new member winston Shoesmith

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winston

New Member
Hi i'm winston shoesmith, from secunda in south Africa,and i very pleased to see this forum , as i'm sure i will be using it alot
I am the proud owner of 1974 series 2 rover 3500 p6 in original corsica blue (a beautiful colour).The car is in total unrestored condition , and only has 70K on the speedometer.When i purchased the car she had some small problems but these were quickly sorted out,and now she shines and runs alongside my 1954 humber hawk,which is also unrestored (both cars are still running on the original mechanicals, interior etc as per the factory) and totally original.It has only 62000 miles on the clock,and still has the orignal owners workshop manual, as well as handbook.

In south africa there doesn't seem to be that much rover p6's still running ,and even less humbers,so i would like to get in touch with any owner's of the above
The grey motor is the humber and the blue motor is my rover (note the interior or exterior on either car has not been refurbished,as mentioned above.

happy motoring all you rover fans
 

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Howzit Winston!

Welcome to a great forum! So far on this forum I only know of a gent whose username is unstable load, based in Cape Town - sure he'll check in. I was a student there and owned my first P6B in 1998, so found a great resource in a man called Alan in Rondebosch. Let me know if you need contact details there. Sadly I don't know anyone outside of W Cape, but I have been surprised at how many P6s there actually are and there's a Rover club in Cape Town that could point you to other resources... Do post some shots of your car(s), everyone loves a good photo!

Regards,

Tor
 
Hi Winstone, like the photo's, used to own a 1954/55 Humber Super Snipe, a little larger than your own, but it met an unfortunate demise when a mini traveling at speed (70 MPH) did a head on collision with it, fantastic cars!

Graeme
 
Hi Winston, welcome to the forum! Doesn't look like your Rover will be causing you to use our technical advice any time soon. Beautifull!

Is it South African built? I seem to remember reading that the SA 3500's had a slightly different (more powerful) engine spec to UK ones. Are you aware of any differences in that or any other aspects of the spec? A chassis number would be interesting as well. Numbers of us track what went where in the export cars!

Chris
 
Hello Winston,

Welcome to the forum... :)

You have some lovely cars I must say. A Humber and a Rover,..perfect!

Ron.
 
hi there
Thanks for the comments,
In response to the query's,yes the colour is all original (known as corsica blue),there is a vanguard model of the P6 in the very sane colour.The car is south african built,and stil has the original british leyland info sticker on the right hand front wheel arch,indcating the negative terminals etc.
The chassis no is as follows: VIN no. 104230, Engine no. 45504733 hope this helps.I am still looking for the original owners handbook, as the previous owner has misplaced these,if anyone can assist.
 
Hi Rudiger, in NZ localy built cars have 2 different numbers, for example on my p6b there is the usual Rover sequence series number plate affixed to the left front engine bay and directly below it is a local number plate which on my car is HB720.10.74, not sure to the exact interpretation of the number other than the last part of the sequence which is the date code ie oct 1974, the HB may well mean something such as home built, but thats just a guess on my part and the 720 a built total number to date??? but like I say thats just a guess, other NZ assembled P6bs dont seem to have the HB but some other letter sequence.
It would be a good bet that SA used there own local number system for cars off there production line also.


Graeme
 
Are you sure Rudiger? Don't forget it is South African assembled, so whilst Solihul might have identified a kit in this way, it could have acquired a specifically SA number on assembly. That's really why I asked Winston, as I have never seen anything published on the Rover aspects of the SA assembly operation. The only information I've come across is some very brief information on some of the models on the Austin-Rover website (http://austin-rover.co.uk/).

Reading carefully, Rover apparently had its own assembly operation in SA prior to the leyland and then BL mergers. The Series 1 3500 was launched in SA in Sep't '69 and replaced, rather than supplemented, the 2000. It seems always to have been built at the ex BMC Blackheath plant in Cape Town. My guess is that the transition from 2000 to 3500 therfore marks the move of Rover assembly to Blackheath. But where was the original Rover plant? I've seen references to a joint Rover/Triumph spares operation in Jo'berg - perhaps this was the old Rover plant?

