Fortune favours the brave, or so the saying goes. And today it applies not just to the car in question - a Rover SD1 3500 that may have covered less than 10,000 miles since new - but also for us writing the story. Not totally equal levels of bravery, sure, but some nonetheless, as the words you read were written ahead of the festive break. And look at this thing - there’s surely every chance someone might treat themselves over Christmas to an incredible classic Rover. If so, the pictures are here as proof that it was once for sale…
Certainly we've all been there. Bored of company and unable (or unwilling) to leave the sofa over Christmas, keeping yourself occupied with a festive browse of the classifieds. Temptation and too much time make work for idle hands, and before you know it there’s another car you don't need taking up space. And it's particularly easy to see how that could happen with this Rover; not only is it a Series 1, 155hp V8 with the manual gearbox, it also comes in the fetching shade of Persian Aqua, which must be exceptionally rare almost 50 years from launch (and 45 years since this one was first registered). And speaking of scarcity, this is a base-level V8 - just a Rover 3500 - with just the sunroof added as an option. The original invoice for £7,000 remains, as does the dealer sticker in the rear window.
There’s additional intrigue, too, thanks to the original owner. According to the advert, this discerning gent liked to purchase a new car every year, but wasn’t tremendously keen on getting rid of the old vehicle when that time came. So he ended up with around 30 cars in storage, all with just a year’s worth of driving on them. And his son ended up with one heck of a sorting-out job when he was no longer around.
That was early last year, when the son took ownership of the 9,500-mile SD1. After that, it was sent to a Rover specialist for recommissioning, which ended up being less intensive than perhaps expected thanks to the storage conditions. And now it presents absolutely fabulously, a reminder of why the SD1 made such an impact at launch (rather than being reminded of the chaos that often surrounded it.)
The asking price is £14,995; it’s hard to know exactly how to value something like the Rover, in such a rare specification and with so little use, though certainly as a non-Vitesse it’ll be more affordable. Without wishing to tempt fate, it’s the sort of figure that it is easy to imagine someone getting together for a New Year classic that’s this interesting. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that none of those Yuletide browsers have taken the plunge…
And even if they have, even if the ad link below is defunct come January 2nd, it’s heartening to know that there are still Rover SD1s like this around almost 40 years after production finished. With all the barn find videos, classic car auctions and social media restorations we see these days, it can feel like perhaps we know about every single remaining V8 Rover. They never had the best reputation for durability, after all, even in period. Yet clearly survivors remain unaccounted for, looking as good as ever. Whether you’re the new owner in 2024 or 2025, we’d love to know more about the incredible car - please send us the Readers’ Cars thread when you start it…
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