The P3 75, the car I passed my test on an incredibly long time ago. It gave me the opportunity to show the examiner that I could double declutch into 2nd and 1st gears. Not only is the body all steel but the chassis is unique in that it ends at the front of the rear springs with the entire back end being a semi monocoque with a cross tube to which the others ends of the springs are fitted. The e haunt valves are in the block not the head.
Ian, the freewheel was a little more than a sort of neutral. It allowed the driver to change gears without the clutch, once the car was moving. It made for very smooth driving, and meant the car felt very limousine-like. The P3 was my first car, fifty years ago. A lovely car, but very prone to rust at the rear end. I remember the gearbox was removed through the cabin, not from underneath.
In the late 50’s my Grandfather bought a 1939 Rover 10 that had been placed in storage when WWII started and it had stayed that way until he bought it. I imagine this P3 was very similar to this 10. He was always very proud of that Rover, when I was child he owned a SD1.
Nice review Hubnut. On Inlet Over Exhaust (IOE) engines, one reason for their design was the narrow bores used in that period, which you mentioned. A small bore engine makes it difficult to get a pair of decent sized valves into an OHV combustion chamber and decent porting into the head. With the IOE engine having the exhaust valves and ports in the block, and the inlet valves and ports in the head, this problem is much alleviated, and indeed, these Rovers have surprisingly big valves by the standards of their day. Also with OHV cars of the day often having a propensity for burning valves (e.g. Morris MS), exhaust valves seating in the big metal mass of the block would stay cooler. Cheers.
I joined senior school in1961 and our headmaster owned one of those,but his looked as if it had never been washed or cared for,more metal on view than paint,but he still had it when I left the scchool in 1965,and apparently it ran for several years more..Great joy to see your review !
I'm so glad you do, do older cars Ian, your information helps me understand how things got developed. This is a lovely old sedate bit of history and very beautiful to look at. Being a bit old I like old things, I even quite like me, sedate, beautiful, and only taken out for very gentle trips. That could be laziness though.
Ah, Trafficators, whenever my Pop’s Old 1938 Morris 8 Series E reached above 50mph (which was not very often), the B Pillar had to,be thumped to help the trafficator pop out as the supersonic speed that lovely old thing rattled up to created too much air resistance for the poor old arm to do it by it’s own means.
Spent lots of time in these cars as a kid, lovely old things. The instruments were originally labelled in small white painted lettering which, unsurprisingly, has not stood the test of time! The driver's window had a large, quick release handle about a foot long, to enable the window to be rolled down quickly - for hand signals I suppose! They also had a blind for the rear window, operated by a sliding control above the driver's door - very fancy! Nice to see an old Rover again...
The drivers window didn't wind down - it dropped down when you pulled the lever, you then wound it up. It never worked properly on the one my Dad owned and he spent a lot of time swearing at it! The car also used to boil going up the Blue Mountains - something to do with the carburetor running too lean I think. This was in the early 60's though and the car was well used when Dad bought it.
A beautiful, beautiful car - to be restored, I hope. My friend's father owned one in the early 1960s, which he kept in mint condition. Occasionally, he took us children to school five miles away in this wonderful vehicle, instead of the usual Morris Minor. There was an awkward turning to the right into Ormes Lane at the top of a hill, and he sometimes crunched the gears. I never realised that (unlike the downmarket Morris), the car had no syncro on second. He eventually sold the car for 250 pounds. It was still in beautiful condition. Its replacement was a very handsome Triumph 2000 - complete with syncromesh on all its gears.
Most enjoyable review, HubNut! I've owned one series II Landy, seven P4s, four P5s, one P6 - and one 6-light P3 75. The P3 was a project that remained unfinished owing to a divorce. My fave was a 1956 90, complete with freewheel; the only particularly troublesome one was a 105R - that Roverdrive was a cranky bitch of a box. My '56 90 would, after taking its time getting there, cruise all day at 90 mph without complaint. One fault common to them all (apart from the ubiquitous Lucas Prince of Darkness electrics and the British "constant running oil change" because of leaks) was the SU fuel pump: they frequently burned out their points. One one trip, the pump failed about 200 km from home; wifey drove while I sat in the boot tapping the damn pump with a wrench to keep it going. So that I could breathe, I kept the boot lid (aluminium alloy, thank the gods!) open a little with my foot; that caused another motorist to overtake then flag down the P4 and inform the Mrs that she had a body in the boot. "Yes," she replied. "It's my husband." Next thing we knew we were pulled over by a cop! No drama once he realised what was going on - he found it quite funny (that was in the days when the fuzz had a sense of humour).
I had to get my wife to lie in the back of a Morris Oxford series 6 estate to get through the Mersey Tunnel tapping the petrol pump every 10 seconds to get us home.. breakdown charges were horrendous even back in the 70's Ha ha
Thanks Ian Refreshed the memories of the 1950 Rover P4 cyclops, column gearshift that my parents had - the first gear whine, the trafficators (not reliable) with the freewheel that mum always used when on the open road but always went to the fixed mode when going down the hills - she never trusted the brakes - still remember her telling the police guy (early 1960’s) when she was stopped for doing 70 mph when the open road limit was 50 mph that the car just likes being at 70 - that argument didn’t do much to get out of the ticket. The horn would work when the steering wheel turned - the wire running through the steering had worn the insulation etc. We had worn the carpet out by the mid 1960’s . It tool kit was similar but under the front seat. We worked this car hard with towing caravans and horsefloats. Thanks for prompting those and other memories.
