Events : Report – The Rover Diamond Jubilee Rally

Words and photography: David Morgan

RSR
Picture: John Divall

Rover Jubilee Rally is a Roaring Success

One of the largest gatherings of classic and modern Rover cars descended on Coughton Court, near Alcester, last weekend to celebrate several notable anniversaries in the history of the Rover marque. The Rover Jubilee Rally held on 28–30 June and jointly organised by the Rover Sports Register and the Rover P6 Club, brought together over 350 examples of ‘one of Britain’s fine cars’.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the P6 Rover 2000 which co-established the 2.0-litre executive class and went on to became one of Rover’s most successful post-war saloon ranges. Seventy five years ago saw the rare P2 Drophead Coupe built by Salmons-Tickford going on sale.

Both the Rover Sports Register and Rover P6 Club were celebrating their own special milestones too. The Rover Sports Register was established 60 years ago, initially for owners of the Rover Sports Tourers from the 1930s and 1940s. It soon became the UK’s only national Rover club embracing all Rover cars, motorcycles, bicycles and early Land Rovers and Range Rovers.  The Rover P6 Club was formed in 1993 and is the largest P6 owners club in the world.

Over the weekend the programme of events included driving tests at the Heritage Motor Centre, scenic road trips and a formal dinner where guest speaker, the motoring historian James Taylor, delivered an interesting talk on marketing Rover cars.

Rover Jubilee Rally (19)

The Sunday Rally held in the scenic setting of the Coughton Court saw enthusiasts travelling from as far afield as Belgium to enjoy the array of Rovers on show. These ranged from a 1904 8hp to some of the last examples of the 75 built in 2005. The gathering attracted over 100 P6s, including the two surviving pre-production FLK-registered cars and the 1962 ‘Talago’ registered as 16 DYF, which is believed to be the only surviving example of the sixteen prototype cars. Of equal interest were a P6 convertible and six examples of the Salmons-Tickford P2 Drophead Coupe.

More recent rare Rovers included an SD1 3500 Vanden Plas EFi, 200 BRM LE, a 25 GTi (fewer than 2000 examples were built over an eighteen month production period) and a 75 100th Anniversary limited edition which was built for sale in Central Europe only.

Supporting the event were members from the Rover P4 Drivers Guild, P5 Owners Club, SD1 Owners Club, 200/400 Owners Club and the Rover 75 and MG ZT Owners Club.

Keith Adams

2 Comments

  1. Good to see the P6 taking prominence at this gathering, but also good to see a vast selection of other Rovers too. Just the other day I saw an 05 reg MG ZT facelift car in silver and it really looked in good nick. I will eventually miss seeing their kind on our roads apart from at future classic car shows.

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