Simon's P6B - Probably the best car I have ever owned!

A line up of Rover P6s. Mine is the oldest and the only Series 1 in the line up (middle car). The above picture was taken at Homebase in Leicester. The owners of the above vehicles all belonged to the Leicester branch of the P6 owners club in 1995. We were off for an afternoon at Billing Aquadrome where the National Rally took place that year.

The specifications of my car are as follows:-

1968 Series 1 P6B
Fitted with 3.9 litre converted SD1 engine from 1979 SD1 3500 S
5 Speed conversion using P6 3500s pedal box and auto prop
Original rear end.

The car has had 3 owners from new. The first owner owned it for 24 years and did approx 64,000 miles in it. Much of it in the summer months towing his caravan. He had it Ziebarted when new and therefore it is very sound underneath. It was kept in a heated garage until the owners death. During his ownership it was fitted with a Series 2 bonnet, grille and side trim - I don't know the reason for this, but suspect it was as a result of accident damage at the front having discovered one or two welds where I wouldn't expect them during a partial rebuild in 1994/95.

When I purchased the car from its second owner, it had stood for a year under a tarpaulin in his garden. It had been purchased with the intention of restoration but he had never got round to it having done a few minor jobs only. I have all the MOT's and tax discs from the past 10 years showing very little mileage.

I purchased the car for 400 UK Pounds. I set about tracking down all the Series 1 panels to revert to Series 1 appearance. At the same time the gearbox obviously needed work and the engine leaked oil badly. I drove it like this for nearly a year clocking up about 10,000 miles. One day on the way to work the engine really started feeling rough and the oil light came on. The big ends went! Just by chance I had a bent 8 sitting in the engine bay of my old Singer Vogue back home - fitted with a manual 5 speed box. The intention had been to race this car. Anyway needs must and I pulled the unit complete from the Singer and dropped it into the P6B. It was not quite that simple. A full descripion is on one of the other pages on this site (soon!). This transformed the car into a real stump puller!

A little snippet!
This one shows the car at the NSRA Nats in 1994.At the time it had just been resprayed.

 The picture below was taken in Leicester outside my old house in 1995. Giving it a good wash with my daughter Martha! The colour is Burnt Grey, I have only ever seen one other P6 in this colour, that was a 1967 2000 SC. Mine has a 'beige' interior, the other has a red interior which actually looks better. I have since seen a grey interior which I reckon would look better still. One day?!
 

I have just taken a few more pics and will post them as soon as possible.

Since these pics were taken the drivers side has been rebuilt down one side following a nasty encounter with a Volvo. The side trim on the drivers side has been removed to make it more original. It is currently in primer on this side.

MORE PICTURES TO COME SOON.....