You've done it now. I had nearly gotten over parting with my 1947 P2 16hp 6 light that I bought when I was 16. I shouldn't have done it, but I sold it 15 years later to my father (partially restored) who sold it to a friend, who sold it to Mohammed from Liverpool. A surname would have helped me find it, but alas it is lost. I now have the woodwork skills needed to finish the job. The P2 was OHV, not F head, leaf springs at the front with a beam axle, mechanical brakes on all wheels. If a brake rod snapped, you always had at least two wheels still with brakes. Suicide doors.. forget the doors, the freewheel is the suicide feature..lol. P2 had a wind-out windscreen, so if you wanted to open the sunroof, don a pair of goggles and a scarf... way to go. Great review. Thanks for the video.
Lovely car. Excellent video, and great drive and commentary. Many thanks. Of course we also recognised the early 1950's Land Rover 80-Inch steering wheel, centre hub and dip switch. Also panel lights, and as you said, the torquey IOE engine relationship. Kind regards.
Stunning. Amazed at the level of tech for a car of that age, especially considering what the world had just gone through. What an absolute crying shame that Viking isn't the head of a thriving manufacturer today.
Great stuff! Nice old Rover... Impressive how serious the shifter is! Seems like a car that would last virtually forever with a little tinkering now and then... Thanks for the drive; cheers from here!
Always love learning the history, stories and engineering aspects of the cars much more so than just boring numbers. Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge with the world. = D
Ian, my uncle had one of those in the 1960's. It was a cool car to have back then, especially with 3 young children and all the stuff needed for them. Great car, if a little odd!
During my childhood my father had a couple of Rover 10 cars and a 60. The Rover 10 suffered from rust very badly. He used to gas tack weld bits of detaching bodywork on a semi-regular basis just to keep it roadworthy. Mechanically those things were very durable with solid chassis rails but body rust was a major problem (like all British cars of the era in a climate that never seemed to allow the body steel to dry out before the next rain event). Inland Australia (not a coastal town like Sydney) is a good place to find old cars that have not rusted out. Thank you for treating the 75 with respect.
The old low rev engines were easier to idle, tick over happily at 190- 200 RPM, and were a real treat to drive. Special care shifting made for an extremely long life for them, along with active maintenance. Glad to see it is still appreciated for what it is. Cheers.
Tool kit is magic, my mum has a very old book at her house, cant remember the car, but you had to do a oil change at 50 miles and grease all the joints , shows how far we have come with precision engineering and quality oils and sealed units etc. Lovely old rover .... farewell
Absolutely superb Ian more 30's and 40's stuff if possible it's such a treat to see a proper walk round drive and review of these car's from such a wonderful era ♥️
That adjustable spanner looks very familiar, my Granddad's and Uncle's old toolboxes contain loads of treasures like that! Great car, great video. Thanks.
I was already in love with it because of the big headlamps, front mudguards and the running boards but when I heard that engine. Double declutch words from my early driving days!
Great to see this Rover featured, thanks. I've got a P5 3 Litre, with the last version of that gorgeous IOE engine, and essentially the same gearbox too, with that same first gear whine. Post war tech that was still in production in the late 1960s.
Three great road tests in a row. I've got a 1947 P2 16 so it's interesting to compare the two. Very similar in appearance, but quite a few changes under the skin. Thanks Ian.
I was picked up in one while hitch hiking in 1971 and, suitably impressed especially by the roomy interior, I decided I’d try and find one to do up. But, after a year or so of being unable to find one I came across a Mk V Jag for a good price and did that up instead. But, I always wanted the Rover.
I am Sure that is the Car My Grandfather had in his Garage in Uk. Which was his Pride and Joy. He Died when I was 11 yrs old but Remember a Sea of Red upholstery. But recall a Day when a Spare Tyre was needed and that Boot looks Exactly what I remember..! That and Sliding Across the Backseat. Pre Seat belt Days. I could be Wrong but whatever it was, it was Beautifully Styled and Like Driving somewhere in your Lounge..!! Cheers from Oz 😎
What a lovely car! Looked a bit all-over-the-place regarding the steering mind! But who could resist anything with such a fantastic first gear whine - brilliant!!
Very good looking old Rover . That boddy looks as if it was built for the next 50 years , such quality ! Every part looks sturdy and well made I guess altough its not fast by modern standards , its still a treat to drive ! That red leather and wood just does it for me ! I really love those old stile interiors and dashboards with their big black steering wheels and they look so roomey too . No fat pillars and low roof that makes you feel claustrofobic . Thanks for this great video , makes this Rovaholic feels good
Thanks fo reviewing this car ian , my dad had one of these, and we did have to strap all the luggage on the back open boot lid. Ours was black with burgundy seats and an operating sun roof,, for us kids to push our metal toy air planes in to the air stream and see the props spin round. I could nearly smell it! And dad always put a couple of shots of Redex on every tank of fuel. Happy days, they replaced it in the early 60s with a Humber hawk estate.
Fantastic mascot and lovely sounds. Yes it is a treat to go for a ride in such a car and once you got used to telegraphing ahead with the steering inputs, it rounded the bends well :-) Cheers
One stunning Rover, I remember seeing one of these a few years ago at a open day at a fire station and the one thing I loved about the car was the Viking head mascot. You can see this is a luxury car the moment you jump in.
