Rover SD1 - Why did this Ferrari-inspired Rover fail?

[@BigCar2]

Errata: It's not a V6 but an inline 6. Thanks to everyone for your corrections!

[@TheMentalblockrock]

I was just about to say the same! Thanks for correcting it, kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGqvaKCois9mo6c.

[@rsmit2797]

Glad about that! I thought I was going Mad?

[@alecbrown66]

You werent totally Errata! Same old basic GM 251 cu" block, but typical arguments over some using v8, some "hemi" engines-- the inline v8! Also they did the a series trick of taking the 2600 and shortening piston rods, and a bit of boring out to give a 3500 inline unit. It was stupidity on spending money on this instead of fixing the rolling holey umbrella fit and trim more important problems.

[@commodore665]

@@rsmit2797 I thought........... hang on

[@TheMentalblockrock]

@Gappie Al Kebabi Eh??? I don't know what links your preference leads you to have on your computer, I linked to the time where Big car confuses a V6 with a straight 6. I guess you prefer them bent where I prefer them straight.

[@midas1929]

When I was a kid, David Bache's brother worked also for British Leyland in Switzerland and was our neighbor in a condo building. He often had a different British car and would give me a lift to school in the morning or invite us for tea time. David Bache visited his brother with one of the first SD1. The stunning red car stood in front of the house and all neighbors were admiring it. Later, my dad bought a Vitesse himself. The Baches were like my grandparents and I still miss them. What a wonderful family and David was a genius.

[@markfox1545]

Who?

[@vssjim4311]

@@markfox1545 why don't you Google instead of ignorant comment?

[@vssjim4311]

@@markfox1545 you obviously never actually listened to this video at all

[@huntercallan1458]

I’m wondering how disappointed Bache, Spen King and others were when their designs and engineering were butchered by shoddy quality and reliability.

[@Pogman30]

My dad designed that space-age dash..! He had some years at Triumph, and also did the TR7 dashboard. There are some um, interesting stories about the efficacy of the British car industry at the time. :)

[@Gandalf606]

I love that dash - its so iconic. Mercedes have copied it in their new A class! What was your dads name? It would be good to honour his work 🙂

[@summerville56789]

Great documentary !!! I was the owner of a 1980 Rover 3500, which I purchased in Houston, Tx. at Auto Imports. The documentary was spot-on in describing the poor reliability and craftsmanship. Even with all the challenges I encountered from time-to-time I really enjoyed driving it and always being the center of attraction, so I definitely had my great moments. I ended up driving it to San Luis Obispo, CA in 82, where I traded it in for an American made car :) I got back the full cost of what I paid to purchase it. I'm sure this would not have happened anywhere else, but California, land of car enthusiasts.

[@Essydyk]

Wow this takes me back. My father had the V8 version - what a car that was. That engine was absolutely unreal when let loose. This should have taken Rover to the next level but those strikes and production issues killed it dead - along with most of big British manufacturing.

[@williamwilliam5066]

I agree with your idea that evil leftists should be slaughtered as soon as they come out/identify. Has leftism ever created anything but hate and violence and mass murder?

[@bluemango7112]

My brother had the V8 , great motor , huge issues with electrics , more Lord Lucas junk , the V8 only came to Australia was quite popular till the word got around about build quality.

[@Nimmo1492]

BL's issue was always that, while they did have some absolutely brilliant people, especially in the design department, they were completely cancelled out by the sheer number of incompetent people at every level around them.

[@mk1cortinatony395]

And lazy

[@alecbrown66]

Thats a bit unfair! Yes there were plenty of planks. Even bashing metal needs training. But sollihull ( along with cowley, and most bl factories) had gone straight from wartime aircraft production to simple panel shaped pressings and pre war systems, using worn out victorian lines, presses, tooling, and a century of dirty conditions. Europe and japan had modern, clean factories, modern presses and tooling and lines. Its a huge part of modern car quality and employee harmony. We were stuck in literally wartime conditions with the make do and mend attitude, topped with a dislocated and disinterested senior management based out of gentlemans clubs or whitehall departments in london. Oddly writing that with brexit round the corner reminds you of parrallels! Lol

[@alecbrown66]

@@mk1cortinatony395 bud, if you had to work in a dirty, greasy shithole all day, using worse kit than you had in your home toolbox, with zero health and safety then your keeness to work would suffer. Some were lazy true. But funny isnt it that nissan could come in to sunderland, complete with full unionisation, worse wages, and facing an extremely zenophobic and bigoted uk car industry from industry to owners, yet in 2yrs we are all driving datsuns/nissans and production and efficiency there unheard of!

