The Golden age of England!

The Rover 3500 was my first car purchased (before, I used a plain family car then a friend's rented basic car) and despite some obvious flaws, I loved it. I had later a 2600S serie II and five 827. 'Still hoping to find some day a pristine 3500 VandenPlas EFI somewhere...

Thanks to Red Robbo and his Marxist friends, the bean counters, and weak management, BL was a mess.

Thank you for the superbly informative video! My Dad’s best mate , brought one in 1978, in banana yellow . I loved it , although I remember being carsick in it ! The story of what could have been a potential success , only to be mired in controversy, mismanagement and overall narrow minded stupidity , is only too familiar in this once great country . I’m friends with the son of the main designer. Ps; why did Denzil from only fools and horses, make a sudden appearance, around 10 minutes in ?! 😂

My mum had a Rover SD1 but my biggest memory of them is seeing one in the 1986 RAC Rally (now Rally GB) no idea who was driving it but they were really throwing it around

My Dad bought a brand new Rover SD1 in 1978 at a cost of over £8k, it arrived with grey primer showing on 1 wing, the petrol filler cap and the front of the bonnet. The dealer took it back and touched up the problem areas but you could clearly see the front had just been blown. The car was only getting 12mpg and the local dealer Henley’s couldn’t improve it and admitted they didn’t have the equipment to tune twin carburettors so he had to spend £100 to get it tuned at a local tuning specialist, Marsh and Jeffrey in Manchester. Then the rust started and within 18 months there was severe corrosion showing around every door handle and around all 4 wheel arches. After 3 years he traded it in against a used BMW and only got £1700. Mechanically it was a great car but really poor quality which resulted in neither of us ever buying a BL product ever again. The same year I purchased a 3 year old XJ6 and had exactly the same issues, whilst cleaning it after 2 years of ownership my car wash brush disappeared into the sill, the doors had no paint on the inside and that car eventually fell to pieces rotting away on my Dads drive in 1985 with a blown engine. I got £15!from a local scrap merchant. I’ve always bought German cars ever since.

I'm glad you take care of your iBook G3, there are a lot of people who treat it like the worst with scratches and cracks. I saw on eBay a lot of people sell these products in poor conditions.

Loved these back in the day... Interesting vid bro.. Hare Krishna, Merry Christmas...

You have to ask why the British Unions kept doing this to themselves.

7:05…. There are THOUSANDS of Volvo’s from the 60’s and 70’s on our roads today, every day!!! You’re lucky to see a single SD1 in a year….

‘British Leyland’s Worst Failure’….??? It’s hard to tell….. there were so many…

The P6 v8 though, wish I could have had one of them 🤤🤤

Nice video, I owned for a short time a Tomcat, my dad had a 214si when I was only a baby!! What a shame what new MG/Roewe are looking like!!

A beautiful car with a sumptuous interior and nothing new comes close to matching it. I so miss Velour upholstery and don't know why manufacturers stopped using it.

I brought a R reg banana yellow SD1 V8 in 1979 of an uncle at give away price. It cost £20 to fill up the tank. My apprenticeship wages was only £30 per week! But it was well worth it.

I would have loved to see a SD1 'Series 2' with an IRS and 4.6litre V8 (as per the P38 Range Rover). Would have been a far better option than the Honda Legend.

I loved this car, in the 80s early 90s i had 5 of them all v8s .....3 of which had the glove box fill with water when it rained to hard .I would still own one if they just did not eventually fall to pieces ,that said they were a great drive at the time and seemed faster than the claimed 0 - 60 in 8 seconds .

The Alvis GTS looks like it would do better with the traditional layout with the (V8) engine in the front. The rear haunches could be a better shape and there would be no problem with engine cooling

The core of the SD1 was brilliant. The peripherals around the core were terrible, especially the electrics. But the problems were very easily fixed, and mostly just needed a clean of contacts. (especially the windows... the switches - they were exposed to spillage between the front seats, and I have cleaned those switches from spilled Coca Cola so many times. Most auto electricians would charge you for new switches. The switches were actually fully serviceable, and close to indestructible.

As a little boy, I adored these cars ❤

The Rover 800 was sold here in the USA as a "Sterling", and was based heavily on Honda's new brand, Acura. They had a nicer interior than the equivalent Acura (and you couldn't hide the fact that they were essentially the same body..), BUT those infamous British issues of quality, electrical, mechanical and rust issues followed it. Car magazines quickly pointed out that for something like $2k-$3k LESS, the Acura was a better car, AND was reliable. The "Sterling" lasted about 2 years. Since then, the Only truly "British" cars we get anymore are Rolls, Bentley, Morgan and Lotus (in VERY small numbers) as well as Jaguar. "Mini" is more European, most being built in Hungary, so I don't consider them British.

My father had two SD1 3.5 V8 in the early 1980’s when I was a young teenager. I loved them and still think the styling looks good today! Such a shame management and workers were at constant loggerheads in British industry during the period, allowing overseas manufacturers to build market share here with their better quality, reliability and durability.

My Dad had one when I was growing up- first generation 3500- lovely car, fast and comfy... Rover invested a lot with a new factory etc. Press didn't help by showing pictures of workers sleeping etc during the night shift. Would love to own one now if I had the money. There are a few for sale. Would love the Vitesse. Another great video - many thanks.

Grew up in the 80's playing at my uncles workshop in P6's. Then he got a Vitesse. Completely fell in love with it. I'm a biker, but if I had a lottery win it'd be garage full of bikes and a mint Vitesse for sure. The only BL car i'd even think about.

