sd1
- Thread starter bungi
- Start date
TwinPlenum3500S
New Member
Who knows, he probably gave you a long look as he has an eye injury from all the shi**y plastic switches that have hit him in the face over the years. They are a crap motor, Leyland personified and have an odd following. Best thing to do with them is use their late injected lumps in better looking P6's.
The SD1's look great.
A chap I know over here has one and having been a passengr in it afew times - it's comfy and it goes like a rocket. Maybe the LHD o,nes were built to a different standard? But his has not a flake of rust and is used as a daily driver.
P6's have been slated as "rot boxes" as well - Maybe the ones that have survived this long are the good ones - most of the "baddies" that gave the bad reputations have long since disappeared into piles of rust?
A chap I know over here has one and having been a passengr in it afew times - it's comfy and it goes like a rocket. Maybe the LHD o,nes were built to a different standard? But his has not a flake of rust and is used as a daily driver.
P6's have been slated as "rot boxes" as well - Maybe the ones that have survived this long are the good ones - most of the "baddies" that gave the bad reputations have long since disappeared into piles of rust?
TwinPlenum3500S
New Member
How many SD1s are there in Belgium? Not many I guess, and no, all models, including export were poor. They were not a valid replacement for the P6, and as I have stated before, British Leyland. Not a bad looking car on the outside, but dreadful inside and very very poor build quality. Cars like this finished Rover off. This is a statement of FACT! Similarly, only good models are left ..... yes and why are Rimmers so busy, because they rot like nothing on earth and most decent ones have had untold panel work.
Interestingly the SD1 was overseen by the same design team that did P6. There were a few key differences though. The six cylinder engines were done by Triumph at Canley and we all know what we think of them! Also there was "help" from elsewhere in the Leyland empire - I suspect the switch gear may well have been some of it. The overall plan of the dash was pure Rover though, a straight lift from the much mourned P8. You can see the family resemblance to P6 as well - open dash tray with the instruments in a pod able to be shifted side to side for LHD. Certainly part of the Rover plan was to make SD1 cheaper to build than the complex P6 and I strongly suspect that a combination of lack of funds - thank you loss making Austin-Morris - and keen accountants did the rest! The move from a de dion back end to an axle was entirely a Rover idea though, and note that it is a very complex and clever way of doing a live axle.
The other key part of the story is almost cetainly the length of time the two cars spent in development. P6 had a very slow birth; it was essentially production ready by late '61 with the first prototypes on the road in '59; so it would be astonishing if build quality niggles hadn't been sorted out in that time. SD1 was much faster and more normal.
But the true achiles heel of SD1 really had nothing to do with the car - it was that paint plant! At launch it was a key selling point with much made of the new state of the art paint process. That it failed to deliver in such spectacular fashion really ought not to be laid at the door of the car. Incidentally - late P6's went through the same plant and suffered the same fate!
The other key part of the story is almost cetainly the length of time the two cars spent in development. P6 had a very slow birth; it was essentially production ready by late '61 with the first prototypes on the road in '59; so it would be astonishing if build quality niggles hadn't been sorted out in that time. SD1 was much faster and more normal.
But the true achiles heel of SD1 really had nothing to do with the car - it was that paint plant! At launch it was a key selling point with much made of the new state of the art paint process. That it failed to deliver in such spectacular fashion really ought not to be laid at the door of the car. Incidentally - late P6's went through the same plant and suffered the same fate!
Rovernutter
New Member
Hi All,
I had an early (R Reg) V8 5 Speed Manual SD1 some years ago, in Turmeric (Yellow). It had the usual problems (water leaking through the windscreen filling up the glovebox and footwells, and some Paint Flaking) but for a 1977 Car (I bought it in 1994) it was a very comfortable and extremely fast car. I really like the early ones, though you don't see too many of those around nowadays. Yes, they do rot but then so do P6's (especially the later ones) but I still reckon they have a place in Rover History. Basically a good car let down by under funding and the apalling Labour relations at the time. A sad end to the British Motor Industry really.
Cheers,
Mick.
I had an early (R Reg) V8 5 Speed Manual SD1 some years ago, in Turmeric (Yellow). It had the usual problems (water leaking through the windscreen filling up the glovebox and footwells, and some Paint Flaking) but for a 1977 Car (I bought it in 1994) it was a very comfortable and extremely fast car. I really like the early ones, though you don't see too many of those around nowadays. Yes, they do rot but then so do P6's (especially the later ones) but I still reckon they have a place in Rover History. Basically a good car let down by under funding and the apalling Labour relations at the time. A sad end to the British Motor Industry really.
Cheers,
Mick.
Demetris
Well-Known Member
chrisyork said:
I was reading that the Leyland's answer to Rover's request for funding was that they had spent their share on the P8 and Range Rover. So, there was not much left. And this shows how stupid was the cancel of the P8, an already developed, ready for production car. And the reason? Not to hurt Jaguars sales!!!
I just don't understand. Even 5 year olds can think more seriously than this.
Perhaps some people should have been flogged in front of the public.
webmaster
New Member
That SD1 police car is lovely, almost an exact match to my scalextric model from my youth (still in use by my kids).
I always liked SD1's until I had to work on a few that my mate kept buying, of course he kept buying £50-£100 cars so they were absolutely knackered, and that really just put me off. He used to give them some hammer too, the V8's were nice quick cars, but bits kept falling off !
The best thing would have been to buy one of rimmers full sd1 kits and build your own properly !
Don't start having a go at my 800's !!!
I always liked SD1's until I had to work on a few that my mate kept buying, of course he kept buying £50-£100 cars so they were absolutely knackered, and that really just put me off. He used to give them some hammer too, the V8's were nice quick cars, but bits kept falling off !
The best thing would have been to buy one of rimmers full sd1 kits and build your own properly !
Don't start having a go at my 800's !!!
Mad_Dan_Eccles
Member
DaveHerns said:
Yup they went to an electrostatic process which was supposed to get the paint to stick better - it needed some tweaking as they found that moisture was getting trapped under the paint among other issues. I think they ended up reversing the charge on the metal and the paint among other things.
UIAVMM he last few P6s were painted in the SD1 paintshop and suffered from the same problems