A car the same age as Ozzy Osbourne, imagine that, but hopefully rather less thirsty. I noticed that the feature on the boot lid for storing the spare was retained as an optional, purely aesthetic, feature of the futuristic-looking 1957 Imperial (Leno). How different national tax regimes determined the evolution of the automobile is a very interesting subject in itself.
Just love the P3 - I’d love to have a 75 added to the collection next 😊 When Rover made those the dashboard had lettering to tell you what the buttons and rotary switches did, and the switch on the steering wheel. Someone clearly repainted the dash and didn’t re-letter it!! Naughty person!!
Thanks Ian for a very informative video. A couple of weeks ago I spotted a P3 that was looking for a new owner, it was in excellent condition and me being even older than the P3 I felt that I just had to by it, so your video is very welcome. The financial controller was not impressed, liked the car but not the expenditure but as my son has often told me, "forgiveness is easier than permission".
The trafficators are ace and the wipers are absolutely wonderful. Who couldn’t love them? Even though they leave a carrot of despair in the middle of the screen!😂 The whole car is brilliant and I wouldn’t mind a drive of one myself!
There was one of these in dilapidated condition in Waipahu, keeping company with some Americans of similar age. A few years ago the all disappeared. Freewheeling was common on 1920s/30s Americans. I'm told Holdens were sold new in Hawaii, but have never seen one. I "Own" a 1909 Kissel 3 cyl. 40hp car or truck. It is the 871st Kissell built. I dug up the cast brass builder's plate in 2010, making me the owner.
When i was an Apprentice a few of my fellow apprentices drove some weird and wonderful cars. One of the guys owned a 49 Rover which could only be described as "down at heel". He rebuilt the engine in our extensively equipped workshops but never bothered about the actual car,as long as it ran he was happy. In fact he pinched some rope from the stores and used it to hold up the fuel tank . The rope used was braided with a Bright blue nylon streak so it would be difficult to steal, and under his car it stuck out like the proverbial dogs balls.
I have a feeling that trafficators were an option and aftermarket in origin hence possibly a dealer or even owner installed item. The controls look very standard equipment though so quite intriguing. I am also intrigued by the carved moulded shape of the wooden door trims at the bottom of the window glass area. Glorious.
They were a sedate 'motor carriage' from a more sedate time! A car that can't top 90 mph nowadays is regarded as a waste of time, and 0-60 times and top speed are the only things deemed necessary to define good and bad! I love these P3's, they were absolutely beautiful! Good video Ian, thank you! :-)
A lovely, sympathetic test! One little detail to add....... That single, near central, "fog" light had been a Rover trademark feature since the mid 30's And continued on with the grille mounted central lamp on the "Cyclops" P4 75 and also on the subsequent 90's all the way through to the Bache re-styling of the front end in '57. It is NOT a fog lamp............. It is an Overtaking Lamp. Oooh........... Apparent vagueness of the steering also seems to be a Rover feature, still there on P6. The trick is to leave the wheel to do it's own thing when running straight. Once you apply lock, the steering starts to feel much more accurate.......... Quieter times...............
I passed my test in a 1948 rover 16 which is almost identical. I had stronger arms in those days and you really needed them as the steering was so damn heavy. It was my dads and he paid a tenner for it in 1968.
Great video. A lot of these 40s and 50s period cars are a mystery to me being a 70s lad ... but really good to see this. Really interesting and thanks for the info as I feel that I’m starting to understand at least some of these cars of the period. 👍😊
That car just oozes presence. From the front it looks like a small Bentley. Everything is right about it, the restrained grey paint which does hint at the serious engineering quality for which 1950s Rovers were renowned, the oh-so-imposing front end with immaculate chrome grille and the wood inside which is just right. Lovely mellifluous engine not. It looks like it is a very comfortable car to drive in. Complete quality!!!
The BikingViking. "The owner didn't seem very sure about the freewheel working, he never used it". What. You try EVERYTHING on a car you just bought. Or is that just me? I love this. It may not be great to drive but it sure is great to watch. Hope to drive pre-50's car some day. Amazing.
Come on, honour where honour is due. There is no triangle of doom ;) OK I was commenting on the fly, triangle of doom confirmed at 17 minutes in :D That is definitely a car for a different era, the boot does not lock and many other impractical things but so nice that there are people who keep these cars going. Thanks again for this presentation.
Very nice car and practical enough for everyday use during dry weather and daylight. Not sure if car tax used to be by horse power. My grandad’s first car was a pre WW2 Vauxhall 10/4 saloon, in black. Doctors and bankers loved the P3/P4 Rovers as did the government. I have a modern day Rover 75, yours looks very well made, those switches take some getting used to.
Sounds exactly the same as my cousin’s P4 100. Funny to think that this car is only 6 years older than my Land Rover. It has the same rotating dashboard switches and identical steering wheel centre as well as a 4 cylinder version of the marvelous IOE engine. Lovely video. 👍
Finally found a survivor of our grandparents' old cars. He had one of only two imported to Czechoslovakia at the time, right hand drive of course. Grey car with a crocodile green interior. Would love to know more but sadly gone in time.
My first car was a P4 75, mechanically very similar to this. 4 speed gear box, synchro only on 3rd and top, but the freewheel made changing gear a lot simpler. Brakes were hydraulic on the front, mechanical to the rear - a couple of times that gave a bit of a problem. While the engineering was conservative it was high quality, and everything was so beautifully made.
Somehow pressed the post button a bit soon. The aluminium castings for the inlet were something to behold and alone probably justified the cost of the car.
