Found at last..Bedford update

[STUNO]

I think I have found the elusive autonotsoshite. It is only 10 minutes away too. I'm going for a look in about an hour $1500=650 pounds approx. It is probably one of the ones just about hand built new as it as it was sold new here. And it looks to be pretty rust- free.

[Pillock]

Crikey....if those photos of "blemishes" are all he can find, you're onto a winner. They came out of Birmingham with more rust than that.

[seth]

That looks good. I have a fondness for SD1s that has been piqued in the last couple of days by seeing a rather tasty black Vitesse prowling local streets

[Tayne]

.

[STUNO]

I have done it It's not got so much as a bubble of rust other than the photos. Paint is shot but it will clean up reasonably well and I prefer rough paint to a new coat covering the horrors. Everything works except possibly the aircon which was attended to about a year ago, but son in law did not think it was very cold (rose tinted specs say I can live with that).Pick it up tonight

[brammy777]

Excellent work Stuno, thats top shite buying right there! Look forward to pics.

[Spiny Norman]

Shite? That's pretty darn close to being really cool and desirable. Well done for snapping it up.

[STUNO]

It's arrived, no photos till the weekend as I have to work !The Rover had been standing for some time and would only run on 6-7 cyls and would not run on 8 at all even after a run on the highway. I decided to take a punt that there was nothing much wrong and did the deed. When I collected it this evening it was at least idling at about 500 rpm instead of 1500 + that it was doing,P.S. it has a manual choke fitted. On the way home the engine just smoothed right out and is now running well with a slightly rough idle.The rest of the car is pristine apart from poor paint, I got out the cutter/polish and the bit I tried came up to a reasonable finish. Then I opened the sunroof to check. Absolutely perfect inside the hole , drains must be ok ,but they will be checked. The body is as near pristine as you can get, not a sign of bubbling anywhere except the windscreen as described in the ad, No faults with upholstery and no dashboard cracks.The spare has never been used either.In short I am in love

[Rod/b]

Top work! That's a steal for a V8 too.

[VWPowered]

wow lovely that get it now, in fact run....

[Alexg]

Great find, well done that man

[Cavcraft]

Fantastic work and a right bargain too, nice one!

[STUNO]

The ad has gone so here are a couple of pics I saved from that

 

[Pete-M]

That looks good. I have a fondness for SD1s that has been piqued in the last couple of days by seeing a rather tasty black Vitesse prowling local streets

If you live near Balham, that'll probably be Dave Plowman's SD1.

[saabhappy]

That looks an absolute belter! Well done and good luck with it.

[STUNO]

Well now it is Sunday evening and after a quick wash it is time for some pics.

But first some stats;

the car was delivered new by Robinson Honda in Whakatane NZ and registered on 11th April 1984 with 51 km on the odo

Next owner was the nephew of the original

changed to him 2nd Nov.1992 at 16521 km

Next to a dealer R N BYRNE LTD Whakatane ( see Volksy)on 8th June 1994 at 25260 km

Then to the prev to me owner on 24th June 1994 at 25300 km

then to me at 169000 km

 

So it has only moved 75 km from where it was sold new!

 

Now the pics

It is better than I could ever have hoped for.

That will do for now

[CortinaDave]

Wow that looks a beauty. Much tidier than the one I just sold. Interesting that yours has air con but not the fuel computer! Other than that the spec looks identical to UK motors. Its in the best colour too.

[STUNO]

Just looked at your SD1 ad, interesting that the colour here is Quartz Blue, and appears to be the same as Moonraker Blue.My one has never been welded and is not likely to ever need any (hopefully) except a small area round the screen. Trip computer may be a vitesse bit, but this does have the immensley useless stop-watch function in the clock. Air con is all connected and running but not cold, so hopefully just needs re-gassing, prev. owner is very elderly and although he said it was gassed a couple of years ago, he was not sure that anything was wrong except it was not cold enough.

[michiel]

Wow, nice one!

[Rod/b]

Moonraker's a darker shade Stuno. That is a bloody lovely motor though.Has it got the electronically controlled choke on the carbs?*edit: I spy Manual choke conversion. You're in luck, the electronic choke was shit and the parts are now NLA. This should improve reliability no end*

[Hudsonpie]

That Rover is lovely, theres an SE near where I live but in a lighter (I think) shade of blue, will try and grab a pic.

[Volksy]

Great stuff, looks lovely!'Robinsons' of Whakatane, I think this place must have been owned by some relation of a mate of mine from there. They now run an Earthmoving Company of the same name!

[CortinaDave]

TBH you dont want the fuel computer. It just reminds you how violent they are on fuel

[Mr Lobster]

That looks lovely. Enjoy!

[STUNO]

Moonraker's a darker shade Stuno. That is a bloody lovely motor though.Has it got the electronically controlled choke on the carbs?*edit: I spy Manual choke conversion. You're in luck, the electronic choke was shit and the parts are now NLA. This should improve reliability no end*

Correct. The manual choke was fitted years ago as a temporary fix while a new auto choke was found. The owner never bothered as he was happy, and I will be too !edit. You will notice the number HA0657 on the LH suspension turret, that appears to be its NZ build number

[IanF]

What a mega thing. I'd love to get hot and heavy on it

[Lankytim]

Thats stunning! Anyone who doesnt like SD1s must be mentally ill. Are nice straight old motors like this one common over in NZ?

[Rusty Pelican]

Thats stunning! Anyone who doesnt like SD1s must be mentally ill.

Thats good , im normal then

[STUNO]

Thats stunning! Anyone who doesnt like SD1s must be mentally ill. Are nice straight old motors like this one common over in NZ?

Some would say I am mentally ill for buying this and- Yes, because there is no salt used on the roads, the dreaded rust is not such a problem and and cars last a lot longer.As an aside there have deen a number of lovely old UK registered Bentleys in town here , the owners club must be touring and shipped their cars with them.

[STUNO]

A week of Rover ownership has shown up only one problem, The fuel consumption 7km per litre,(someone can convert that to real figures) mostly on the highway. The car was running poorly when I got it. but I decided that lack of use was mostly to blame and a good blow- out was needed before I touched anything. That done, this weekends job was to improve things further. Out with the plugs for a clean, they were very old and dirty, but They were cleaned and refitted. By the way , how do you lose 2 sets of feeler gauges just when they are needed? Next to the air filters. Oh lordy what a mess! They must not have been looked at for years. I did not have any replacements so just got the mess out by vigorous whacks on the bench and replaced again, until some new ones are bought tomorrow.The end result was an improvement in running and idle, still not as it should be so it may well be taken to a real mechanic for a good seeing to Paintwork has received some attention in the form of a cut and polish for the worst part, the roof, which has at least put a shine of sorts on it. The paint is in poor condition but it will come up well enough with some work.rest of the weekend is for play. Top gear on now wih May causing airship chaos with a caravan, quite funny cause they could not have planned that !