Rover SD1

[bigbadbadge]

2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

When I worked for Sony we had one of those as a pool car - I hated it! As you say they weren't renowned for their relaibilty, and the steering was horrendously light and with that dreadful design of steering wheel it often seemed more luck than judgement as to whether you actually had the thing pointed where you wanted to go....!! 🤣

 

Keith

I had 3 of these a y reg 2000 which was okay, then a Mark 1 3500SE Manual with two straight through to cherry bombs exhaust,  awesome sound going through built up areas and tunnels and the last an 1985 O series 3500 VDP manual, loved the last two, although kept getting pulled over by the Police who thought I was too young (19) to be driving such beasts. I never found a steering issue only if I turned a corner and accellerated too quickly 😉  Wish I still had either of the two 3500s

Chris

[Paul H]

Thinking about it more, given the history of these cars (regular road car, police, race, rally), it is a surprise that there hasn't been a kit of them before, as there is a lot of scope for variants from one basic set of tooling.  Given the dashboard design, it would be possible to do both left and correct hand drive versions very easily - the original being a very clever piece of industrial design for the era.

 

They were also sufficiently aspirational at the time for nostalgia appeal now, and in fact, still have a strong following.  Even when just second hand cars, the Vitesse especially was still well regarded.  Performance Car (in its original form when it was a proper car mag rather than a rival to Max Power) used to run a golden oldies / blast from the past feature each month along side all the modern GTi / sports / GT / supercars etc, and I still remember the  SD1 Vitesse feature from around 1994 / 95, where they described it as being only a few upgrades away from being a 5 door TVR.

 

As a child, I knew them more from having a Corgi / Matchbox toy police one, so the classic Jam Sandwich image is very much engrained, however the later Vitesses with the cliff face spoilers look stunning (the earlier front spoiler, shared with the other variants just doesn't have the presence) and looks so menacing and modern compared to the original Series 1 cars.

 

Later at uni, studying Transport Design (car styling!), one of our lecturers was ex BL / Austin Rover (also a dead ringer for Ned Flanders from the Simpsons which was uncanny), and he had apparently been part of the team responsible for the SD1 facelift.  Rumour had it amongst us students that the Allegro's quartic wheel was also him, however those of us who actually understood the history of BL as well as the wider history of car styling trends (as opposed to just the common perception of BL as displayed in Top Gear etc) widely respected him & saw that as a badge of honour rather than something to mock.

 

I'm already searching out reference pics for when I build mine.  Definitely a late spec Vitesse road car, the issue now is what colour, and do I use the 1:24 resin Rover V8 I bought a while back for this, or keep it for the Italeri Range Rover?

Edited June 2, 2022 by Paul H

[bigbadbadge]

Just had to share this, out on the Kent and East Sussex Railway today and this was outside the office by the entrance

It's a 1984 3500SE in black, ex foreign  office car with 41000 miles from New and in immaculate condition.   

 

Beautiful

Chtis

[Anteater]

Isn't that just lovely. I've driven and been in more than my fair share of stuff but never knowingly travelled in one of these. When I used to walk to what was laughingly called school, there was a house I used to pass with a then-new SD1 parked outside. It was a glorious bright red twin-plenum Vitesse with a huge front air dam, leather trim and a car-phone the size of a breeze block. Compared to the stodgy old rubbish that was the usual fare around the black hole of hopelessness I was obliged to call home, it stuck out a mile. I can only imagine the dude had an unimaginably cool job like rocket tester or director of Duran Duran videos, but more likely he worked in "imports and exports". Either way, top work.  

[pigsty]

41,000 miles!  My V8 had about 50,000 when I had to let it go, but it was the age that wearied it, not the mileage.   Rubber parts had started to perish, deep down in the engine, and I couldn't afford to fix them, just for those few crucial months.  Especially as one of the effects was knock the fuel economy back to about 8mpg.  If only ...

 

I always felt the old thing steered like it was on rails, and that was in both - the V8 and the Morris-engined 2000 I had before it.  As for that odd wheel, well, you got used to it.  Like all the other quirks - the boot full of water, the intermittent trip computer, the intermittent sunroof, the boot lid that needed a pit prop to hold it open.  These, gentlemen, are not "faults".  They're character.  

[cmatthewbacon]

SouthEast Finecast has a 1/24 Rover V8 in its catalogue still if anyone is looking…

best,

M.

[Paul H]

2 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

SouthEast Finecast has a 1/24 Rover V8 in its catalogue still if anyone is looking…

best,

M.

I suspect that the resin one I have is a copy of this - had I known at the time, I would have gone straight to them!  It's a carb set up though, so presumably for their whitemetal MGB kit, and so will need the EFi set up scratchbuilding.

 

Oh, and for any SD1 fans who haven't already seen it, this is worth watching - lots of good reference info for when the kit arrives too!

 

 

[Paul H]

And for the Jam Sandwich fans, firstly the famous Liver Run:

 

and also this review of a restored, genuine ex Police SD1:

 

The rebuild thread for which can be found here:

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/131089/1986-rover-sd1-3500se-police

[Noel Smith]

My boss back in the day had an SD1.

I found it amusing how when he arrived at work each morning he never slowed down going over the speed bumps and gave the suspension a good hammering!

[Paul H]

Has anyone heard any more on this kit?  Searching online has revealed nothing more than the info in the first post, and I've been wondering if there was any more news?

[Vince1159]

On 6/2/2022 at 1:24 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Just had to share this, out on the Kent and East Sussex Railway today and this was outside the office by the entrance

It's a 1984 3500SE in black, ex foreign  office car with 41000 miles from New and in immaculate condition.   

 

Beautiful

Chtis

Absolutely gorgeous and i can just imagine someone who was PM from '79 - 90 getting into her...