[@kimkiriniki9433]

@Alec Brown: Well said. Top class workers/craftsmen let down by greedy and disinterested management, same old story here..

[@GeorgeSPAMTindle]

That tradition is being upheld at all the JLR plants now. Robots help to maintain a decent level of production quality, but the human intervention screws things up, and the management are generally too incompetent to either notice or do something about it.

[@spudgunn8695]

There was only one reason the SD1 didn't do to well. It was made by Leyland! I had one for a while, and after it had been totally re-wired it was bloody marvellous!

[@LGuitarB]

As they once said at Top Gear: it was a good car, just not made very well. I loved its design!

[@Dec38105]

shame thou , if it wasn't for the unions we could have had a car industry to be proud of.

[@tjroelsma]

@@Dec38105 It wasn't just the unions though, management issues also had a large part in it. All those different brands and management styles lumped together into BL made for, as the Chinese would say, an interesting management. Besides favouring one brand over the other because they came with that brand, management didn't give a toss about quality, production and sales as long as they got their nice paychecks. With that style of management it wasn't any wonder workers and sales staff didn't give a toss as well.

[@adambrocklehurst9064]

@@tjroelsma Nice work for stratospheric irony factor - an "interesting management" assessment from the Chinese . . . brilliant, a total moon shot, nec lev, and lost for words

[@cybertrophic]

@@tjroelsma nah, they didn’t like the fact that they had to compete on an open market after we joined the EEC and Japanese car imports that were better made and had a habit of being able to start every morning. The unions figured it was best to go on strike or half-arse the job, to spite management, because it was a surefire way to bully more money out of the bosses. The problem is that the companies were having their closed market ripped away from them and customers voted with their wallets. Instead of adapting and accepting that they might have to work a bit harder or take a pay cut to keep companies afloat and people in work, they torpedoed an industry and blamed everyone else for the result. 🤷‍♂️

[@tjroelsma]

@@cybertrophic The problems with the British car industry were there long before the Japanese cars appeared on their market. Jeremy Clarkson has made a brilliant item about that, called "who killed the Britsih car industry." His view on it was that British Motorists, as car owners are called, were used to having unreliable cars and having to work on those cars at least every weekend just to keep them running. Then when the Japanese cars appeared on the Britsih market, they were kind of a revolution. All of a sudden the Brits could buy cars that were better built, more luxurious for the same or even lower price and most important of all: they just kept driving instead of constantly breaking down. The British Car Industry had no answer to that, partly because of bad management, partly because of union issues and partly because it had a tradition of building crappy cars and saw no reason to change. As to your union story: shareholders got paid huge dividends, management got paid very comfortable salaries for doing basically as close to nothing as they could get away with, but the people actually building the cars were paid only pennies. So their was a huge wage discrepancy between management and labourers and unions reasoned that that was unfair. And they had a point there. In a perfect world unions wouldn't be necessary, but as the wrold is far from perfect, unions are a necessary evil, created as opposition against corporate greed.

[@williamwilliam5066]

Love your enthusiasm and knowledge. There is a lot of unacknowledged emotion here from your youth and identification therein.

[@GDavey2]

I've owned three 3500 SD1s in my time. Started off with a standard V8, moved onto a Vitesse and ended up with the twin plenum homologation special Vitesse. I particularly liked the look of the flat fronted Vitesse spoiler and all were brilliant to drive with absolutely superb engines but, unfortunately, all with appalling build quality. It was the engine which kept me coming back for more.

[@no1sgotthisname]

I was a child when first I saw the SD1and fell in love with it instantly, and swore to own one..... I've owned three since then, two P6's and a P5.

[@sanatandharma4435]

Lovely to hear! I have had 4 P6's and one SD1. The P6 was a very well made car in my opinion! To this day the best car I have had!

[@herseem]

Opportunity missed - how painful to hear this phrase again and again and again :-(

[@PassportToPimlico]

I thought that some of the styling was inspired by the Ferrari Daytona.

[@hydorah]

You're correct!

