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[Motown]

Hello there

I have been a regular visitor and reader of the forum for awhile and decided it was time to join. I have owned numerous cars over the years including a Peugeot 405 Ford Capri S and a Vauxhall Astra Sport although these cars always left me feeling unfulfilled and disappointed as i was always a Rover fan at heart. I have never really been a fan of modern cars and last year decided it was time my life needed a challenge other than the wife and kids so i went out and bought a Rover which then expanded into 2 Rovers and will probably soon expand into three.

My Rover 45 1.8 Saloon

In October 2018 I bought a Rover 45 1.8 Saloon from Steve "TinWorm" Tolkien who some of you from the forum may know.... The car had been sat in his lock-up for two years and although it came with an MOT when i bought it driving home it was evident something wasn't quite right. Sure enough about twenty miles from home pistons 1 and 3 exploded out of the engine luckily the car had enough momentum to reach it to the next section of hard shoulder and my visions of immanent doom on the smart motorway soon vanished. After waiting three hours for a recovery truck in the dark the car was collected and promptly returned to Steve who kindly offered me a refund but instead i managed to get him to fit a new engine. Under normal circumstances i would have cut my losses however the car was one of the first off the production line and was included in the first batch of press and marketing cars registered by Rover Group at the time of the cars debut. It has a personal line interior with 'Catkin Green' velour seats and door inserts the exterior colour is celadon green a colour that was only offered on the 45 for the first six months of its existence... It was this and the fact i love Rovers that made me believe it was worth saving.

After the new engine was fitted i had two months trouble free motoring before the CVT gearbox packed in and so that was then replaced along with the driveplate which unbeknown to me at the time was rarer than golden shit. Since then the car has had a completely new exhaust system, catalytic converter, fuel filter, spark plugs and coils. A new water pump and belt and welding done on the jacking points and now finally it runs perfectly... Well it has for the last 13 months and has been driven everyday.

My MK1 827 Fastback 

In August 2019 i bought a MK1 Rover 827 Sli from a lady in Oxfordshire it had belonged to her husband who i was told couldn't drive the car anymore she didn't say why but i believe he was disabled as the car had a disability aid lever mechanism attached to the pedals when i bought not a nice thing to catch my knees on when enjoying the S2 mode up the M1. The seller told me the car had very little wrong with it other than a radiator leak and had featured on the main Rover stand at the NEC in 2018. Upon inspection i could find very little wrong with the car other than the interior were very very tatty. It didnt look like it had been at the NEC  and instead looked like it had been stood for sometime thanks to the rats nest in the spare wheel well and unscrewed petrol pump hanging in the boot. I later found out via Youtube and the 800 owners club it had actually been to the NEC so god knows what happened to it in the meantime. My 150 mile drive home was problem free and it didn't lose a drop of water however three days later the car was refusing to turn over or it would turn over for the revs to drop and the car would cut out. At this point i had only driven the car twice and suspected the throttle cable had snapped but later i discovered it was the EICV and the coolant system which was full of gunk once i cleaned out the system and replaced the EICV the car ran perfectly and has continued to till this day. I have spent the last 4 months cleaning up the interior repairing an replacing any missing or broken parts however in the process i have broken the sunroof lifter an slider i have the spare parts for the sunroof and have approached numerous mechanics and garages in my area but no one is willing to fix it.... So if anyone knows how to fix this please get in touch this is the last thing i need doing short of completing the car.

 

[wuvvum]

I do like that 45 - don't recall seeing one in that colour before.

@Lord Sterling will be along shortly to drool over the 827.

[J-T]

Phwoaaar look at that 800! Makes me want to stick a crest on the door, put a massive gold chain on and sit in the back pretending I'm the mayor circa 1992

[Motown]

20 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I do like that 45 - don't recall seeing one in that colour before.

@Lord Sterling will be along shortly to drool over the 827.

The 45 is a rare colour as is the interior i only know of three currently in existence one of which is a V6   I am told they didnt make many and most were owned by employees of Rover or where sold fairly quickly at the dealerships. The 827 is my dream car always promised myself one!  Thee actual Lord Sterling? ?

[Motown]

13 minutes ago, J-T said:

Phwoaaar look at that 800! Makes me want to stick a crest on the door, put a massive gold chain on and sit in the back pretending I'm the mayor circa 1992

 I just pretend i am Tony Pond or Alan Partridge depends what day it is  ?

[Matty]

That 45. Autoshite all over. You spent money on resurecting it when most ( me included) would've binned it. Top man!

[Matty]

Ohh and that 800 is well fit!

[Motown]

1 minute ago, Matty said:

That 45. Autoshite all over. You spent money on resurecting it when most ( me included) would've binned it. Top man!

