cool but pricey old Rover Craigslist Va.

$2k. 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

I thought those were cool, back in the day. Described as having a "2,000-cubic-inch engine"...

"Anti-Rollover Bars"???

Neat car, and looks to be complete.  Eventually he'll take $500 for it.  

Hm, never seen a hump top Puegot before.

914Driver said:

Hm, never seen a hump top Puegot before.

It's a Citroen CX Estate not a Pug. 

Given where it's stored I would expect the skeleton of the Rover to be mostly held in the correct shape by old spider webs and hope.

All the outside panels on these are non-structural which makes assessing the condition of one of these a bit tricky. Oh, and parts for the 2L four banger are a lot harder to come by than for the V8.

They're cool cars if they work, but even at $500 this one might be too expensive.

Never seen a Citroen either.

BoxheadTim said:

Given where it's stored I would expect the skeleton of the Rover to be mostly held in the correct shape by old spider webs and hope.

All the outside panels on these are non-structural which makes assessing the condition of one of these a bit tricky. Oh, and parts for the 2L four banger are a lot harder to come by than for the V8.

They're cool cars if they work, but even at $500 this one might be too expensive.

They are also pretty cool in the suspension department. DeDion rear suspension and rocker arm front suspension with the spring/shock unit horizontal near the upper fender. 
 

one advantage of the non structural outer panels means that you weld up the structural parts without having to be great at bodywork as all structural welding will be hidden. 
 

small by American standards but a very elegant car. 

So...body swap it onto a worthless mod-00’s Chevy Malibu & enjoy the ride?

Pete Gossett said:

So...body swap it onto a worthless mod-00’s Chevy Malibu & enjoy the ride?

That would be stupid easy (relatively) as the body panels are all non structural, but can't you find something with better underpinnings?

Rover's wheelbase is 103" while the 80's Malibu is 108".  BMW 528e is 103" among others.

Adrian_Thompson said:

Pete Gossett said:

So...body swap it onto a worthless mod-00’s Chevy Malibu & enjoy the ride?

That would be stupid easy (relatively) as the body panels are all non structural, but can't you find something with better underpinnings?

Oh I’m sure, but I figure even a Malibu of that era would offer more performance & a better driving experience than the Rover would have when new?

I owned a '67 Rover 2000tc.  It was a wonderful car.  It handled, stopped & rode well. On the other hand it was the 2nd most undependable car I ever owned (nearly as bad as the Renault Dauphine).

I traded it in on my first BMW.

M2Pilot said:

I owned a '67 Rover 2000tc.  It was a wonderful car.  It handled, stopped & rode well. On the other hand it was the 2nd most undependable car I ever owned (nearly as bad as the Renault Dauphine).

I traded it in on my first BMW.

 

When was that?  

This maybe something that should be it's own thread, but my observation is this.  I always hear how utterly crap the reliability of 60's, 70's era British cars were over here.   But personal experience of those vehicles when they were just DD's on the 1st-2nd-3rd-4th owners suggest they just ran forever.  I find the same thing with the view towards new Euro cars these days over here.  I have to wonder if it's a willing ness to perform preventative maintenance in Europe rather than the drive until it's broken attitude over here?  Not knocking anyone, not pointing figures, just something that's always puzzled me.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

I was the 2nd owner from 1969 to 1971.  I hadn't heard all the jokes about Lucas, so I guess that's the reason I never had any electrical problems.  The major problems I had with the car: 

Coming to a normal stop from approx 50 mph, the brake rotor cracked & separated itself from the hub.  I lived in Chapel Hill at the time & the last  Rover dealer in NC was Nowell's Sport Summit motors in Wilson.  I needed the VIN for them to order the correct replacement rotor because BL used 2 different rotors (Girling and something else) during that model year.  I provided the VIN, dealer ordered it, and waited 2 weeks to receive the wrong rotor. Sent it back, got the correct rotor in another 2 weeks & replaced it. Started the car & had no clutch.  While waiting for the rotor, the clutch master cylinder failed.  Two more weeks for that part. 

The shifter linkage got wonky & finally got to the point that I only had 2nd gear.  It was a long expensive tow from Chapel Hill to Wilson.

Soon after that, main gear cluster in transmission broke in two.  Nowell's rebuilt the transmission.  Since you have to pull the engine to pull the transmission, I told Nowell's to check clutch,pressure plate,etc & replace anything dubious while they were in there. 

Driving to visit the in-laws in Columbia, a u-joint in the rear axle failed. A mechanic in Bumberkley SC fixed that in only a couple of hours.  IIRC that u-joint was the same as used on a GM compact of the mid-sixties.

It's been a long time so I may have left something out. That was way too much trouble for a 2 year ownership. As I implied in my previous post, when the car was functioning it was great.  If it hadn't been so unreliable, it would be one of my favorite cars.

Girling.  There's a parts brand I haven't heard in a very long time.