Leykor (as the SA operation was named after the merger) certainly seems to have ploughed a distinctive furrow. Aside from assembling Rovers, Triumphs and Jags in a BMC plant, later models departed significantly from the UK norm. I particularely liked the six cylinder version of the SD1 equipped not with the ex Triumph 2300/2600 motor but with the six cylinder 2,622cc version of the E series! Apperently a very successful engine that also went into SA and Australian Marinas (!!). They also did a very nice modernised version of the ADO16 1100/1300 in preference to the Allegro.

Against that background it seems entirely feasible they would have had their own numbering system for P6B's!

Chris
 
For example, on my database I have a car with a 453-chassis number, assembled by Leykor South Africa

Also some 401-/402- and just a single 427-chassis number.

So I think that every SA (or NZ etc.) has a "standard" Rover chassis number, regardless of any other "specific number" like ROV-2425 or HB720.10.74 etc pp

Rudiger
 
Here is a photo of the extra plate with the addition number on a New Zealand build Rover. Do the South African Rovers have two plates where the VIN goes?
 

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Hi there
Yes they do , however having look through the workshop manual,which indicates where the chassis no. is situated i will have another look and let you know.The plate is the same as your rover's,and also the re is another plate popriverted by the radiator (this indicates the 2425)

Do you perhaps know what the correct pressure should be for the fuel pump,as my rover surges when the accellorator is applied,and i have had had all other posibilities checked out and they seem to be fine.
 
chrisyork said:
Are you sure Rudiger? Don't forget it is South African assembled, so whilst Solihul might have identified a kit in this way, it could have acquired a specifically SA number on assembly. That's really why I asked Winston, as I have never seen anything published on the Rover aspects of the SA assembly operation. The only information I've come across is some very brief information on some of the models on the Austin-Rover website (http://austin-rover.co.uk/).

Reading carefully, Rover apparently had its own assembly operation in SA prior to the leyland and then BL mergers. The Series 1 3500 was launched in SA in Sep't '69 and replaced, rather than supplemented, the 2000. It seems always to have been built at the ex BMC Blackheath plant in Cape Town. My guess is that the transition from 2000 to 3500 therfore marks the move of Rover assembly to Blackheath. But where was the original Rover plant? I've seen references to a joint Rover/Triumph spares operation in Jo'berg - perhaps this was the old Rover plant?

Leykor (as the SA operation was named after the merger) certainly seems to have ploughed a distinctive furrow. Aside from assembling Rovers, Triumphs and Jags in a BMC plant, later models departed significantly from the UK norm. I particularely liked the six cylinder version of the SD1 equipped not with the ex Triumph 2300/2600 motor but with the six cylinder 2,622cc version of the E series! Apperently a very successful engine that also went into SA and Australian Marinas (!!). They also did a very nice modernised version of the ADO16 1100/1300 in preference to the Allegro.

Against that background it seems entirely feasible they would have had their own numbering system for P6B's!

Chris
Click to expand...

Chris - any thoughts re the relative merits of the E-series and Triumph engines in the SD1?
 
Popular rumour has it that the 2.6 E series was a spectacularely good engine and produced almost exactly the same power as the SD1 version of the Triumph 2.6 but with much better torque and smoothness. Bear in mind that the SD1 version of the Triumph 2.6 was heavily throttled back so as not to get too close to the V8, so it wasn't difficult for the E6 to match it power wise. Had the Triumph engine's full potential been unleashed the E6 wouldn't have been able to compete.

There is actually another configuration of E6 that didn't get built, but would have been superior. The 2.6 capacity was obtained by using Maxi 1750 bore and stroke, both of which were enlarged over the E4 1500 / E6 2200. When BMC came to rejig the E series into the S series for the Maestro and Montego, they found that the best solution was the big valve head and bore size from the 1750HLS and the shorter 1500 stroke, which comes out at 1600. I have this engine in Baby Rover with the early Lucas injection and can confirm that it is a very good engine indeed - lots of torque and free revving too. That gives 102 BHP, so an equivalent 6 would come out at 2.4 and 150 BHP!

So that gives you the engine range Rover should have had in the SD1: O series 2000 injection (ex MG Montego) 4 cyl - 115BHP, E6 2.4 baby six injection - 150BHP, Rover V8 4.4 Injection (ex P8 ex P76) 200 BHP. That would have given a much more intelligent range and most likely made best use of existing production facilities whilst allowing the Triumph engine line to close.

Chris
 
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