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Car Of The Month :
April 2019




'A Little Limousine Luxury' by Sebastienclement



My first memory of the 75 was when I accompanied my father to the parts department of our local Rover dealer (Welptons, Hessle) to procure a replacement oil cap for his ‘K’ registered 820 SLi. It was 1999 and parked at the front of the dealership were 4 rows of brand new 75s - from that moment on I had to have one. The problem, however, was that I was only 10 years old.

After passing my driving test in 2006 I had a succession of cars including several Vauxhall Astras, a Hyundai Accent, Vauxhall Agila, and even a Renault Laguna. Eventually in 2011 I purchased my first Rover 75 Club 1.8 in White Gold. Having rushed into buying this example it turned out not to be the best buy in the world and it was moved on within a year.

My next example was a Moonstone Classic SE with the 2.0 V6 petrol engine that I won blind from eBay, then a high mileage Club spec diesel in dark blue. Since moving to Buckinghamshire in 2015 I have built up a little fleet which currently consists of a 2001 Copperleaf Red Connoisseur SE diesel, a 2001 Damson Red Connoisseur SE V6 petrol & my latest purchase; a 2004 Long Wheel Base in Starlight Silver sporting the 2.5 V6 petrol engine.



The limousine in question has been around the club for the last few years, the last owner being Rev_Jules of this parish (pun intended!). The car has a large folder of paperwork including what is known of its history. Interestingly the car was produced in 2003 at Longbridge before being shipped out to MacNellies to be converted into a limousine.

The conversion process took 9 months - much longer than normal - and came back as a MK2 car without any MacNellie branding visible at all. This has led to much speculation by previous owners as to whether this car was photographed for the MK2 Limousine brochure… I remain open minded on this, however, as there is another identical limo currently SORN’d that was produced and registered at the same time (BX04WRK & BX04WRJ)



Having researched as much of the car’s history as I can find I have discovered that the car has been shown at the NEC Classic Motor Show before being used by a firm as a wedding car previous to Rev_Jules purchasing the vehicle.



It’s obvious that the car has been well looked after in the past despite clocking up a large mileage (currently 162,000 miles) and having spent some time as a private hire vehicle, although there’s much about the car that doesn’t appear to be original. The interior sports a real walnut dashboard (originally light oak), contemporary black leather seats (originally ash grey Connoisseur seats) & the car has lost its original Serpent alloy wheels in favour of 16” wheels.



Since buying the car last year it has undergone a full inspection with my local MG-Rover specialist which threw up a few areas that needed looking at; some structural work to the floors, worn out suspension components & some preventative jobs that were worth doing such as changing the gearbox fluid & having the heater matrix replaced. All these jobs have been completed and the car gained a fresh MOT as of November last year.



Since the work was completed I have done over 2000 trouble free miles in the car, and it is a wonderful place to be. The cabin is clearly much better soundproofed than the standard length 75 (even my pre-project drive examples) & the car rides a lot better as well, which I suspect is to do with the longer wheelbase and slightly softer suspension set up, but it really eats up motorway miles with supreme ease. This one is certainly a keeper on my fleet.



Article written by member Sebastienclement

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