Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Jan 12, 2023 16:00:32 GMT
Great pics, Villain. Rover had some interesting stuff under development at the time of the British Leyland merger, the P7 was a development of the P6 with a six cylinder engine, which had an extended front to accommodate it, this was dropped in favour of the P8, which was seen as it's eventual replacement. It wasn't far off being ready for production, but was abandoned for two reasons, first that Leyland saw it as duplicating the then new XJ6, but also because it dismally failed a crash test. Modifications were made, but only made a very marginal improvement. One prototype still exists Thanks C . All of that fascinating development work was going on when the company was generally looked on as very conservative and traditional, not really a surprise when you consider that the upright 'Auntie' Rover P4 was made for almost twenty years. I remember at middle school in the '70s one of my classmate's being dropped off each morning in his Mum's old grey P4, it must have been at least fifteen years old at the time and still looked majestic, if a little tatty round the edges, but most of the other cars around it made it look decidedly old fashioned. I had a lift in it a few times and loved the red leather and African cherry wood of the interior. When I went to the Roverfest in Northamptonshire last Summer there was a huge line up of them, very impressive I have to say. More P5 stuff - having watched 'Villain' again the other night it's only right to post some images of Richard Burton's 1970 P5B Coupe 'HXC 802H' in my favourite colour combo of Burnt Grey over Silver Birch with the Mulberry red interior... 'Villain' was shot during September and October 1970 and as soon as the producers had finished with 'HXC 802H' they handed it over to Robert S Baker's production crew for a brief appearance in 'The Persuaders', driven by the lovely Catherine Schell in an episode called 'The Morning After', first shown on 21st January 1972 (episode 19 of 24)... A very early 1967 P5B Coupe 'JJO 725F' in the same colour combination was used in another episode called 'Take Seven', first shown on 1st October 1971 (episode 3 of 24)... The following year 'JJO 725F' ended up with the production crew of the ITV twelve part series 'Villains', being used as a getaway car... Another film from the same period featured an early P5B Coupe with a Solihull / factory reg' 'DXC 200G', this was 'The Mind Of Mr.Soames', made in late 1970 / early 1971 starring Robert Vaughan, Nigel Davenport and Terence Stamp... Villain
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Jan 14, 2023 13:34:23 GMT
Some more archive stuff Some P5 owners aren't afraid to modify their cars, this hot rodded P5B Coupe was quite well known at the time... And the owner of this one had Rover specialist RJ Spratley in Coventry convert it into a two door version... Back in 1988 'C&SC' magazine did a nice feature on the P5s... And in 2014 Gene and I had a go at replicating this shot (see Gene's earlier post on page one of the thread)... This August 1967 registered Coupe was used in some of the press material for the new V8 P5Bs... A 1968 advert featuring an early P5B Saloon... Another 1967 brochure shot featuring the earliest registered V8 Coupe 'RXC 438E'... A attempt at a similar night time shot with my first P5B Coupe 'PGU 726L'... Part of a magazine advert from (I think) the late '80s, fans of 'Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels' might recognise the location in the background... Some more shots of my first P5B Coupe when it was my everyday car in 2007... Villain
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Jan 15, 2023 14:39:52 GMT
Some more period stuff... In 1966 the stationmaster at Newbury station took his P5 3 litre Saloon from the Motorail terminal at Kensington Olympia to Newbury Racecourse station... Harold Wilson leaves Buck House in one of the Ministerial P5B Saloons, not sure of the date as he had two terms in office... Ted Heath and Roy Jenkins setting off in another Ministerial P5B Saloon to visit the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings in November 1974... A rare publicity shot of a Mk3 P5 3 litre Coupe from December 1965, taken somewhere in the Cotswolds... Another Ministerial P5B Saloon parked up somewhere in Whitehall... Villain
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jan 18, 2023 19:38:16 GMT
Rover had an interesting post war history and a very imaginative and innovative back catalogue. They were experimenting at one time with gas turbine (jet) engines and fitted one to an open top P4 conversion, called JET 1. This reached over 150 mph on test, and the P6 engine bay was designed to be able to house a jet engine if this had proceeded. Fuel consumption was very heavy, which is probably why the idea was dropped.
Another prototype was the Road Rover, which was an early attempt at a Range Rover type off roader, and they also were working on a sports car, coded P9, at the time of the Leyland merger
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Jan 23, 2023 13:49:46 GMT
Rover had an interesting post war history and a very imaginative and innovative back catalogue. They were experimenting at one time with gas turbine (jet) engines and fitted one to an open top P4 conversion, called JET 1. This reached over 150 mph on test, and the P6 engine bay was designed to be able to house a jet engine if this had proceeded. Fuel consumption was very heavy, which is probably why the idea was dropped. Another prototype was the Road Rover, which was an early attempt at a Range Rover type off roader, and they also were working on a sports car, coded P9, at the time of the Leyland merger Yes there was definitely a lot going on behind the scenes at Solihull, despite the company's reputation for being quite conservative they were always thrusting ahead with new ideas. One of the overriding impressions of all the P4s, P5s and P6s was the quality of construction, engineering and design, which still stand up today, despite the rust issues which affected all British cars of the period. A couple of shots showing the Silver Birch over Admiralty Blue P5B Coupe on the Rover stand (number 123) at the Earls Court motor show on Wednesday 18th October 1967... And some cheerful Pathe News footage covering the show also filmed on the opening day 18th October, there's a very brief glimpse of the Coupe at 2 mins 52 secs in... It's a pity the footage doesn't show the whole Rover stand, as there was also another Coupe on display in Burnt Grey over White with the lovely Mulberry red interior, and at least two P6s. Villain
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Feb 1, 2023 20:49:00 GMT
A short video clip of the Queen's P5B 'JGY 280' ay Gaydon Museum... Villain
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Villain
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Nine Elms, 1970, looking for the loot...
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Post by Villain on Dec 24, 2023 14:19:38 GMT
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