[@jeffreynolds3848]

Julian Richards - it was. The 365 GTB/4 was recently launched. Spen King, amongst others, mentioned this at the time. From this and the obvious front indicator/headlamp design, Ferrari Daytona was often mentioned when the styling of the SD1 was reviewed and discussed.

[@DavidDavid-kl4ru]

You only have to look at a Daytona to see the similarities with the SD1, particularly the front end.

[@RUfromthe40s]

yes,now that i think of that the front part as some similarities, one day i´m going to own a ferrari daytona(one can dream big),i think there was an european version that was smaller or not?regards(i´ve edited this coment for the fact that i meant to say a diferent thing)

[@alecbrown66]

Close! Even back with austin in the 60's, the company sent out to Italian designers who worked up to point of production with the inhouse design teams! Guigaro and issigonis ( he knocked about with guigaro as kids) to give us our classic british family cars of the 50's and 60's. It went all inhouse with the disaterous 70's tin cans. But the SD1 was partly influenced by Ital and Guigaro, but a huge part was for once the designers and marketting men saw, and drove the hire cars on their foriegn holidays, of what the SD1 was up against in its most important market in europe. The Renault 20's, the big 5 door citroens, the car show stand merc ideas, and Fiats. Plus they saw accords, bluebirds, etc on uk roads and eating their entire market! A big 5 door hatch with enough oomph but a higher luxury than usual BL offerings. Everyone else was doing it. Strip away the headlights and nose, and the clever but pòorly made dash and interiour, and you have nothing special. Or worse once you owned and drove an SD1 on the M1 in a rain storm! Remember it was a mid 70's car! But if Open Uni engineering students hadnt been given 3 to 5 years ( yes years!) To discover, and play with its suspension, before bl had to quickly shove standard kit in or kill the project, it would have been the very early 1970's luxury replacement for the p5,p6,rangerover and even mopped up sognificant allegro, marina, cortina, and dying big vauxhall markets. And been a poor families usable ferrari!

[@Gainn]

I never really liked my grandad's one when he got it, but appreciated it much more once we'd taken an extremely comfortable trip from Bedford to Devon with only one stop (not that easy in the 80's!). The heart of that one lives on (in a somewhat modified form) in my mk1 Escort.

[@MrChris1316]

Did he do in flight refueling, they barely do 25 to the gallon.

[@paulnewman2000]

Loved my SD1 3.5 when I had it. Phenomenal acceleration, and top end cruising comfort.

[@gerry5134]

I had a 2.6 straight six and a 2.0. four . I dreamed about this car in my youth and later on was able to purchase them second hand. I loved them.

[@anthonyxuereb792]

I'm happy for you that you were able to do t that.

[@raymondcourbois1330]

Hi there, I discovered the "Big Car" video's recently. One small remark that might have been posted in the past. You mention that the 2300 and the 2600 were V6 models. I remember my father owned a 2600 and the engine was a line 6 and so was the 2300. Cheers

[@trollson66]

I had an old 2lt model for several yrs in the 90s. I'm 6'6" tall, and it was the most comfortable car I have ever had - then or since. While it was underpowered, when you got up to speed it was superbly stable. Downsides were the exhaust manifold had a design flaw and tended to crack - I got quite good at replacing them! Very sad when I finally let it go.

[@millomweb]

Did you ever try the famous Citroens - like the GSA ?

[@phantomwalker8251]

you finally stopped floging a dead horse..took a while..

[@MrChris1316]

Where did u put your knees in the door gaps, and I'm guessing even iff the seat went back far enough you might get a piece of paper between the back seat and yours, there is no way in hell you fitted, as I don't and I'm 6 ft 1,and if you even try to say you had an 800 I kno your a bit cis I need the sunroof open to see out.

[@mbd501]

I'm American, but lived in England for a year when I was a kid. I remember these. There was one in the music video for "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League.

