According to popular wisdom, classic cars tend to be bought on the 25-year rule: by the time people turn 25, they can afford to buy the cars that they remember being around when they were young. I do have childhood memories of seeing Rover P6s around; obviously something about the brave styling, stacked front indicators and sidelights and vestigial rocketship fins appealed to my tiny, sci-fi addled brain. Anyway, I started early; I bought my first Rover P6 a couple of days after my 20th birthday. At the time, I saw it as a cheap means of transport which would probably manage to hang together until I finished my degree. Little did I know that I would end up researching its history; discovering that previous owners included a previous Mayor of Eltham, and that the Rover salesman who sold it new was also called Hedges; and that I would spend the vast majority of my student income on its upkeep.
Little did I know I know how much it would rot.
But what the hell - a Fiesta probably would have cost me just as much - in insurance. And lying on gravel on your back in the winter has got to be better for your health than beer.
This is what I wrote on this website back in September 1999, shortly after buying my Rover:
"My car is a 1973 Rover P6 2000SC Automatic. I've always liked P6s and when this one came up (from a friend who was replacing it with an older, tax-exempt and Twin-Carb one) I just had to have it. It's mechanically fairly sound, although the paintwork is a little rough. It's solidly built enough that it should survive the next three years of my degree, then when I graduate and get a proper job I'll have the money to restore it properly. In the meantime I just want to keep the thing going for as long as I can."
Optimistic, wasn't I?
6-10-99.
Got driver's window fixed. Cost: £30. The window actually stopped working when I took the car in to have the tracking done. The metal rail which the glass sits in had rotted away, and the mechanic replaced it with silicon-based glue. I used Alba Motors in Blean, entirely because it's in a convenient location, but it turns out that the mechanic there loves P6s and knows something about them, so I'll use him again. He also gave me a very reasonable quote for a respray.
12-10-99.
Fixed front foglamp. Cost: Nothing. This was the kind of job I love. One of the front foglamps wasn't working, so I took the casing off, assuming it was a blown bulb. The bulb was fine, so I started poking around with a multimeter, and couldn't find anything wrong anywhere. I cleaned all the connections, put the lamp back together and hey presto! it worked.
14-10-99.
Got driver's window fixed again. Cost: £25. I know that looks like Alba Motors charged me twice, but they didn't really: the first time I took it in the chap wasn't really expecting his bodge to work, and this time he did a proper job but took the £30 I paid before into account. He had to fabricate another metal rail by hand and welding, so £55 is reasonable. I wonder if it would have been cheaper to get a second-hand (or even new!) part though. Oh well.
16-10-99
The left indicator stopped working on Thursday night, and I fixed that today - a connection had worked loose. I've just jammed it back in as a temporary measure, but I'll do a proper fix when I have the chance to buy a terminal block. I also had to top up the brake fluid. Worrying that - I hope a leak hasn't started. I can't afford the brake fluid on top of the EP-90 for the leaky steering box! This could turn expensive if they need to be fixed...
3-11-99
I left the lights on last night while I was paying for petrol, and noticed that one of the sidelights had gone. No problem, I thought - a five minute job for this afternoon. However, when I took the lens off, I found that there was no bulb at all behind it. Funny, I thought, it used to work... some rooting around in the wheelarch with a torch (always keep a torch in your glovebox!) revealed that the wing has rusted right away around the sidelight and indicator. The sidelight was dangling at the end of its cable, and the indicator is no longer attached but is quite happily resting in its place - at least until the next time I go over a speed hump.
New wings are out of the question on my budget - £125, plus VAT, plus P&P. However, after a few phone calls this afternoon I've found a second hand one in London for only £45 - and that was from a dealer. After a few days of rooting around the second hand ads in P6 News, maybe I'll find a cheapish, decent one. It'll probably be a different colour from the rest of the car, but that will just have to wait for the respray when I can afford it in a few years time...
15-11-99
Finally got round to fixing Harris' dodgy wiring on the back left indicator. Hopefully it'll work all the time now, and stop failing at bad moments.
19-11-99
It's been a busy few days on the Rover. I got a secondhand wing from a very nice chap in Doncaster who keeps a lot of P6 spares for a mere £30, and he also chucked in a new dashboard clock, rear number plate light lens and checkstrap for the front passenger door. The clock and lens went in fine, and it's great to have a working clock on the dash. The checkstrap I haven't got round to yet, but the wing is causing me some trouble. Of course, there is just one bolt that will NOT come off... the head has rusted away and the spanner just slips off it. I give up - it's going back to Alba Motors; they can get it off!