As a child, I saw many of these on the roads and always thought them handsome in a dignified way. I didn't remember how nice the dash was (must never have peeked into a parked example), but I did remember the heartbeat tickover (the word seems more appropriate than 'idle'). As for ergonomics, far from "still learning", as Ian says, 1940s-era designers wouldn't have known how to spell the word. It only entered their habitual vocabulary in the early-1960s. Also, women were very common behind the wheel in those days. Although not a rare sight before WWII, the war itself, with most of the men away, meant women drove everything, including heavy construction equipment, lorries, and buses. So, while the Rover 75 might have been solely for manager or professional hubby, his wife would often have had a small Ford, Morris, or Austin in which to run errands and ferry the children.
Great review Ian of a beautiful quality car.You're right, the R.A.C rating for Vehicle Excise Duty was based on the formula : 2/5 bore squared times the number of cylinders.( remember this well from a maths book at school ! ).It worked out at approximately a £1 per ' horsepower. An Austin 7 worked out at 7.8h.p so a years road tax was around 2 weeks wages for a skilled engineer !.Motoring was always expensive for the pre-war driver and the bigger engined car you drove , V.E.D costs rose dramatically.
A Lovely car My Father had a 1934 Rover 12 with the same type of boot lid. He loved it & it was not a slow car. Being a pre-war car it had the single point oiling with the pedal under the dash. A joy to watch your review which has revived some wonderful memories of the late 1950s & early 1960s. It would be great if you can do the Standard Vanguards with the boots & the last 4 cylinder model. Just Wonderful.
The contents of the Rover tool kit never changed including the hand tyre pump, the P 5B had the exact same contents along with the same pull out tray which had a walnut veneer cover so could be used as a tea table, don't know if the SD1 had the same as never owned one nor later Rovers, they weren't Rovers by then anyway. The P 3 and P 4 had leather grease filled gaiters around the leaf springs when new to prevent suspension creaks, they had grease nipples but were often overlooked during servicing so the leather hardened and cracked then they would be removed, few owners replaced them.
Interesting and very likeable car! Don’t know about a Triangle Of Doom but more a Chasm Of Hopelessness on this one! Thanks for the tour - Great video!
Viewing the video a second time I noticed the tyre pump missing, often the case as owners kept them when selling the vehicle on along with tool kit contents, one was lucky if buying used that the kit was complete. With reference to the spring gaiters, I was lucky to find a set in a local village garage, NOS, which the owner fitted as well in the price paid, not a job which I fancied doing as the springs had to be dropped each end. Once fitted my P 4 100 had creak free suspension again and I checked that the grease had been refilled if serviced by a garage when not the time myself. The eight year old car, when purchased, gave me four years, 60,000 miles of almost no breakdown use, only serious breakdown was a blown head gasket.
Oh my, what a treat! Might not be "HubNut", but i sure do like it! In fact, i love it! Come to think of it, i don't really know if my words hold any worth by now. I love most cars... hmmm....
Nice to see an old survivor like this. Most owners of cars like this are long dead now 😅🤣😂, nice to see younger people take them on and appreciate them for what they are.
I love these old cars, they do take a lot of care attention and constant maintenance though. You cannot leave them outside for months on end or take them on a journey without doing a full fluids check and checking grease points etc. You also have to be a bit of a mechanic to really own one, some of these cars may require the distributer rotor arm to be adjusted half way through a journey, little idiosyncracies like that. Parts are an issue obviously.
The P3 75, the car I passed my test on an incredibly long time ago. It gave me the opportunity to show the examiner that I could double declutch into 2nd and 1st gears. Not only is the body all steel but the chassis is unique in that it ends at the front of the rear springs with the entire back end being a semi monocoque with a cross tube to which the others ends of the springs are fitted. The e haunt valves are in the block not the head.
When I took my test the 3-point turn was actually a 7 point turn on a narrow road in Bodmin.
Ian, the freewheel was a little more than a sort of neutral. It allowed the driver to change gears without the clutch, once the car was moving. It made for very smooth driving, and meant the car felt very limousine-like. The P3 was my first car, fifty years ago. A lovely car, but very prone to rust at the rear end. I remember the gearbox was removed through the cabin, not from underneath.
In the late 50’s my Grandfather bought a 1939 Rover 10 that had been placed in storage when WWII started and it had stayed that way until he bought it. I imagine this P3 was very similar to this 10. He was always very proud of that Rover, when I was child he owned a SD1.
Nice review Hubnut. On Inlet Over Exhaust (IOE) engines, one reason for their design was the narrow bores used in that period, which you mentioned. A small bore engine makes it difficult to get a pair of decent sized valves into an OHV combustion chamber and decent porting into the head. With the IOE engine having the exhaust valves and ports in the block, and the inlet valves and ports in the head, this problem is much alleviated, and indeed, these Rovers have surprisingly big valves by the standards of their day. Also with OHV cars of the day often having a propensity for burning valves (e.g. Morris MS), exhaust valves seating in the big metal mass of the block would stay cooler. Cheers.
I joined senior school in1961 and our headmaster owned one of those,but his looked as if it had never been washed or cared for,more metal on view than paint,but he still had it when I left the scchool in 1965,and apparently it ran for several years more..Great joy to see your review !
I'm so glad you do, do older cars Ian, your information helps me understand how things got developed. This is a lovely old sedate bit of history and very beautiful to look at. Being a bit old I like old things, I even quite like me, sedate, beautiful, and only taken out for very gentle trips. That could be laziness though.