[@nicksellens272]

And one at the start of video for Message in a Bottle by The Police

[@paulowen-iy6vm]

Many comments about how good the SDI looks today. This is 50 year old design yet still looks so good today and the impact these had when they launched unless you were around at the time, when the roads were full of Marina’s and old Vauxhalls and Fords is hard to explain. As the video says, these were fantastic to drive compared to the cars of the time, and say a 1600 Cortina or Marina 1800 of the time would struggle to do 30 mpg, unless driven slowly, and the Rover SDI V8 would better those on fuel if driven at the same speeds because of the gearing and low drag. If you bought one new you would have been disappointed, but I bought a series 1 manual V8 around 8 years old for £350 with the clutch gone, and some minor rust. I cleaned the rust up and waxoiled the car and ran it for a few weeks, and it seemed fine, then changed jobs which was 55 miles away and decided to run it for a while to commute until we decided to move jobs or house. It just ran, and ran, and I thought I would run it until it wouldn’t pass an MOT or something major went and I ended up putting another 200,000 miles on it with nothing more than brakes, tyres, and a few minor parts, such as a water pump, ball joints etc, (But changed engine oil very regularly every couple of months) It got a bit tatty, the waxoil stopped the rust and it kept going. The most significant failure from the huge milage was eventually the bulkhead fatigued where the clutch master cylinder bolts to the bulkhead which I found flexes slightly each time to the clutch is pressed down and eventually it cracked and the whole clutch master cylinder broke out still bolted to some of the bulkhead! I cut around another bulkhead pressing out of a scrapyard car and sandwiched it underneath and tack welded it. The car wasn’t cheap on fuel, but it wasn’t over expensive either, and so relaxing to drive. And quick too when you needed to overtake. I run a 5 series BMW today, clearly a much better made car, but still not as nice to drive. If these had been built properly think what could have been.

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

Good video, thanks 👍. As a kid, I remember SD1's appearing and they really stood out from anything else on the road. The P6 and the SD1 I think proved that Rover were ahead of the game in car design. P6 design and production went largely unscathed by BL (e.g. towards the end they managed to sabotage P6 production with an inferior paint process). SD1 design was partially sabotaged by BL and, of course, the boot was well and truly put in during production. If it hadn't been for the BL fiasco, I have to wonder if Rover would be designing and producing cars today as good as or better than modern day Audi or BMW models. The whole thing confirms my theory that good British Engineering so often tends to be wrecked by British management and government. The reason? The people like the Designers and Engineers who know what they are doing are ofen ruled by those who don't know or care what they are doing. So, you get the SD1 missed opportunity.

[@madsteve9]

But the Design was disliked by its intended audience, Senior Managers. They hated Hatchbacks. Why do you think the sales of BMW 5 Series & Mercedes-Benz C & E Classes took off so much in the UK ? (Later Audi). Those companies that had a buy British policy, bought the Ford Granada Mk2 & Vauxhall Carlton & Royale (Opel Rekord & Senator). Both actually built in Germany.

[@originalkk882]

@@madsteve9 Much more to do with the appalling quality and reliability record of Solihull products at the time, not helped by the endless strikes and determination to do as little work as possible, with no pride in the product.

[@madsteve9]

@@originalkk882 I knew managers who had the SD1 2600 and were appalled at it being a Hatchback.

[@nikjames2965]

The P6 was a very advanced car... the SD1 wasn't

[@kimkiriniki9433]

Good video, thanks, nice to see that the V6 error has been accepted! I owned a late model SD1 V8 Van den Plas, automatic, didn't have leather interior tho'. Gorgeous car, loved it, ran particularly well after I replaced the original carburettors with a four barrel Holley and Edelbrock inlet manifold. Very lovely, comfortable and hugely practical car.

[@rayw696]

Rover was my favorite car and i have owned one for most of my 75 years.I worked in Birmingham leyland plant and Leyland Australia.I found most of the workers worked hard in boring jobs it was the old fashioned management that caused the problems they thought being a foreman was a lift up the social calendar.In leyland Australia it was much the same as the English plants except the management were more multicultural and cared more about their workers.At the time i lived in England i think they had the worst management in Britain they made the unions what they were to become.Its about time the Brits stopped knocking the workers they did what they were shown to do Blame the the poor management from top to bottom.

[@patagualianmostly7437]

Thank you, Raymond....my point exactly...(Kindly see my comments above.) The archaic "Old-Boy" management system did more damage to British industry after WW2 than the Germans ever managed! Imagine...all those cushy overseas colonial posts...fast disappearing....I say! What could one do?... but "See Uncle Henry at BL.. he'll find something for you." And the world looked on in amusement.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Raymond Williams

[@ChangesOneTim]

I got the same impression from people I knew who worked at the former Pressed Steel panels plant in Swindon that became Rover-managed. Presumably things got better after the place became part of BMW's MINI operation....

