It might be hard to believe nowadays but Rover used to make executive cars that could be reasonable compared to the Rolls Royce and the Daimler cars of their era. A far cry from today’s foreign owned, mass market, cheap runabouts. It was a car that had fans in the highest levels of society. The queen actually owned 2 and sources say that this was always her own favourite car. Prime Minister Harold Wilson - a famous pipe smoker - had a special ash tray fitted to hold his pipe. Another Prime Minister used this as her Ministerial car even though it had stopped production ten years earlier. It was often referred to as a “Gentlemen’s Club” on wheels, it was so comfortable.
David Bache was the designer of the P5. He went on to create other gems such as the Rover 2000, the Rover 2200 and the big executive the Rover 3500. At the time the interior was described as only being bettered by the Bentley. When he showed the designs for the P5 to one of his bosses he was told :-
“That’s a beautiful model you’ve produced. But we can’t make it you know. It’s a “Head Turner” and the Rover Company doesn’t make “Head Turners”.
It was engineered by Spen King and Gordon Bashford. They went on to design and engineer the first Range Rover with David Bache. Not many can claim to have designed a car that defined a whole new class of vehicle that is still the most popular sector of cars, in the form of the SUV.
The History of the P5
The P5 was a development of the previous smaller family car - the P4. The P5 was originally going to be an upgrade of the P4 aimed at the same market. It was David Bache who convinced the Rover management that there was a future in making expensive cars that would still make a profit by selling fewer cars at a higher price. He succeeded in doing this. It has to be said in retrospect that if Rover had not sold out to merging with many other marques to form BLMC led by some very ineffective managers then it may have gone on the become the company that bought out BMW rather than the other way round. But that is another story.
The first P5 was launched at the 1958 Motor Show. It looked good, but the 3 litre engine managed a top speed of just 95 m.p.h. and a poor 0-60 time of 17.1 seconds. With only 115 bhp. It wasn’t powerful enough for such a big, and now heavy, car. It was always intended to put luxury ahead of speed, but these figures were not impressing the motoring journalists.
It lasted just until 1962 when the engine was uprated to 129 bhp. This set the top speed at 100 m.p.h. For the Mark II. The styling range was expanded to include a coupe version and all models got even more luxury features inside.
The Mark III was launched at the London Motor Show in 1965. Still using the 3 litre engine, but now uprated to 134 bhp, this model managed to extend the lifespan of the P5 until 1967.
It was in 1967 that the model reached its peak. This was not only through added interior luxury, though it was now a very luxurious car fit for the queen, but also by the introduction of the Buick developed 3.5 litre aluminium angine. The story is that a Rover senior manager, William Martin-Hurst, saw the engine dumped in a skip at the Buick factory and he pulled it out. It had stopped being used by Buick, so Rover convinced Buick to let them have the rights to the engine, but also to supple Rover with all of the machinery to build and modify the engine to fit into the Rover engine bay. The four headlight front cluster gave it more of a presence on the street. This car was now known as the P5B to show the change to the Buick engine. It was also now such a prestige car that it became a vehicle for the Government to show off the best that British Industry could produce.
The P5B ( or simply the Rover 3.5 ltr ) was a big luxurious executive transport for high level politicians and businessmen. It was still used in this way for over 10 years after it stopped production. Mind you by then it was also ( like the older Jaguar mk 2 ) a vehicle that gangsters used as a way to stay ahead of the Police.
Unfortunately, the best was now over for Rover. When Rover joined Leyland cars, later to become BLMC. It was now in the same stable as Jaguar. Jaguar was seen as the best car for appealing on quality and speed and it became the frontline British Executive car. It could also be aimed at a bigger market and lower priced range than Rover. There was no question - Rover was downgraded to a mass market car. Jaguar became the specialist model. Eventually the whole Group became known as Rover cars rather than the previous marques of Morris, MG, Triumph and Austin. It was an attempt to build on Rover’s reputation for high quality products, but the conglomerate had already thrown that image away.
It was a case of RIP Rover. Except of course for the many enthusiasts who keep the name going through their dedication to this once giant of the British Car Industry. Ironically it can still cost you 20 or more times the original price to buy a good Rover P5 these days.
I hate generalities. If I have glossed over just how luxurious the Rover was, take a look at this video to fully appreciate its “Gentlemens Club” Reputation...
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