Ah, Trafficators, whenever my Pop’s Old 1938 Morris 8 Series E reached above 50mph (which was not very often), the B Pillar had to,be thumped to help the trafficator pop out as the supersonic speed that lovely old thing rattled up to created too much air resistance for the poor old arm to do it by it’s own means.
Spent lots of time in these cars as a kid, lovely old things. The instruments were originally labelled in small white painted lettering which, unsurprisingly, has not stood the test of time! The driver's window had a large, quick release handle about a foot long, to enable the window to be rolled down quickly - for hand signals I suppose! They also had a blind for the rear window, operated by a sliding control above the driver's door - very fancy! Nice to see an old Rover again...
My 1951 AC Saloon has that sort of rear window blind, from when the only vehicles with blinding lights behind were big AEC or Leyland lorries.
The drivers window didn't wind down - it dropped down when you pulled the lever, you then wound it up. It never worked properly on the one my Dad owned and he spent a lot of time swearing at it! The car also used to boil going up the Blue Mountains - something to do with the carburetor running too lean I think. This was in the early 60's though and the car was well used when Dad bought it.
Rover built stunning cars. Very tasty.
A beautiful, beautiful car - to be restored, I hope.
My friend's father owned one in the early 1960s, which he kept in mint condition. Occasionally, he took us children to school five miles away in this wonderful vehicle, instead of the usual Morris Minor. There was an awkward turning to the right into Ormes Lane at the top of a hill, and he sometimes crunched the gears. I never realised that (unlike the downmarket Morris), the car had no syncro on second.
He eventually sold the car for 250 pounds. It was still in beautiful condition. Its replacement was a very handsome Triumph 2000 - complete with syncromesh on all its gears.
Most enjoyable review, HubNut!
I've owned one series II Landy, seven P4s, four P5s, one P6 - and one 6-light P3 75. The P3 was a project that remained unfinished owing to a divorce. My fave was a 1956 90, complete with freewheel; the only particularly troublesome one was a 105R - that Roverdrive was a cranky bitch of a box. My '56 90 would, after taking its time getting there, cruise all day at 90 mph without complaint.
One fault common to them all (apart from the ubiquitous Lucas Prince of Darkness electrics and the British "constant running oil change" because of leaks) was the SU fuel pump: they frequently burned out their points. One one trip, the pump failed about 200 km from home; wifey drove while I sat in the boot tapping the damn pump with a wrench to keep it going. So that I could breathe, I kept the boot lid (aluminium alloy, thank the gods!) open a little with my foot; that caused another motorist to overtake then flag down the P4 and inform the Mrs that she had a body in the boot. "Yes," she replied. "It's my husband."
Next thing we knew we were pulled over by a cop! No drama once he realised what was going on - he found it quite funny (that was in the days when the fuzz had a sense of humour).
I had to get my wife to lie in the back of a Morris Oxford series 6 estate to get through the Mersey Tunnel tapping the petrol pump every 10 seconds to get us home.. breakdown charges were horrendous even back in the 70's Ha ha
Thanks Ian
Refreshed the memories of the 1950 Rover P4 cyclops, column gearshift that my parents had - the first gear whine, the trafficators (not reliable) with the freewheel that mum always used when on the open road but always went to the fixed mode when going down the hills - she never trusted the brakes - still remember her telling the police guy (early 1960’s) when she was stopped for doing 70 mph when the open road limit was 50 mph that the car just likes being at 70 - that argument didn’t do much to get out of the ticket. The horn would work when the steering wheel turned - the wire running through the steering had worn the insulation etc. We had worn the carpet out by the mid 1960’s . It tool kit was similar but under the front seat.
We worked this car hard with towing caravans and horsefloats.
Thanks for prompting those and other memories.
My prep school headmaster had one. I believe they were referred to as the Poor Man's Rolls-Royce.
The central seat armrest is pulled from its base, then it levers out and down.
Interesting spotting all the bits shared with Land Rover's of the same year - what a beautiful motor..
You've done it now. I had nearly gotten over parting with my 1947 P2 16hp 6 light that I bought when I was 16. I shouldn't have done it, but I sold it 15 years later to my father (partially restored) who sold it to a friend, who sold it to Mohammed from Liverpool. A surname would have helped me find it, but alas it is lost. I now have the woodwork skills needed to finish the job. The P2 was OHV, not F head, leaf springs at the front with a beam axle, mechanical brakes on all wheels. If a brake rod snapped, you always had at least two wheels still with brakes. Suicide doors.. forget the doors, the freewheel is the suicide feature..lol. P2 had a wind-out windscreen, so if you wanted to open the sunroof, don a pair of goggles and a scarf... way to go. Great review. Thanks for the video.
Lovely car. Excellent video, and great drive and commentary. Many thanks. Of course we also recognised the early 1950's Land Rover 80-Inch steering wheel, centre hub and dip switch. Also panel lights, and as you said, the torquey IOE engine relationship. Kind regards.
Don't old Rover's make you feel all warm and fuzzy... I want one.
Stunning. Amazed at the level of tech for a car of that age, especially considering what the world had just gone through.
What an absolute crying shame that Viking isn't the head of a thriving manufacturer today.
Great stuff! Nice old Rover... Impressive how serious the shifter is! Seems like a car that would last virtually forever with a little tinkering now and then... Thanks for the drive; cheers from here!
