P8

testrider said:
The door silhouette does look the same, the only difference I can see is that the P76 rear doors don't overlap the wheelarch/D post like on the P8 and P6 so the tooling would have been different or at least modified.

Are there any photos of the engine bay or chassis of the P8 to compare with the P76?

This is a photo of a photo from the collection of Lyn Thomas, but you get the idea.

15thNovember20094800x547.jpg
 
Oooh No, that looks like a kit car made of odds and sods compared to the SD1. Nose like an AC3000 (I know it came later, but still not pretty), bonnet scoop off a tank transporter, backside from a 300 Cedric with a bit of Marina, wing vents from an Alfa Montreals C pillar. It's a right mongrels breakfast. I appreciate the original one wants saving, but as a P6 replacement? Nah its a PWL (pig with lipstick)


John.
 
Doesn't make it any more of a looker Nick. In fact it is probably worse, could you imagine what other state leaders would have thought if they saw "The Iron Lady" getting out of one of those, when the French had the stretch Chapron Citroens and 604's, the Italians had the Fiat 130 and the Germans had SEL's and we had a kit car. :LOL:




John.
 
I wouldn't say it looks like a kit car but the PWL comment is to me valid, a slightly different take on the error of the 70's 80's era of styling, but I must say thae engine bay lay out looks interesting, the interior is very Blah and exterior whilst in prototype form is ugly but could in production be better.


Graeme
 
Hi, that engine bay looks very cramped and would be more prone to fuel vapourisation.
And we think the P6b is bad enough. Personally I don't think the car has the gravitas to
be a replacement for the P5b, as has been said.

Colin
 
Are those suspension pressure vessels the same as the MGF?? look so similar or is that my faultering grey cells.

Graeme
 
John said:
, wing vents from an Alfa Montreals C pillar

Agreed...and therefore THE styling highlight. :)
Its most definitely a conglomeration, and some parts (mainly the front) work very well.
Let down somewhat by by an incoherent rear.
Overall, as a concept, i think it has merit...just needs a little more styling "polish"
 
John said:
Oooh No, that looks like a kit car made of odds and sods compared to the SD1. Nose like an AC3000 (I know it came later, but still not pretty), bonnet scoop off a tank transporter, backside from a 300 Cedric with a bit of Marina, wing vents from an Alfa Montreals C pillar. It's a right mongrels breakfast. I appreciate the original one wants saving, but as a P6 replacement? Nah its a PWL (pig with lipstick)


John.

I am with John on this one - not a looker at all.
 
Could the car be a "mock up"? By that I mean given that the car as I understand it was still in the development phase, could it be disguised until such time that evaluation and testing are completed?

When Jaguar was developing the XJ40, some were brought into Australia for testing. These cars were heavily disguised so that motoring photographers were unable to release pictures of the finished car. The P8 is fitted with both a grille and rear bumber/light surround both of which look out of place and poorly fitted. Maybe that was done so on purpose... :?

Ron.
 
yes these are the exact areas that look very poor and are also the areas that you would expect in production to be refined.

Graeme
 
Hi Ron

This is a running car. It's equivalent to a late Talago in P6 world - actually known as a Mandalay. At the time of cancellation it seems probable that the manufacture of the off tools prototypes was underway with numbers of bodyshells around the works. These would have been handbuilt off the line. Then there would have been a pilot build on the line and then full production. Cars released to the press, shown at shows etc would have been from the pilot build.

So, yes, a lot of the detail on this one could be a bit shaky. That is evidenced by the bonnet air intake, which I know is a late addition because the crash test cars don't have it. But in the same way that Talagos are very recognisably P6's so this would be very recognisable to anyone with a production P8.

The bumpers are no doubt designed with having to cope with upcoming US crash requlation in mind. The back bumper, I think is finalised. Imagine it set a tad further out a la Volvo or Saab for the US version. At the front, the deformable nose cone around the grille would be very difficult to get right on a prototype. You really need volume production to do that sort of thing properly, so I suspect the nose isn't quite final. That is born out by the rather heath=robinson number plate mount.

I think I can see through the detailing to an amazingly squat, brutish presence. A lot of the photos are from angles you wouldn't normally see - best to look at the nose from just slightly above rather than below. I do agree that the back view works better than the front, though.

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
I think I can see through the detailing to an amazingly squat, brutish presence

With some refinement, this look would have been a winner...its the fussy detail and sometimes odd shapes that somewhat hinder that presence...buts its definately there.
 
A little reminiscent of the Bristol 412. I can see through some of the coarse prototype lash ups and with some styling input would have been a handsome beast. I like the body coloured bumpers and door handles - years ahead for 1971!
 
Cracking thread this 8)
I didn't even know that this P8 had survived! Fantastic that you got a few shots of it before being ushered away Nick.
I wonder why Gaydon are so 'secret squirrel' about this (and other interesting cars that they no doubt have), as I've never seen it there.

I'm sure a lot of detail was left to be resolved for the final production version. I'm not convinced that Rover management would have signed off their new super-saloon quite as it stood there. But as a Bristol-esque Mercedes-eater it would have no doubt been terrific!
 
PeterB76 said:
Cracking thread this 8)
I didn't even know that this P8 had survived! Fantastic that you got a few shots of it before being ushered away Nick.
I wonder why Gaydon are so 'secret squirrel' about this (and other interesting cars that they no doubt have), as I've never seen it there.

They're not overtly secret squirrel - it was known that it was at Gaydon, but the car has not been anywhere near the public for many years. A lot of this has to do with it's condition I should imagine.

PeterB76 said:
I'm sure a lot of detail was left to be resolved for the final production version. I'm not convinced that Rover management would have signed off their new super-saloon quite as it stood there. But as a Bristol-esque Mercedes-eater it would have no doubt been terrific!

The car does look a lot better in the flesh, as it were.
 
First of all it is a complete tragedy that this car was never put in to production... :?

I think it is insanely good looking in a muscular, striding way that was very much of its era and it would have had great 'executive car-park' prescence which is what really counted back then! In the right colour palette with all the DIY details sorted out it would have really nailed the market it was designed for...

With regards to how advanced it was back in the early 70's it really does seem like Rover were willing to take bold risks in order to create something that could sell, not only for the radical way it looked but for the advanced way it performed and behaved on the road... Daring, bold, exciting, forward-thinking and thought-provoking are just some of the adjectives I'd use to describe the approach to this car (as well as the looks and engineering)!

I am pretty sure there is no other 'still-born' vehicle that was so (so, so, SO!!!) close to production before being canned... That this happened was probably one of the most insane and 'out-of-the-blue' decisions ever made in British motoring history...

Anyhow, my next point is how tragic that this prototype vehicle is in the state it is in today!!!

I simply cannot believe that something so significant and coveted can be left in the state it has been spied in. I appreciate the accident that occured all those years ago but surely if the owners put the feelers out they'd find a suitable party to restore it and display it or just restore it and return it. This car needs work doing to it pretty much immediately or it will just diminish even more and may even be disposed of if the wrong person looks at it on the wrong day as it were... :roll: Is there anything we can do to help ensure its survival...?!

I doff my cap to Nick for snapping away and getting these jaw-droppingly tantalising images, this is nothing short of automotive porn... :shock:
 
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