To cap it all, the fan belt just came loose, making too hideous a noise for me to drive it up the hill to University and so leaving me running very late. It's rarely necessary to have a car in a small place in Canterbury, but I was relying on it this evening as I have a lot to do in a small amount of time. Why do cars only break down when you're relying on them?
22-11-99
Since getting me home on Friday, the Rover has been refusing to start at all. I went through the usual things - cleaned the plugs and distributor, checked the leads, topped the carb up with oil, but all to no avail. I tightened up that fanbelt, as well. I finally gave up trying today and bribed some mates to help me push it to the nearest garage - a branch of Lex. I don't usually trust chain garages, but I had no choice except paying someone to tow me.
23-11-99
Lex phoned at ten past eight this morning to tell me that they'd got the car started by charging the battery, but that it was making a knocking sound that they weren't willing to investigate. Odd... I went to collect it and drove round the block a few times, trying to figure it out. It was running near perfectly, with just a slight clattering noise that hadn't been there before. That is, until I turned round at the Broad Oak Road roundabout... it started making a hideous knocking sound, so I very slowly headed for home. But suddenly, something went bang and I lost all power. The engine was still running, but it wasn't driving the wheels. I coasted to a halt (at a bus stop, of course...) and phoned for a rescue. He towed me to Alba Motors (on a bar, behind a Land Rover Discovery - no fun) and suspected a broken driveshaft. The starter motor spins the back of the engine, but the front doesn't turn over. This one could be expensive.
24-11-99
Alba Motors have diagnosed a knackered torque converter. A new replacement will set me back £200 or £300, but we have high hopes of finding a decent second hand one. However, replacing it is an engine-out job so there will still be labour charges.
16-12-99
At last, I've got the Rover back! It took so long because the garage was very badly ripped off while they had the car, but all is well in the end. Final cost of £285, which is very reasonable considering the size of the job, and that they also changed the oil, filter and antifreeze, and put my new wing on. I tried doing it myself, but of course there was just one bolt that I couldn't shift... The "new" torque converter came from the same chap in Doncaster who sent me the wing, incidentally.
2-1-00
For the last two weeks the Rover's been sitting in my Mum's garage doing nothing but having a well-earned winter break, but it obviously decided it liked it in there as it wouldn't start again when I did need it. I had to get some friends and my dad in to help push it out, as I'd put it in forwards (the reversing lights don't work and it was dark) and had no access to the bonnet, but it soon started happily after it had a new battery (£48) and a set of HT leads (£12.45). Halfords couldn't get me the proper leads for it, so we poked through their shelves until finding a set that looked about right, and they fit perfectly. Turns out they're supposed to be for a VW Polo.
20-1-00
Four new tyres. Cost: £183. A lot of money for this one, but it was becoming urgent. The old tyres had an amount of tread left, but they were rotting nicely. It's reassuring to have a set of lovely new Continentals! We chose the least-bad of the old Kiebers to use as a spare, since I'm far too stingy to buy five tyres.
1-2-00
Got a jack plug fitted to the radio. Cost: £7. At last; I can listen to tapes and CDs in the car. Just in time to avoid having to listen to the new Oasis single.
12-2-00
Bought steering box, door-lock button, wheel trim and wing-mirror stem. Cost: £25. The steering box can go in next weekend when I've got some free time, the door-button is on already (and saving me bleeding fingers whenever I want to lock the back door), as is the wheel trim (one of the old ones had its centre badge missing). The wing mirror will have to wait for a little while; the "new" wing doesn't have a hole in it for a mirror, but I'll get that sorted soon enough.
17-2-00
Rear seatbelts. Cost: £90. Like the tyres; expensive but necessary. A combination of my own paranoia and the current government TV campaign has convinced me that it'll be money well spent.
23-3-00
Paid Alba Motors to fit new steering box (I tried and failed to do it myself); also replaced leaking brake master cylinder. Cost: £300. It's a lot of money to spend all at once, but the steering box has leaked since I got the car, and the work on the brakes was obviously essential.
