KEITH ADAMS Rimmer Bros sponsored AROnline’s Polish SD1 restoration… Buying parts for your BMC>MG has never been easier through AROnline… HERE at AROnline, we receive a large numbers of emails from people all over the world looking for parts for their cars MGs, Rovers, Landies and all manner of BMC>MG cars. Given that this is [...]

The long and the short of how the 75 was stretched… MacNeillie Regency In 1999, the 800-based Regency gave way to a new version based on the Rover 75, again available in 6-door form and aimed primarily at the funeral trade, although it could also be ordered with full armour-plating and bomb-resistance for the protection [...]

The 75 was the first Rover for a generation to be produced without tight budgetary constraints – and it showed with almost previously unheard of engineering quality. However, BMW’s Chairman decided to torpedo the car – and the company that produced it – at its launch in 1998, casting a long shadow over over Rover’s [...]

Images of the Richard Woolley styled Rover 75… designed to look contemporary and retro at the same time, the new car was designed with an eye to looking more solid and prestigious than the 600 and 800 it replaced. Launched at the same time as the Jaguar S-Type, the Rover 75 was greeted with almost [...]

The NEC Motorshow in 1998 was a vitally important event for Rover and Jaguar. Both companies launched brand new cars – and in both cases, they were devised the way they were to re-establish traditional marque values. Both cars were styled to evoke memories of 1950s and ’60s products, but the question remains: which did [...]

In taking over from the venerable A-series, Rover’s hi-tech new engine had a hard act to follow. However, it went on to earn itself an enviable reputation in both four- and six-cylinder forms. KEITH ADAMS discusses this controversial engine… The light fantastic HOW to replace the irreplaceable A-series engine? Build a light, powerful and technically [...]

What would Rover produced during the 1990s without Honda or BMW to influence the situation? Inspired by Roy Axe’s AR18 prototype photos, AROnline’s very own engineering genius Robert Leitch cooks up an enticing recipe for Rover’s 1990s’ growth… Words: Robert Leitch Doing it Rover’s way… THE APPEARANCE of those previously unseen Rover 700 pictures made [...]

When John Towers’ Phoenix bid was accepted by BMW, he knew that there would be a long, hard road ahead to restoring the image of the company, so badly eroded by the BMW debacle. Obviously, a major coup for the company was in keeping hold of the valuable MG nameplate, and this was soon celebrated [...]

The rear wheel drive version of the MG ZT spent a long time in development – and in the end it didn’t make it into production, as time ran out for it. Wearing the coveted chassis number one, the ZT XPower 385 is another of those fascinating might-have-beens that never saw the light of day. [...]

Following BMW’s disposal of the Rover Group in 2000, production of the then-new 75 needed moving from Cowley to Longbridge. Here’s the story, as recounted by IAN ELLIOTT back in 2000, and produced for the then fledgling MG Rover PR Department. It makes fascinating reading to this day, and shows just how logistical mountains can [...]

Not a lot of pictures of the R40′s development programme have surfaced; mainly because Richard Woolley’s 1993 design was considered so successful, it didn’t change between the time the clay model was finalised, and the launch of the car five years later. However, the interior was subject to a lot of soul searching, and two [...]

Sporting pretenders? Introduction YOU’RE enjoying a B-Road thrash behind the wheel of your favourite MG – the steering is sharp, the roadholding accurate, and driver involvement, high. Britain’s back roads are twisty and demanding – the perfect playground for a well set-up sporting saloon, and not the kind of place you’d expect a diesel-powered car [...]

Coupe rennaissance THIS was the car that Rover fans have been waiting for since the launch of the 75 in the autumn of 1998. The coupe version of what has been dubbed the best car in Rover’s history. Looking at the design proposal, it was hard not to be impressed with the saloon to coupe [...]

The 2010 Rover 3500 Any thoughts that the design team at Longbridge lacked an understanding of Rover’s rich history should be reassured – and saddened – by these images. Reassured because this imposing looking saloon oozed Rover from its every pore, and had it made production in a form resembling these images, it would have [...]

It lives on: MGR’s secret Rover facelift The farce that was the arrival of the 2004 facelifts of the Rover 25/MG ZR, 45/ZS and 75/ZT will probably haunt anyone who worked at MG Rover for years to come. If you don’t remember it, then cast your minds back – MGR fans were eagerly anticipating the [...]

Keith Adams It seems hard to believe that it’s coming up to 13 years since the Rover 75′s fateful launch at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show. Anyone who was at the unveiling will never forget the way that the then head of BMW, Bernd Pischetsrieder, unveiled the car and then torpedoed its launch by questioning [...]

Keith Adams  Six years on from the end of MG Rover as we knew it, the cars’ owners and enthusiasts seem as energised about their products as they ever did – and an excellent showing in the Auto Express Driver Power 2011 survey proves that. The overall results might have been a whitewash for Skoda, with the Superb topping the [...]

Steven Ward  Another Friday which means another four motor auctions to cast my critical, bargain-hunting eye over. Buying cars at auction has been very hard graft this year – in fact, the hardest I’ve ever known. The effects of Scrappage, an economy in recession and the promise of tens of thousands of public sector jobs being [...]

THE Rover 75 V8 Limousine was the car they weren’t going to build… When the long wheelbase version of the 75 was unveiled in 2002, the company made it clear that developing a V8-powered rear wheel drive version would be costly, and the limited demand wouldn’t justify the investment. Yet, they built one… Ministerial Rover [...]

Ian Merriman has unearthed this gem from the South of France – a pre-production Rover 75 Club. Are there any out there older we wonder? Words and pictures: Ian Merriman The oldest of the few? A lovely car in a lovely setting… THIS pre-production Rover 75 Club, registration S577 AOX, VIN 001538, was registered 15 [...]