Always love learning the history, stories and engineering aspects of the cars much more so than just boring numbers. Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge with the world. = D
Ian, my uncle had one of those in the 1960's. It was a cool car to have back then, especially with 3 young children and all the stuff needed for them. Great car, if a little odd!
During my childhood my father had a couple of Rover 10 cars and a 60. The Rover 10 suffered from rust very badly. He used to gas tack weld bits of detaching bodywork on a semi-regular basis just to keep it roadworthy. Mechanically those things were very durable with solid chassis rails but body rust was a major problem (like all British cars of the era in a climate that never seemed to allow the body steel to dry out before the next rain event). Inland Australia (not a coastal town like Sydney) is a good place to find old cars that have not rusted out.
Thank you for treating the 75 with respect.
The old low rev engines were easier to idle, tick over happily at 190- 200 RPM, and were a real treat to drive. Special care shifting made for an extremely long life for them, along with active maintenance. Glad to see it is still appreciated for what it is. Cheers.
Whining of the indirect gears: that takes me back!
Tool kit is magic, my mum has a very old book at her house, cant remember the car, but you had to do a oil change at 50 miles and grease all the joints , shows how far we have come with precision engineering and quality oils and sealed units etc. Lovely old rover .... farewell
Absolutely delightful! Sounds of a vintage motorcar, priceless. When giving us a driver's view, spectacular. Simply smashing!
Absolutely superb Ian more 30's and 40's stuff if possible it's such a treat to see a proper walk round drive and review of these car's from such a wonderful era ♥️
That adjustable spanner looks very familiar, my Granddad's and Uncle's old toolboxes contain loads of treasures like that! Great car, great video. Thanks.
I was already in love with it because of the big headlamps, front mudguards and the running boards but when I heard that engine. Double declutch words from my early driving days!
Now that is my kind of Rover. What a wonderful motor car. My Great Aunt had one before upgrading to a P4. Thank you HubNut, terrific.
Great to see this Rover featured, thanks. I've got a P5 3 Litre, with the last version of that gorgeous IOE engine, and essentially the same gearbox too, with that same first gear whine. Post war tech that was still in production in the late 1960s.
We had one when I was less than 7 years old.So nice to relive the experience!
What a lovely sedate old girl, I love the first gear whine it takes me back to so many old cars of my childhood. Smashing vid as usual Mr Seabrook.
Three great road tests in a row. I've got a 1947 P2 16 so it's interesting to compare the two. Very similar in appearance, but quite a few changes under the skin. Thanks Ian.
I was picked up in one while hitch hiking in 1971 and, suitably impressed especially by the roomy interior, I decided I’d try and find one to do up. But, after a year or so of being unable to find one I came across a Mk V Jag for a good price and did that up instead. But, I always wanted the Rover.
What a delightful vehicle. Great to see the viking up close at the ptchoo moment.
I am Sure that is the Car My Grandfather had in his Garage in Uk.
Which was his Pride and Joy.
He Died when I was 11 yrs old but Remember a Sea of Red upholstery.
But recall a Day when a Spare Tyre was needed and that Boot looks Exactly what I remember..!
That and Sliding Across the Backseat. Pre Seat belt Days.
I could be Wrong but whatever it was, it was Beautifully Styled and Like Driving somewhere in your Lounge..!!
Cheers from Oz 😎
What a lovely car! Looked a bit all-over-the-place regarding the steering mind! But who could resist anything with such a fantastic first gear whine - brilliant!!
Stunning car. Thank you for a brilliant roadtest! 👍
My father had a 1945 75 . Lovely car originally chauffeured titled owner . It was parked up until 1986 .
Very good looking old Rover .
That boddy looks as if it was built for
the next 50 years , such quality !
Every part looks sturdy and well made
I guess altough its not fast by modern
standards , its still a treat to drive !
That red leather and wood just does it
for me !
I really love those old stile interiors and
dashboards with their big black steering
wheels and they look so roomey too .
No fat pillars and low roof that makes
you feel claustrofobic .
Thanks for this great video , makes this
Rovaholic feels good
I have to say my car interests start from the 60s but that's a lovely old Rover the view down the bonnet as you're driving it is spectacular!
Thanks fo reviewing this car ian , my dad had one of these, and we did have to strap all the luggage on the back open boot lid. Ours was black with burgundy seats and an operating sun roof,, for us kids to push our metal toy air planes in to the air stream and see the props spin round.
I could nearly smell it! And dad always put a couple of shots of Redex on every tank of fuel.
Happy days, they replaced it in the early 60s with a Humber hawk estate.
Fantastic mascot and lovely sounds. Yes it is a treat to go for a ride in such a car and once you got used to telegraphing ahead with the steering inputs, it rounded the bends well :-) Cheers
One stunning Rover, I remember seeing one of these a few years ago at a open day at a fire station and the one thing I loved about the car was the Viking head mascot. You can see this is a luxury car the moment you jump in.
A car the same age as Ozzy Osbourne, imagine that, but hopefully rather less thirsty. I noticed that the feature on the boot lid for storing the spare was retained as an optional, purely aesthetic, feature of the futuristic-looking 1957 Imperial (Leno). How different national tax regimes determined the evolution of the automobile is a very interesting subject in itself.
That screw-type seat adjustment is brilliant!
Still in use in the 1966 3 litre P5, though by then it was much smaller and required much vigorous winding to change the seat height :-)
Just love the P3 - I’d love to have a 75 added to the collection next 😊
When Rover made those the dashboard had lettering to tell you what the buttons and rotary switches did, and the switch on the steering wheel. Someone clearly repainted the dash and didn’t re-letter it!! Naughty person!!