9-4-00
New water pump. Cost: £25 (From the Egham Autojumble). I had driven from Canterbury to Egham on the Saturday, with the car overheating constantly. The Rover used a pint of water every six miles on the trip, and we averaged 30mph! We found that the old pump was barely working by removing the bottom hose from the radiator and running the engine - it didn't manage to push any more water through the rad. The old pump had a lot of play in it and was very noisy - it was fortunate that someone had a new-old stock pump at the Autojumble!
11-4-00
Argh! It caught fire on the way home from Egham! Caused by an electrical fault - the wiring behind the alternator and between the engine block and the exhaust manifold caught. Fortunately, I carry a fire extinguisher - do you? We went to Douglas Compton Autos in Bromley on the back of a breakdown truck, and the car will cost £150 to fix.
9-6-00
Oops... Blew a tyre today. My own stupid fault - I took a corner just a little too close(in my defence, it was a narrow road and there was traffic coming the other way), hit the kerb and blew the front nearside tyre. Incredibly stupid thing to do, and will cost me nearly £50 to replace. Fortunately, I was carrying my trolley jack - the car only has one original jacking point left, so I don't like to use the original jack.
15-6-00
Fitted new front brake pads. They're new-old stock Girling ones that I got cheap from an autojumble a little while ago - the old ones would have failed the MoT anyway. I can't do the rear ones myself as my jack won't go high enough to get the rear wheels off the ground, but it's going to Alba Motors next week to get them done - I'll get a new thermostat fitted at the same time, as it's giving some overheating problems at the moment.
July 2000
Found a tin of Mexico Brown paint on the shelf in my local motor factor and moved to a house with a real drive in the same week! This was an opportunity to do something about the dodgy paintwork. My painting skills are pretty poor so it wasn't a great job, but it will stop the rust from getting any worse, and the car looks at least a bit better. In the absence of spraying equipment I applied the paint with a roller, as recommended by the chap in the motor factor. It looks pretty awful, but better than it did before and there's no more bare metal.
14-7-00
MoT. Bizarrely, it passed! Apparently the tester looked askance at Harris' welding, mentioned the frayed seatbelt (which has now been replaced - the new one just didn't arrive in time for the test) and asked for new rear brake pads - which it was booked in to have done anyway. Sadly that turned out to be a harder job than planned - Alan at Alba Motors ended up having to rebuild both calipers as the pistons wouldn't go back.
It's also still overheating a little. The new thermostat and water pump helped a bit, but it's still pretty bad. I've got a horrible feeling it's going to need a new radiator (£85, at least).
21-9-00
This update is a little late as my computer's been giving as much trouble as the car lately! That overheating was finally cured by recoring the radiator (£86 at Transrad in Broad Oak). About a quarter of the old rad was actually working effectively and the rest was clogged. I've also replaced the front seats with those from a scrap car in Queenborough, Sheppey, as the leather on the old ones was torn and worn through in places. Then the kickdown cable broke, and then it blew another driveplate... I am getting it fixed, and the job should actually be done properly and permanently this time. I'm using a heavy-duty driveplate in place of the daft original Rover item, and getting the job done properly each step of the way. It won't come cheap though. And since none of you rotten lot wanted to buy my baby, I've decided to keep it! I'm living in France for the next year, but the Rover's not coming - a friend will keep it while I'm away.
15-12-00
The Rover's been losing brake fluid very slowly for a little while now. It wasn't much so I wasn't that worried, even though I was curious as to where it was going as I couldn't see any drips on the road under the car. Today I found out, when I got this email from the friend who's looking after the car:
i) the brake fluid problem has got worse.
ii) it's dumped it all overnight.
iii) i'm not willing to drive it and i don't suggest you do either.
iv) it's leaking into the servo.
v) you need a new one.
vi) they are 140 quid part exchange.
vii) plus vat.
Viii) and fitting.
xi) suggestions?
After some frantic phone calls, we've found an exchange servo for a mere £22, and we can get it fitted for £40. All to the best, since I've decided to bring the car to France after Christmas. Donations towards care of my mental health can be sent to the usual address. Ta. At least the reversing lights work now...
4-1-2001
Yesterday's 320 mile trip from Pratts Bottom to Saint-Dizier went without a hitch apart from the speedo dying very noisily about a minute into the journey. Started working on that today (I'd already bought another speedo because the old one was getting dodgy) but can't get the right-angle drive off the back of the old one. It got dark, so I'll keep trying tomorrow.
