Thought I was dreaming when I was driving to work this AM

[FMJ]

This was parked in a plaza all by itself, I did a double take, then turned around to go get pictures. You have no idea how rare these things are over here, let alone a 3500 in this shape. Dad had a TC 2000 back in the late 60s, and I was always fond of them, in a retro sort of a way.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Nice old motor. You don't see that many of them this side of the pond anymore. Wish I could say it reminds me of the one we used to have. Way out of Dad's league. We had at least 3 shonky old Vauxhall Vivas. Our neighbour had an immaculate V8 that was used to collect her pension and not much else.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Wooo! Luv'em!

 

[FairfaxPat]

Liked the engine which was a licence built Buick Aluminum 215ci. V8. However, those cars were some of the most unreliable cars ever built.

 

[legrandefromage]

Liked the engine which was a licence built Buick Aluminum 215ci. V8. However, those cars were some of the most unreliable cars ever built.

Not strictly true, not back this side of the pond anyway.

P6's rust from the inside out as the panels are bolt on. The in board rear disks and Dion rear suspension didnt help though.

Still want one.

The replacement SD1 was also the nightmare come true as it was built by 3 day weekers.

I've owned 5...

''It was Rover's Managing Director, William Martin-Hurst, who secured the use of the 3.5-litre V8 engine, having cast far and wide for something suitable - and deciding upon the Buick 215. Knowing that the engine had recently been phased out by General Motors, he approached the company, offering to purchase the rights to build it and all of the tooling. The deal was certainly an audacious one because of the fact that it involved an outright payment to the American multi-national, thereby avoiding further royalty payments in the future. The deal was hammered out during the winter months of 1964 and by the following January, the engine was the property of Rover.

After building about 750,000 of the engines, GM decided to drop it at the end of the 1963 model year. Studaker says that although the engine got great reviews for power and smoothness, cost was an issue. So GM abandoned it for Buick's first V6. The V6 was based on the aluminum V8 but was made of cast iron.

"The reason we stopped using (the V is that the economy took a turn,'' Studaker says. "It was an expensive engine to build, a lot more than cast iron - close to 50 percent more.'' According to The Rover V8 Engine by David Hardcastle, a Rover official spotted an unused Buick V8 engine at a boat engine factory while visiting the United States in 1966 and learned that the engine was out of production. That year, Rover struck a deal with GM. Rover bought the blueprints and all the production tooling for an undisclosed sum and began producing the engines in England.''

 

[godders]

Spent a large part of my yoof rideing round in my
best mates 2000TC , lovely car ..white paint with full black
leather
Mick

 

[IDB1]

My Sister drove one of these as her first car (in the late 70's) 3500 auto.. almond in colour.. full cloth sunroof.. ex police.

Stunning...

 

[taffy]

Lovely!

 

[fingers]

Id prefer a P5b coupe...

 

[grahame]

I like it, but I still prefer the original that it was copied from - the Citroen DS. Here's mine (again)

Look at the roof line and the 'screen surround.
Rover admitted that they bought a DS and copied large aspects of it, including the bolt-on panel structure.

I wouldn't say no to a nice P6 2000TC or 3500 as a daily biffabout, though. Apparently, the fuel consumption is pretty much the same for the two models, so you might as well have the aural pleasure of the V8.