Thanks Ian for a very informative video. A couple of weeks ago I spotted a P3 that was looking for a new owner, it was in excellent condition and me being even older than the P3 I felt that I just had to by it, so your video is very welcome. The financial controller was not impressed, liked the car but not the expenditure but as my son has often told me, "forgiveness is easier than permission".
The trafficators are ace and the wipers are absolutely wonderful. Who couldn’t love them? Even though they leave a carrot of despair in the middle of the screen!😂
The whole car is brilliant and I wouldn’t mind a drive of one myself!
Dear Ian!
I was really hoping you would find a P2, P3, or P4 in Australia.
Thanks for a real treat!
Love the first gear whine and semaphore indicators. Very 'All Creatures Great and Small' 😊
What a sweet, proper, rather delicate car... harks back to FAR gentler times....
What a lovely old Rover, another great thing about this channel is the mix of cars. Much thanks to the lucky owner and yourself Mr H.
There was one of these in dilapidated condition in Waipahu, keeping company with some Americans of similar age. A few years ago the all disappeared. Freewheeling was common on 1920s/30s Americans. I'm told Holdens were sold new in Hawaii, but have never seen one. I "Own" a 1909 Kissel 3 cyl. 40hp car or truck. It is the 871st Kissell built. I dug up the cast brass builder's plate in 2010, making me the owner.
Very much a Land Rover styled dash from the indicator bulbs to the gauges.
When i was an Apprentice a few of my fellow apprentices drove some weird and wonderful cars. One of the guys owned a 49 Rover which could only be described as "down at heel". He rebuilt the engine in our extensively equipped workshops but never bothered about the actual car,as long as it ran he was happy. In fact he pinched some rope from the stores and used it to hold up the fuel tank . The rope used was braided with a Bright blue nylon streak so it would be difficult to steal, and under his car it stuck out like the proverbial dogs balls.
I have a feeling that trafficators were an option and aftermarket in origin hence possibly a dealer or even owner installed item. The controls look very standard equipment though so quite intriguing. I am also intrigued by the carved moulded shape of the wooden door trims at the bottom of the window glass area. Glorious.
They were a sedate 'motor carriage' from a more sedate time! A car that can't top 90 mph nowadays is regarded as a waste of time, and 0-60 times and top speed are the only things deemed necessary to define good and bad!
I love these P3's, they were absolutely beautiful!
Good video Ian, thank you! :-)
Doctors and farmers had these when I was a very young lad.
Just looking at the interior, the dials, the controls is an adventure. combined with long stroke torque for restrained quality motoring . Class car.
Oh that gearbox sound. Lovely stuff.
Absolutely love this car - this i proper engineering in every detail 👍👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
A lovely, sympathetic test!
One little detail to add....... That single, near central, "fog" light had been a Rover trademark feature since the mid 30's And continued on with the grille mounted central lamp on the "Cyclops" P4 75 and also on the subsequent 90's all the way through to the Bache re-styling of the front end in '57. It is NOT a fog lamp............. It is an Overtaking Lamp. Oooh...........
Apparent vagueness of the steering also seems to be a Rover feature, still there on P6. The trick is to leave the wheel to do it's own thing when running straight. Once you apply lock, the steering starts to feel much more accurate..........
Quieter times...............
I passed my test in a 1948 rover 16 which is almost identical. I had stronger arms in those days and you really needed them as the steering was so damn heavy. It was my dads and he paid a tenner for it in 1968.
A car you see and go "Oh that's nice!". Very few new cars give you that feeling.
Great video. A lot of these 40s and 50s period cars are a mystery to me being a 70s lad ... but really good to see this. Really interesting and thanks for the info as I feel that I’m starting to understand at least some of these cars of the period. 👍😊
That car just oozes presence. From the front it looks like a small Bentley. Everything is right about it, the restrained grey paint which does hint at the serious engineering quality for which 1950s Rovers were renowned, the oh-so-imposing front end with immaculate chrome grille and the wood inside which is just right. Lovely mellifluous engine not. It looks like it is a very comfortable car to drive in. Complete quality!!!
The BikingViking.
"The owner didn't seem very sure about the freewheel working, he never used it".
What.
You try EVERYTHING on a car you just bought. Or is that just me?
I love this. It may not be great to drive but it sure is great to watch.
Hope to drive pre-50's car some day. Amazing.
Come on, honour where honour is due. There is no triangle of doom ;)
OK I was commenting on the fly, triangle of doom confirmed at 17 minutes in :D
That is definitely a car for a different era, the boot does not lock and many other impractical things but so nice that there are people who keep these cars going. Thanks again for this presentation.
The sight of you so demurely entering the car is priceless! Knees together now! LOL!
My mates P3 has fantastic window winders. A large lever that you just push down or pull up in one easy movement. A great car
P2 had that on the drivers door only. I had forgotten. Great for toll gates when you had to pass coins to the toll collector.
Very nice car and practical enough for everyday use during dry weather and daylight. Not sure if car tax used to be by horse power. My grandad’s first car was a pre WW2 Vauxhall 10/4 saloon, in black. Doctors and bankers loved the P3/P4 Rovers as did the government. I have a modern day Rover 75, yours looks very well made, those switches take some getting used to.
Sounds exactly the same as my cousin’s P4 100.
