Since January, I've ended up acquiring a couple of other Rovers, as you do.
In January, I acquired a Rover P5 3 litre coupé which didn't run, had been sitting a while, and looked pretty awful. After trailering it home, it transpired to be far better than I could ever have hoped it would be! It ran with very little provocation, drove, steered, and even stopped! The rust was localised too, meaning that it really only needed new inner and outer sills on both sides.
However, while searching for somebody to fit new sills to it, I had a quick look at P5s for sale, with MOTs, and did what anybody would do under the circumstances. I bought a P5B.
Last Tuesday I went to see the car, and decided I liked what I saw after discussing it with a couple of friends. I paid for the car on Monday, and signed all of the documents, before collecting it yesterday.
I arrived home from collecting the car about 6 hours later than intended, due to a couple of unforeseen issues. When I got to collect the car, the battery had gone flat, which wasn't really surprising, given that it had only been run for a couple of minutes just the week before, and had done nothing much else for the last few months. However, once that was done, I realised it had run out of fuel. Anyway, once these trifling matters had been attended to, the car started on the first flick of the key. 8)
I decided to go into Biggar to have a spot of lunch, and fill the car with premium unleaded.
I've never driven a car which attracts half as much interest! I must confess that I did glance at the occasional shop window as I drove past, V8 resonating through the narrow streets!
I decided, in order to avoid roadworks at Moffat, I'd travel down to Lockerbie, and head home from there. Rather than the motorway, I felt since I'd just got the car, I'd rather try the back road home. I travelled about 40 miles in absolute comfort, and without much movement on the fuel gauge front. It's unlike anything I've driven before, it's just so effortless, and torquey. Overtaking is a doddle too!
Sadly, however, just outside Lockerbie, coming up to a roundabout, the brake pedal went to the floor. I had to drive through the roundabout, then let the car come to a halt, with some assistance from the handbrake in a layby just along the road. Thankfully no harm done to the car, me, or anyone else. A brake pipe has failed, as a result of the car having sat since the owner's death last autumn.
So, not a difficult fix, but the car had to be brought home on a transporter which was slightly disheartening, but I'm glad that this happened when it did, and that nothing nasty happened. I've decided to replace all of the brake lines as a matter of course, with copper items, since the car has been maintained with no corners cut in the past, I want to continue in the same manner.
I love the car though, and really can't wait to start enjoying it when the better weather arrives. It's going to be an awful lot of fun! 8)
Meanwhile, the 2000 has done the Blythswood run, as mentioned in the Monte Carlo Historique thread, which was a lot of fun, and the car performed faultlessly!
The 75 has done sterling service throughout the last couple of months too!