[@georgevavoulis4758]

As a teen in the 1970s all I heard about Britain is IRA attacks or union having nation wide strike

[@adem-Savs]

The Unions and Red Robbo ensured the destruction of the UK car industry. An integrated manufacturing process was held to ransom and the end result predictable. No manufacturing plant could operate or be profitable under the union controilled conditions. Sadly, thousands of families in the midlands paid a heavy price when the British car industry collapsed.

[@THEJR-of5tf]

I had a 3.5 litre SD1. It was an amazing car. I drove it to 200,000 miles the only expenditure were on parts that are subject to wear and tear. I never had a major problem with it and it was used daily. The SD1 was the last half decent car BL made. Yes the were the odd niggles, but basically it was sound.

[@paulowen-iy6vm]

Many comments about how good the SDI looks today. This is 50 year old design yet still looks so good today and the impact these had when they launched unless you were around at the time, when the roads were full of Marina’s and old Vauxhalls and Fords is hard to explain. As the video says, these were fantastic to drive compared to the cars of the time, and say a 1600 Cortina or Marina 1800 of the time would struggle to do 30 mpg, unless driven slowly, and the Rover SDI V8 would better those on fuel if driven at the same speeds because of the gearing and low drag. If you bought one new you would have been disappointed, but I bought a series 1 manual V8 around 8 years old for £350 with the clutch gone, and some minor rust. I cleaned the rust up and waxoiled the car and ran it for a few weeks, and it seemed fine, then changed jobs which was 55 miles away and decided to run it for a while to commute until we decided to move jobs or house. It just ran, and ran, and I thought I would run it until it wouldn’t pass an MOT or something major went and I ended up putting another 200,000 miles on it with nothing more than brakes, tyres, and a few minor parts, such as a water pump, ball joints etc, (But changed engine oil very regularly every couple of months) It got a bit tatty, the waxoil stopped the rust and it kept goind. The most significant failure from the huge milage was eventually the bulkhead fatigued where the clutch master cylinder bolts to the bulkhead which I found flexes slightly each time to the clutch is pressed down and eventually it cracked and the whole clutch master cylinder broke out still bolted to some of the bulkhead! I cut around another bulkhead pressing out of a scrapyard car and sandwiched it underneath and tack welded it. The car wasn’t cheap on fuel, but it wasn’t over expensive either, and so relaxing to drive. And quick too when you needed to overtake. I run a 5 series BMW today, clearly a much better made car, but still not as nice to drive. If these had been built properly think what could have been.

[@arcadesunday4592]

I have fond memories of the 3500. As a child, we got a lift to school in one. Later on in life, I drove the "Vanden Plas" model for a bit (around 1996 or so), and can still remember how this car drove, and (even in the mid 90's, and it being an older vehicle), it still felt somehow futuristic (when compared to other common vehicles of the time). Great documentary too!

[@cambs0181]

"This car came out of British Leyland, so why did it do so badly?" It's a tough one that!

[@keithammleter3824]

Yes - the outfit that came out with the Morris Mariner and the Leyland P76. I was given a Mariner as a company car - god it was awful. No build quality, everything sounded bad (even the starter motor), pedals misaligned with the driver's seat. It seemed to be made of mismatched leftovers. Fortunately the company decided to get rid of all Mariners within a year - way too many faults.

[@hionmaiden663]

@@keithammleter3824 Yes Marina's did have misaligned peddles, I had two of them both series 2 (1.7 'O' series engine), excellent cars, easy to work on and maintain. Build quality had improved, but was still let down by the design of the day single skin type wings, always rotted out above the headlights.

[@hionmaiden663]

In short, the trade unions. Strike...Strike...Strike...Strike *^%*! Strike!

[@keithammleter3824]

@@hionmaiden663 : Trade unions and laborinthine management in too many layers - occupied by generic management types who were indifferent as to whether they were making cars or candy or corkscrews. You look at any really good product - the company is staffed right to the top with chaps who love whatever the product is, and they know what a good product is, are proud of it, and are not just about how they can order some underling to cut costs.

[@kevinjones3900]

@@hionmaiden663 yes done by design just like all our Industry. The nation's has been collapsed from within.

[@billa2967]

When this car came out it was absolutely gorgeous, I loved it! Such a shame that they failed so miserably at building it.

[@mrdaykurutakuchannel]

I know!! This car is one of the prettiest sedans of the 70s but with crappy build quality and reliability, the exact opposite of German luxury sedans.

