Keith Adams
eBay user, The Doctor, is becoming a bit of a celebrity around these parts for his ability to sniff out the nicest BMC>MG cars and sell them perfectly. There can’t be many AROnline readers who’ve not spent time drooling over his adverts – and to tempt us some more, he’s offering this amazing Rover 2600.
The immaculate car, with 41,000 miles on the clock and boasting one owner from new, looks tempting and nice enough to have us thinking that here we have a 2600 good enough to see these smooth cruisers emerge from the shadow of the 3500.
The advert reads: ‘Today the only owner of this exemplary Rover 2600 has himself just turned 70. He has kept it in tip top condition and was very, very sad to part with a car that holds so many memories and that he has loved and cherished since he was in his late thirties. However, the practicalities of keeping the car at his age weighed heavily and consequently the decision just had to be made. We very much would hope that the second owner will continue to care for YOJ 573T in the same way as its first has.’
Will that second owner be you?
Is the Editor of the Parkers website and price guide, formerly editor of Classic Car Weekly, and launch editor/creator of Modern Classics magazine. Has contributed to various motoring titles including Octane, Practical Classics, Evo, Honest John, CAR magazine, Autocar, Pistonheads, Diesel Car, Practical Performance Car, Performance French Car, Car Mechanics, Jaguar World Monthly, MG Enthusiast, Modern MINI, Practical Classics, Fifth Gear Website, Radio 4, and the the Motoring Independent...
Likes 'conditionally challenged' motors and taking them on unfeasible adventures all across Europe.
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Ah! The Thinking Man’s V8.
Indeed…
That looks the Polski Rover’s double.
Hope it goes to a collector who will cherish it.
Actually, for a split second when AROnline’s front page loaded, I thought that was the Polski for sale and spat my tea all over the office!
Phew!… I can put off doing the front struts and rear cylinders for another few days!
Hehe. Sorry about that!
/K
Mike, you aren’t the only one. I thought his Keithyness was flogging the Polski…
Keith you want it, I know you do.Twins… The Polski and that side by side would make any SD1 fan go all wobbly and start dribbling like an idiot…
@Mike Humble
I thought that the Polski Rover was for sale too. However, what a great find of an original Series 1 SD1.
I can’t stand it when the Rover gets called Polski. Still, it’s your car.
This 2600 looks tremendous and obviously a credit to its original owner. The interior looks great too. A car with character from a bygone era… reminds me of a time traveller. I do hope that this one finds a very caring new owner.
I think I’m going to watch this one with interest. I said I’d have another. My last one had 46k when I sold it six months ago.
@Johnos1984
Me too, ‘cos I’ll know what mine is worth. 🙂
/K
The price you mentioned before was a tad LOW. I’m not sure if that will make £5000 but think that £3500-£4500 is the real value.
My, my, that’s nice. Has the proper original type exhaust, too.
I want that car!
This SD1 looks great. With an ex-works SD1 rallycar being so noisy that the neighbours complain when on the run for the Sunday papers, the time has come for a sister car. The Maestro in the current Classic Car Weekly looked tempting (17,000 miles, change out of £2k), until this popped up. One red, white and blue, the other in all white – it would brighten up the shed a treat. Well worth over £6k…
@Mike Humble
Same here! I saw it and thought ‘what the..!’ 🙂
What a beaut – if only I had some spare cash!! You caught me out with the pic too – I thought you were selling the Polski Rover…
Here’s a cliche: time-warp car. Here’s another: I thought it was the Polski too! Oh, and a question: was the 2600 spec’d just like the 3500? The 2300 had a lower spec interior and different rear suspension.
Call me a child of the 1980s (born in 1972) but, to me, the Series 2 looks better – flush headlamps and the like.
I had a 1982 2600S, just before the big facelift. A lovely car…
This is an incredible example.
@Jonathan Carling
Well, from memory, my father’s 3500 (which was the same age and colour as this one), had front fogs as well as rear, electric windows all round (four rocker switches next to the choke lever) and a radio-cassette, rather than just a radio. I seem to remember a total of five push-push buttons on the instrument binnacle, rather than three as shown here, which leaves one unaccounted for – although my memory may be faulty.
My father’s also had a 3-speed auto box, although I don’t know if that was standard or an extra.
My father’s 2600 started rusting in the middle of several panels within a couple of years of leaving the factory and plenty of bits started to fall off. The owner of this car has done extremely well to keep it in good condition for so long.
What a truly lovely example – almost factory-fresh! A 3.5 with 41k on the clock is barely run in. The full description on eBay is well worth a read, too.
However, given its age and the Series 1’s shoddy build quality, it will need true TLC to keep it in that state. Garaging at night, regular washing, polishing and servicing are obligatory – anything less and it will soon rot before your eyes.
@DeLorean’s Accountant
You are a child of the 1980s.
A growling, brutish 3.5 Series 1 is the way to go – the Series 2 was just an Austin Rover pastiche and they ruined the layout of that simplistic, chunky and symmetrical dash, to boot.
No, if you haven’t had leaky windscreens, snapping choke levers, temperamental electric windows and blistering paint after 18 months, you haven’t lived. That’s because, for all of that, the Series 1 was a superb car. Su-bloody-perb…
The electrically bonded windscreens were problematic – people used to compain about a heavy thumping when going over bumps which was caused by the screen becoming partially detached.
@DeLorean’s Accountant
The VDP and Vitesse versions looked amazing – no Rover 75/MG ZT can come close in terms of road presence and the 800 was such a let down in comparison when launched.
I believe the Vitesse was known as the 5-door Aston in contemporary road tests… My personal favourite, though, is the interim V8S model, in metallic green, with gold wheels – magic!
@Simon Hodgetts
CAR Magazine was the first to call the Vitesse the 5-door Aston and you are right about the Metallic Green V8S – it was a fantastic colour scheme for the early SD1.
I think I just about recall that V8S model too – in the metallic green and gold wheels. A very nice looker…