Blog : Two for the price of one

Keith Adams

Chris Wood and Keith Adams' Rover SD1s
Chris Wood and Keith Adams' Rover SD1s

Enjoyed a nice catch-up with SD1-owning, AROnline reading, Nissan engineering man Chris Wood last night. We caught up at the Earls Barton Classic Car and Bike Meet, after briefly meeting at the AROnline 10th anniversary bash a couple of weeks ago. That time he brought a Nissan Leaf with him – but this time, finally, I got to see his lovely 1978 3500…

I have to say that parking them side-by-side certainly attracted attention. More often than not, from people reminiscing about the cars their dads owned (yes, everyone’s dad had an SD1, didn’t you know). His bright Turmeric Yellow example certainly drew bags of attention, and having a good nose round has encouraged me to do a couple of those last-finishing off jobs that I had put out of my mind. Namely getting the headlining properly trimmed, and putting on some period number plates. I might even suggest putting on mudflaps, as someone helpfully pointed out that mine have been missing since it came back from Poland.

But looking at it now – all clean and shiny, bodily perfect, mechanically spot on… I’m almost scared to run it. Now I kinda understand all of those people who spend years doing up a house; only to sell when it’s finished, in order to move on to the next project. I said ‘kinda’…

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Keith Adams

15 Comments

  1. Two lovely Rover SD1’s. I remember that Inca Yellow paintwork. An R3500 in that colour appeared in episodes of “The Professionals” driven by George Cowley (Gordon Jackson).

    Also I like the simple but effective 3500 badge style of the era. Keep looking after them!

  2. Right – please also regard my description as “yellow” not Inca yellow. Manufacturers devise nice names for auto colours but the public mostly just call them blue, silver, grey etc.

    I remember the exact names of many Ford & Vauxhall colours in the 70s, but not as well up on BL.

  3. It is ‘Turmeric’, however the P6 was also avalaible in ‘Turmeric’ which was orange.. bizzare!

  4. Great cars in great condition. Yellow color looks fantastic.

    When I was eleven (in 1990) and we there were only few foreign cars in USSR, I saw a gray SD1 (Series 1, don’t remember what engine) in our city and from that moment the SD1 became my favourite car. Some day I’ll purchase one, I believe.

  5. stunning cars, i love the SD1, it was such a shame the estate never came to pass and an even more shame i have never been in one, one of the biggest wishes on my list….

  6. Keith, how busy is the Earls Barton meet? I’m very tempted to make the next one (spectator only) as I’m only a few miles away in Milton Keynes.

  7. Beautiful cars – I bet they sounded fantastic with both engines started at the same time! The interiors are velour-tastic, but strangely not that dated – same with the exteriors – testament to the brilliance of David Bache’s original design work.

  8. The last year or so of P6 production allowed potential owners to order cars in colours that were to be used in the forthcoming SD1 – turmeric, richelieu red, paprika, platinum, brasilia brown, pendelican white and atlantis blue. These were to test the newly built SD1 paint facility. These were exactly the same colours used on the early SD1s (although there were obviously extra colours available for SD1). So Turmeric on a P6 is the same colour as the SD1 therfore turmeric was yellow on both cars. Paprika is the P6 orange colour that Stewart refers to. This was never carried forward to the SD1.

  9. Hi

    I’ve had 2 Rover SD1’s my first one was a 1979 V reg Persian aqua blue 2600 when i was 21, then when i was 24 i had a Turmeric yellow 3500 which was S reg, both of which were good cars.

  10. Also the turmeric yellow 3500 which was in the professionals was the same car which was in the new avengers 1 year earlier, they just titivated the number plates changing the P to an R by using black tape.

  11. Insides look good, though i am not a fan of the colour … but design wise its clean and functional with a lot of style.

    The colour, well its the seventies …. brown was popular

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