Comments on: Advert of the week : Rover SD1

By: The Wolseley Man

The Wolseley Man — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:11:43 +0000

I have read so much about the workmanship standards that prevailed in BMC and BLMH and BL over the years. I have read books by the higher echelons – the excellent Bank from the Brink by Michael Edwards, the Leyland Papers and many others. I have read books by the workforce and my father was final inspector on the Barb at Swindon for many years.
YET – no one has explained to me why the workforce were so reluctant to do a good job – or could not do a good job even if they wanted to.
Any bloggers who have real experience – were really involved and have a meaningful comment, please help. If your just a ‘pub expert’ can we just listen. Please.

By: Tigger

Tigger — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 18:46:21 +0000

Right now, I’m choosing to forget what a badly built car this was and even how agricultural the live rear made the handling and ride, but simply enjoy looking at what was a stunning car then and a stunning car now.

The film makes me feel both happy and sad in equal measure.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:36:23 +0000

Hi there!

Lovely old cars, still one of the better classic cars around!

My grandad saw this in a clay model in its early designs and he worked for the ICI which supplied the materials for the interior like cloth leather etc

Adam

By: David Dawson

David Dawson — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:39:30 +0000

Still a stunner the SD1 and, as I so very often think, the original looks better than the facelift (including the dash in the case of the SD1)

By: francis brett

francis brett — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:50:25 +0000

SD1 was a nearly car,now in the present tense i work on mercedes benz audi and ford vehicles for a national hire company and we are dealer accredited for warranty work and boy do we work!biblical levels of unreliabilty with cdi engines due to emissions equipment same for audi DPF failures ago go etc etc etc count yourselves lucky with an SDI your biggest worry was a glovie full of water!to name some of the faults.

By: The Rockabilly Red

The Rockabilly Red — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 07:20:55 +0000

David3500, I was there. The place was awful. Whatever Solihull may or may not have been in the distant past, by the 70′s, the quality of product being built there was shocking – even by the standards of the time. On internal quality surveys, the plant ranked alongside Speke – and that took some doing. The SD1 did not achieve even industry average quality standards until production moved to Cowley North Works.

I’m afraid that, for the company, the SD1 was a low volume, high cost, distraction. It was the wrong car, at the wrong time.

If you want to see the true ‘genius’ of King, take a look at the beauty that was Maestro.

By: Mike C

Mike C — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:14:33 +0000

JH, I agree about the Princess, a car without a market. It wasn’t a Cortina rival, being too unconventional, it wasn’t a prestige executive car, as it was too slow and had the wrong badge.

I can visualise a car range in 1977
Mini
Allegro
Maxi
Marina replacement (RWD, ADO 77)
Triumph SD2 on same platform
Triumph SD1 hatch
Rover SD1 saloon

By: David 3500

David 3500 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:59:43 +0000

@ Rockabilly Red

The Solihull plant where the early Rover SD1 was built was actually noted for its quality of build of previous generation Rovers and Land Rovers.

However, you have to remember that many of those employed at Solihull for the assembly of the SD1 were not old skool Rover assembly workers who cared about what they were building, but had been brought in from other British Leyland assembly plants.

The SD1 shows how good Bache and King were, but how bad senior managers and workers from other volume assembly plants had become. The Austin Morris way of doing things clearly was not the right way for Rover to go.

It was a crying shame that the Rover SD1 (and Speke built Triumph Stag) were allowed to suffer such indignity.

By: Collywobs

Collywobs — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:56:26 +0000

Ah,the SD1.Fond memories as I was a working for an AR dealership during the 80′s.Snapped cambelts on 2300/2600 as oil gallery in head had blocked up.Also,why did they enlarge the tailgate window for increased visibility when the wiper they fitted parked downwards across the lower dip ?.The wipers were also far too slow for the performance of the car.Talking of performance,the best drive I had was in a twin plenum Vitesse with the windows down driving through Leicester after I had dropped the customer off home in it !.

By: JH Gillson

JH Gillson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:43:23 +0000

That would have been a pretty sensible way of going about things, Mikey C. BL lost the rather good Triumph 2000/2500 and the SD1′s being available as a hatchback only must have cost sales.

BL might have been able to have pursued that kind of strategy if they’d never built the Princess. An interesting car in its own way, but I can’t help feel that we were robbed of a big Triumph in favour of a FWD Austin that nobody really wanted.

By: Mikey C

Mikey C — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:04:35 +0000

Well Mercedes sold a staggering 2.7m W123s, which suggests they got something right and BL got something wrong!

When I look at SD1, I can’t help thinking it would have been a better Triumph, in an ideal world 2 cars could have been spun off the same platform, a racy Triumph hatchback, and a sober Rover saloon, as SD1 put off many buyers looking for something more conventional looking, who boughts Grandads and especially Volvo 244s instead.

By: Simon Hodgetts

Simon Hodgetts — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:34:47 +0000

Finally listened to it with the ‘original’ music – man! that’s the worst version of ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ I’ve ever heard – couldn’t BL afford Stevie Wonder?

By: Two R8s

Two R8s — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:30:09 +0000

Nearside door mirrors weren’t very common in those days.

By: Hilton Davis

Hilton Davis — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:23:00 +0000

Great to see this advert (shot on “proper film”) before the days of video tape and digital productions. Showing my age when I say that, as I started my career in Industrial film production.

Re: the one mirror, I recall in the mid/late 70s many cars were fitted with a drivers door mirror only and the passenger side was an option. Shame if this was the case on early Rover SD1′s

By: Will M

Will M — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:32:08 +0000

Does this mean then, that given Mercedes’ recent disastrous build quality (see late 90s rust, premature engine failures and the M-class SUV) that they will be a failing manufacturer in a few years?

Or maybe they were sick of being used as taxis, and will up the quality now that they’re all on Skodas?

By: bangernomics

bangernomics — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:43:59 +0000

SD1s might have been flawed and beautiful, but did BL really have to skimp on a passenger wing mirror. Oh and when it does the U-turn it looks like it’s suspended on marshmallows.

I’m not sure the MB W123 is really a good comparison for build quality it ended up heavy and none too quick despite cutting edge engines, and what car company really wants to see their wares still working as taxis 30 years on.

By: David Tucker

David Tucker — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:32:12 +0000

why is there only one door mirror?

By: Keith Adams

Keith Adams — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:13:50 +0000

Good point.

Many people point at the Stag as being typical of BL’s failure – beautiful, and a world-beater, but tragically flawed… but the Rover SD1′s failure will have had far more commercial and cultural significance. It’s been said before, but had the company built the SD1 to Mercedes-Benz quality levels, then we’d still have a strong Rover today…

By: The Rockabilly Red

The Rockabilly Red — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:46:57 +0000

Sadly, a major contributor to the collapse of BL. A tribute to the lack of foresight, business sense, and engineering skill, that were hallmarks of Bache and King. The wrong car, at the wrong time, built in a plant that was a byword for some of the worst build quality in the industry.

By: Magnus

Magnus — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 07:39:37 +0000

Isn’t she lovely, indeed

How could you part with OEG, Mister Adams, how could you…? *sniffs*