Also replaced windscreen-wiper switch with one I got from the Enfield autojumble. The old one was getting loose and occasionally either wouldn't turn off at all, or turned off with the wipers left halfway up the screen. The new switch came with a groovy illuminated switch panel, so I'm going to wire that in at some point.
7-1-2001
Hm. Got the new speedo on. Still doesn't read because the cable doesn't turn - obviously either the cable or the right-angle drive on the gearbox is broken. However, both temperature and fuel gauges now read high - despite the fact that I put the flasher unit and voltage regulator from the original speedo on.
Also, the main beams have just died. It's probably the switch, which is going to be an absolute bastard to replace and will probably mean taking the steering wheel off.
22-2-2001
New exhaust. Well, sort of. I actually noticed the exhaust blowing (badly) on Saturday 3 Feb, on the way back here from Reims. The P6's exhaust is in three sections - the hole was in the first section, which (unlike the final two sections) is unavailable in France. So, I ordered one from England for £86, including postage. It finally arrived two weeks later (thank you again ParcelForce) and turned out to be the wrong part. My car has three silencers - this was for the cars with two. I got it put on anyway (for 374ff), and now the car's quite stupidly noisy, but at least I can now drive it without getting high on exhaust gases. It'll get me home, anyway - although it probably breaks drive-by noise regulations for jet aircraft, never mind cars. Nah, I'm exaggerating - I think it's worse inside than out.
4-3-2001
Don't drive the thing for a week and what happens - I come back to find a dead alternator and therefore battery. Oh bums. Where do I get a Lucas alternator in France? Until I find out, the Rover's been dumped next to where it broke down - on the driveway of a very nice man who works at the exhaust place and just happens to be restoring an Opel Rekord (Vauxhall Cresta PB to you and me, I think) and lives just round the corner from me. He helped me push the car onto the drive, where it can stay until I can get it fixed, and offered to lend me a bike - I should have accepted, it'll come to the same thing in the end!
5-3-2001
Well, this is as random as they come. I arranged to borrow a battery charger and got four mates together to help me push, and went round to push the Rover home. Tried the key one more time and it started beautifully - much better than it usually does, in fact. Go figure. Maybe the starter motor's got an intermittent fault? Or the ignition switch? Or the relay..? What the hell is the French for "solenoid" anyway?
14-3-2001
It finally stopped raining for long enough for me to try to get the Rover going again today, following some advice from friends and from the Roverworld mailing list. First of all I cleaned all the contacts on the starter and relay, and then reconnected the battery to be rewarded with some big fat sparks. Now, I know I do stupid things at times and I know my memory's not perfect, but I'm sure I reconnected the starter properly - and anyway, there's only two ways it can be done and I tried them both. Same result.
Gave up and called SATEC (+33(0)3 25 96 08 18), the auto electricians. Their van arrived after five minutes. The electrician, a little bloke who wasn't very talkative, reconnected the battery and this time the starter spun for a minute or so before slowing down and stopping. Not because the battery was dead, it obviously just felt like it. He prodded around a bit, poked at the engine with various probes and bits of wire, played with the battery terminal muttering, "il y a des étincelles, c'est pas bon, ça," and finally twatted the starter with a big hammer a few times and told me it was broken.
He towed me to SATEC (the second time I've been towed on a bar and I do not like it) and I walked home.
20-3-2001
Picked the car up from SATEC, where it got its starter motor reconditioned for the princely sum of 643.45 francs. Not bad.
16-4-2001
Got back to London from France, a 320 mile trip during which the Rover performed absolutely faultlessly. I was dead proud of the old girl.
17-4-2001
Started the car to discover huge hole in rear silencer - must have gone while it was cooling off last night, as it wasn't like that yesterday! I'd have noticed. It looks like a previous patch has gone, as the hole is a perfect rectangular shape. Won't be driving her much more, then...
10-6-2001
With the Citroen's exhaust and inlet manifold knackered, I've brought the Rover out of mothball. One large bandage on the rear silencer, and she's actually quieter than I've ever known her - that silencer must have been bad when I got the car! It's been a pleasure driving her around again, even if I only dare do local stuff.
Today I took the Rover to meet its first owner, a charming and elegant lady who was extremely pleased to see that it was still around, and about to be restored. I thoroughly recommend that you research your car's history - you may be as lucky as me and gain an original owners' manual and bill of sale, and make someone happy that their beloved old car is still going strong.