for training sales staff and technicians.

 

The interior change could of been because it was used to train technicians and had been partly pulled apart over time from 1999 to 2001.

 

My 12 pence worth.

[tommotech]

Would the archive department at Gaydon be able to help, were the 75 records even sent there?

 

Worth an ask though.

[EssDeeWon]

Would the archive department at Gaydon be able to help, were the 75 records even sent there?

 

Worth an ask though.

 

Sadly not they were lost which is really annoying because no one really knows how many Primrose cars were built.  The number varies from 400 UK cars down to just a couple if you catch the right bloke in the right pub after a few sherbets. 

[vonmon]

Pretty sure my pop's still got all his/his designers CAD files and drawings for all the components he made the tooling for. I know for certain we used to have bloody hundreds of steering wheels and mirror caps lying about in storage for ages. The shite Rover made us do in their name, the money they made us spend, then they went and fukced those daft enough to still supply them over big style in the end. They employed some right fucktards in the 90s on the management side.

[saucedoctor]

I remember someone selling the wee dashboard mats fitted to Rover 25s that had no passenger airbags. He'd hundreds of them, and was flogging them on eBay. The description went into a right old rant about MG-R fucking him about and not paying him.