Thank you sir! I have wasted hundreds if not thousands over the years on numerous cars worth less than £500 but i strongly believe the old stuff is the better than the crap they push out now!

[Motown]

6 minutes ago, Matty said:

Ohh and that 800 is well fit!

You think thats fit you should see the wife... Arse like a Rover 75 Estate ? Oooft!

[Skizzer]

When you say it’ll probably expand to three Rovers, I think you’ll quickly find it’s more like eight now you’re on here.

Liking the 45 (green! Velour! CVT!) but loving the 800. Great work preserving them both.

Welcome along.  

[Motown]

1 minute ago, Skizzer said:

When you say it’ll probably expand to three Rovers, I think you’ll quickly find it’s more like eight now you’re on here.

Liking the 45 (green! Velour! CVT!) but loving the 800. Great work preserving them both.

Welcome along.  

Thank you kindly the CVT parts for the 45 were incredibly difficult to come by i actually ended up installing an old Ford Fiesta drive plate which is quieter and more reliable than the Rover ones. I have never owned more than five at once we currently only have space for three max or i probs would buy more. My wife is also a Rover fan her first car being an Austin Metro but she thinks we shouldn't buy anymore than we need which is just silly... I have promised the wife a gold 25 or a Tomcat so can get away with owning one more and will be on look out after Christmas  

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Lets see a pic of your personal line interior!!! Sounds mega!

[Twisterboy]

Love it, always wanted to own a rover was so close to getting a 75 before my Volvo, maybe one day I will dip the toe into rover ownership! 

 

Do not think I have seen a 45 in that colour.

 

As for the 827... so much want

[Motown]

1 minute ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

Lets see a pic of your personal line interior!!! Sounds mega!

 

[Motown]

1 minute ago, Twisterboy said:

Love it, always wanted to own a rover was so close to getting a 75 before my Volvo, maybe one day I will dip the toe into rover ownership! 

 

Do not think I have seen a 45 in that colour.

 

As for the 827... so much want

 

I highly recommend you buy a 827 while you still can there are a few MK2s about on owners groups and Ebay but MK1s are getting rare. Prices are relatively low at the moment but will only increase from now on so theirs never been a better time to get one.... Easily the best car i have ever driven i take a great deal of pride wiping smirks from the faces of boy races who have spent thousands modifying an exhaust note or engine only to be beaten by my old 827 at the traffic lights ?

[Motown]

5 minutes ago, Tayne said:

Kent Green, I think.

Celadon Green  

[Rod/b]

You want a third do you? How about a BRM for 1500 quid?
 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F124018904261

[RoadworkUK]

That 827 is lush. And on the best wheels, too. My late 825 is stashed away in hibernation right now. Welcome!

[bunglebus]

I usually find the 800 series a bit...meh, but that looks very good in black. I borrowed an 820 for a while years ago, what a pain to fit in a parking space. Stupidly light PAS was funny though

[spartacus]

Plus one for interior pics of the 45 please, to make up for the disappointment when I clicked on the thread and it wasn't full of old Detroit chod.;-)

[Motown]

1 hour ago, spartacus said:

Plus one for interior pics of the 45 please, to make up for the disappointment when I clicked on the thread and it wasn't full of old Detroit chod.;-)

The pictures dont really do the interior justice I believe its called catkin velour. I've seen the V6 version of this car and that has a green leather interior

[Motown]

3 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

That 827 is lush. And on the best wheels, too. My late 825 is stashed away in hibernation right now. Welcome!

Do you have any pictures i would love to see it?  

[spartacus]

There's plenty of love on here for velour interiors, it looks ace.

[clayts450]

Phwoar, them's fit. Love the 45 colour scheme, spendid.

[Roobarb]

Rover 800(!)...

[Broadsword]

Welcome! Your dedication to the 45 is admirable, worthy of a medal. Also the 800 looks gorgeous!

[sierraman]

Are you a fellow Sheffielder?

[Motown]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Are you a fellow Sheffielder?

 Aye  

[Lord Sterling]

Hello Motown, welcome to Autoshite. I am/was a Rover 800 botherer for a long time. Unfortunately life seems to have other ideas for me right now so the Rover 800s have been "mothballed" (or rather parked up and almost completely forgotten about) which hasn't done them any good. Here is what I own:

1987 820e:

1987 825 V6 Sterling:

1990 827 Sterling:

1995 827 Sterling:

1997 825 KV6 Sterling:

All of them were, at some point, my daily driver, sadly most haven't been driven in a few years. I really don't have the time anymore.

[Snipes]

I do like a mk1 fastback