I owned two SD1 cars. A black 2600, which, it turned out had a different length wheelbase on either side. It was comfortable and mechanically never let me down but a low speed shunt from a Cavalier nigh on demolished it. I sold it and bought a BMW 5 Series, a far better vehicle. Latterly I had a Moonraker blue 2.0 litre SD1. That was no trouble at all and it just went and went. I travelled many miles all over the country, it wasn't fast, but it was comfortable then I sold it but cannot remember what replaced it. It may have been the first of two Audi 100s.

Always hated this car after the drivers door fell off one time when I opened it.

If only BL could have been managed by Honda - or some other japanese manufactor.

Tony Pond in group A rallying he was absolutely fabulous and sounded wonderful

You needed wellingtons in mine, the floors were always saturated after light shower.

My dad had three a Rover 2600 Auto, USL580S , Rover 3500 Vanden Plas Auto UMS80X, Rover 2600SE Auto and i had a Rover 2600 Auto HJH637W , great cars fantastic design,very creative,Sports Saloon, but Ford Granada was better put together that's why I bought Ford Granadas

Always loved the styling of the SD1 with the Ferrari Daytona like nose and that lovely V8, The SD1 Vitesse, especially the twin plenum versions, are really special.

It would seriously have made more sense to use an off the shelf 4 and a 3 lt version of the 8 and not bother with a 6.

I HAD THE SDI DIESEL LOVED IT BAD IT WAS A PIG WHEN IT BROKE DOWN EVERY THING WAS £100 AND TYPICAL ITALIAN ENGINEERING FOUR CYLINDER HEADS GASKETS £100 EACH SO AFTER THE ANOTHER BREAKDOWN WAS THE LAST STRAW

Ive had a p6 and a sd1 the last of the great Rovers was the p6 for me just down to personal preference

Bought my V8 second hand in 1983. Found out from a lady serving petrol that it had belonged to the chairman of a Leicester company called.... no joke "Premier Screw". It had all the extras and i loved it. The engine sounded like a Spitfire Merlin engine but the steering wheel would violently wobble at around 95mph. 3 yrs trouble free driving until i swerved to avoid a right turning idiot and wrote it off. The cops took 3 months to catch the guy due to a witness getting a letter wrong in the reg. Still fond memories and yes a great car❤

In 1982-1984, the car was a joke then. A college pal had one and I remember riding in it holding onto the front door as it had recently come off. The Germans must have found this car’s faults hilarious.

Russia behind the likes of Derek Robinson or Red Robbo as he was known.

I still have mine. It's a 1984 3500 SE

I drove a 2000 4-cylinder for a few years. I have no problem saying that in terms of road characteristics: grip, braking, stability and handling, it had no rivals. And it wouldn't have any today, in its market segment. The power was low, but in Italy the price of petrol, always the enemy of large displacements, made it impossible to maintain an 8-cylinder. The silence was memorable, and combined with the very spacious interior and the seats that were nothing short of luxurious, it made every trip a real pleasure. Unfortunately, the assembly and quality problems were significant. The seats were very comfortable, as mentioned, but the back of the seatback fell apart. The sheet metal supporting the pedals was too thin and would break. The clutch was not very robust. You could keep a spare car in the trunk (24 packs of 6 1.5-liter bottles of mineral water would fit - and the suspension could handle the weight!), as long as you didn't expect to keep it dry. Rear lights easily flooded. Windshield wipers broke just looking at them. I eventually had it scrapped, but the project itself deserved to be a huge and lasting success.

Such a nice looking car,too bad BLMC was such a cluster of an organization.

Theres one in Torquay still knocking around, looking rough as old badgers but alive....

The tragedy was cancelling the P8. The excuse was poor crash test performace but that was a simple engineering problem to be solved with a bit more metal. The real problem was internal politics and Jaguar.

People don’t go on strike because of the ‘colour of their overalls’. Stupid statement. Think about it. How does strike pay compare with a week’s wages? Obviously, if they were lazy bastards, they wouldn’t be working at all. As for build quality, how are poor quality pressings, components and design problems the fault of the employees?

Many years ago a managing director I worked with mentioned he had been one of the men in grey, a title chosen by the press. Sir Micheal Edward’s had a hand picked team to work under him. All dressed in the then very fashionable Grey suits. I was told a few stories about the Leyland days but the comment that stood out was “the management were as bad as the Unions”. So many years later many companies still have I feel poor management…

British mentality lets go on strike because were not happy ....oh hang on weve lost our jobs eeermmm !!!

I sort of remember the strikes back then, when the workers sabotaged the companies they worked for, and ended up unemployed. It’s a given that the management was a shambles, everyone pulling in different directions. It was lemmings over a cliff. Every one of was trying to kill the company from the inside, and none of them realised that was what they were doing, jumping off a cliff. Way back, the Cowley works in Oxford used to store unpainted body-shells outside. So when it rained they went rusty. The cars were rusting away before they even got built. Lunacy.

Under the "Sales of Good act 2015" in the UK you have upto six years to claim goods were either not of good quality or have not lasted a reasonable period of time and 2 years is certainly not. I'd suggest to look it up and make contact with the seller .

Nothing wrong with an Sd1, probably one of the best cars ive ever owned, , and had three! problem was BL had more Chiefs than workers, strikes were weekly, poor training, poor delegation, infact the whole Rover plant, and it was the flag carrier for the BL range, was purely Dire, dreadful miss management by corrupt money grabbers, who probably went on to be Politicians

Unfortunately, all petrol cars will soon be banned in the EU and the USA! In France there is a new law prohibiting combustion engine cars called SCHLABOUBVE and in Switzerland the HESCHLAVVO law! In the Scandinavian countries there will soon be a so-called SMORVERBIDEN law) for Germany there will probably be a federal exhaust gas ban ordinance from 2027.