Funny to think that this car is only 6 years older than my Land Rover. It has the same rotating dashboard switches and identical steering wheel centre as well as a 4 cylinder version of the marvelous IOE engine.
Lovely video.
👍
Finally found a survivor of our grandparents' old cars. He had one of only two imported to Czechoslovakia at the time, right hand drive of course. Grey car with a crocodile green interior. Would love to know more but sadly gone in time.
Lovely Ian thanks for that,... Love the sound of that straight six.
That barrel-style headlamp switch is a bit Citroën GSA! Or, maybe not. Beautiful, old school car!
My uncle had a car like that. I remember as a small child it being much nicer and luxurious than the general run of mill cars at the time.
My first car was a P4 75, mechanically very similar to this. 4 speed gear box, synchro only on 3rd and top, but the freewheel made changing gear a lot simpler. Brakes were hydraulic on the front, mechanical to the rear - a couple of times that gave a bit of a problem. While the engineering was conservative it was high quality, and everything was so beautifully made.
Somehow pressed the post button a bit soon. The aluminium castings for the inlet were something to behold and alone probably justified the cost of the car.
As a child, I saw many of these on the roads and always thought them handsome in a dignified way. I didn't remember how nice the dash was (must never have peeked into a parked example), but I did remember the heartbeat tickover (the word seems more appropriate than 'idle'). As for ergonomics, far from "still learning", as Ian says, 1940s-era designers wouldn't have known how to spell the word. It only entered their habitual vocabulary in the early-1960s.
Also, women were very common behind the wheel in those days. Although not a rare sight before WWII, the war itself, with most of the men away, meant women drove everything, including heavy construction equipment, lorries, and buses. So, while the Rover 75 might have been solely for manager or professional hubby, his wife would often have had a small Ford, Morris, or Austin in which to run errands and ferry the children.
Nice. Love the sound from the gearbox especially.
10:50 Those wipers sound like my cat snoring !
At least electric wipers. The vacuum were horriffic.
Rover... my favorite British car! Hope you will do a test of the P4 and P5 in the future!
Great review Ian of a beautiful quality car.You're right, the R.A.C rating for Vehicle Excise Duty was based on the formula : 2/5 bore squared times the number of cylinders.( remember this well from a maths book at school ! ).It worked out at approximately a £1 per ' horsepower. An Austin 7 worked out at 7.8h.p so a years road tax was around 2 weeks wages for a skilled engineer !.Motoring was always expensive for the pre-war driver and the bigger engined car you drove , V.E.D costs rose dramatically.
Beautiful car still with class and the Viking on the bonnet lovely......
A Lovely car My Father had a 1934 Rover 12 with the same type of boot lid. He loved it & it was not a slow car. Being a pre-war car it had the single point oiling with the pedal under the dash. A joy to watch your review which has revived some wonderful memories of the late 1950s & early 1960s. It would be great if you can do the Standard Vanguards with the boots & the last 4 cylinder model. Just Wonderful.
I have a Vanguard Vignale test to come. 😉
@@HubNut Thank you, Mervyn Price
The contents of the Rover tool kit never changed including the hand tyre pump, the P 5B had the exact same contents along with the same pull out tray which had a walnut veneer cover so could be used as a tea table, don't know if the SD1 had the same as never owned one nor later Rovers, they weren't Rovers by then anyway. The P 3 and P 4 had leather grease filled gaiters around the leaf springs when new to prevent suspension creaks, they had grease nipples but were often overlooked during servicing so the leather hardened and cracked then they would be removed, few owners replaced them.
Interesting and very likeable car! Don’t know about a Triangle Of Doom but more a Chasm Of Hopelessness on this one! Thanks for the tour - Great video!
Viewing the video a second time I noticed the tyre pump missing, often the case as owners kept them when selling the vehicle on along with tool kit contents, one was lucky if buying used that the kit was complete. With reference to the spring gaiters, I was lucky to find a set in a local village garage, NOS, which the owner fitted as well in the price paid, not a job which I fancied doing as the springs had to be dropped each end. Once fitted my P 4 100 had creak free suspension again and I checked that the grease had been refilled if serviced by a garage when not the time myself. The eight year old car, when purchased, gave me four years, 60,000 miles of almost no breakdown use, only serious breakdown was a blown head gasket.
Great video as always, Ian. A friend of mine here in Ireland has a P3. He's turned down many offers for it.
Oh my, what a treat! Might not be "HubNut", but i sure do like it! In fact, i love it!
Come to think of it, i don't really know if my words hold any worth by now. I love most cars... hmmm....
Wow what an absolute beauty ! I would love to have a drive in it myself 👌
Another bonus of the free wheel system ( when working ) is that you don't need to use the clutch to change gear once the car is rolling.
Nice to see an old survivor like this. Most owners of cars like this are long dead now 😅🤣😂, nice to see younger people take them on and appreciate them for what they are.
I love these old cars, they do take a lot of care attention and constant maintenance though. You cannot leave them outside for months on end or take them on a journey without doing a full fluids check and checking grease points etc. You also have to be a bit of a mechanic to really own one, some of these cars may require the distributer rotor arm to be adjusted half way through a journey, little idiosyncracies like that. Parts are an issue obviously.
A lovely old car with some nice touches in the design.
This excites me to see another video of the CityRover being fixed for the big retest
Love the sounds older vehicles make and great to see you in my local area. Cheers
To think that barely 15 years later our beloved P6 would be born is quite shocking, isn't it?!
Fantastic love the Rover p3 😎👍👍.