[@richy69ify]

@@mrdaykurutakuchannel - British talent all went into Motorsport to lead the world

[@mikefranky]

When I saw Cowley driving one in the Professionals back in the 80’s I fell in love with the car

[@pasoundman]

I recall looking at a second hand SD1 with a view to buying one but it was already rusting away. Gave up after that.

[@sambrooks7862]

I actually traded in my 1980 granada 2.8 ghia for a 1983 rover V8 vitesse. A decision I regretted almost instantly. I couldn't believe that there could be such a massive difference in build quality between two prestige cars in direct competition. I only had that rover for about 3 months then I traded it in..........for a granada 2.8 ghia.

[@stuartyoung4182]

"Lucas Electronics was pressured by Leyland management to cut corners..."!!! Making the "Prince of Darkness" even...darker. ;-)

[@syxepop]

Stuart Young, pair the WORST OEM IN HISTORY with probably THE WORST MANAGEMENT IN HISTORY and you have FECES FLYING ALL OVER THE PLACE...

[@JClark-34695]

Pressuring Lucas to cut corners? Is that even possible?! 😉

[@syxepop]

J. Clark, well... The way Lucas cut corners on their own, anything's possible.

[@mikemapson7281]

possibly a close second to Magneti Marelli

[@shebbs1]

Most people forget that Lucas was originally a maker of quality components, trouble is the BL-era cheapening has led people to ignore this. Classic Lucas stuff was certainly a cut above the standards of the 50's and 60's, not reliable by modern standards, but better than average for the time...until BL buggered things.

[@johnmoore2383]

I still have a 1984 3500 Vitesse. It started out as a VandenPlas automatic but through a series of upgrades became a fuel-injected manual. Very little of the original car left, but still love it!

[@18wheelerdad]

I would have an sd1 today, growing up I classed the dashboard as an aeroplane cockpit still love them to this day.

[@igninis]

"Like a porche panamera, but actually pretty" nailed it :D

[@Peter-gv6vf]

Ig Ja Like a porche panamera but actually pretty. Are you kidding?! This has to be one of the ugliest bloated monsters ive ever seen

[@MoskusMoskiferus1611]

@Prakrit Biswas. Cayenne are still way More Beautiful compared to Urus, X6, Q8, and Stelvio

[@gregorybruce6017]

Actually like a ferrari daytona with extra doors

[@lakrids-pibe]

Both cars are unpretty. And Rover is worse, I would say.

[@gregdales4701]

@@MoskusMoskiferus1611 the cayennnnne is an suv joke

[@dannygroom3327]

I'm glad you checked with everyone about the V6 engine!

[@niallpenny1635]

Correction - neither Triumph or Rover ever used a V6. They used straight 6 engines.

[@davidmccarron4832]

the 1 in vid is straight 6 did he even look at it

[@martyn_g]

Are we including the Honda powered 825i?;) sorry - had to be a smart ass;)

[@davidmccarron4832]

@@martyn_g i i believe its the 827 :( sorry had to be a smart ass;) dumm ass lol just joking :P

[@nigeh5326]

@@davidmccarron4832 both are correct. The 800 started with a 2.5 V6 then it was expanded to a 2.7 basically it was a Honda engine

[@jeremyrigden9200]

@@martyn_g Martyn I sold those and had a Stirling demo loved it, friend had the Turbo as a company did 65k never missed a beat Unbelievable ! but true.

[@NorthernsoulBoy63]

My first sdi was 2600 gold colour. Amazing drive .The smell and feel of the interior felt luxurious. 3500 was even better The big v8 was GREAT

[@Iskelderon]

The old days, when British car workers were striking themselves out of a job!

[@lundsweden]

We did'nt stike so much in Australia, but we lost our car industry too. Its called competition!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

@@lundsweden No, it is called corporate greed.

[@chiefrocka8604]

Any 18 year old bl striker in the later 70’s must think why ? They literally ruined the British motor industry 🤣

[@Behwyelzebub]

@@chiefrocka8604 18 year old strikers, don't think so.

[@chiefrocka8604]

@@Behwyelzebub I do they had jobs and striked

[@obus7800]

Before production started we got a prototype in Canada for cold weather testing. It was bright yellow with a tan interior just like some of the cars seen in this video.

[@carguyuk3613]

I had 5 rover sd1 vitesse's. Great design but poor execution. So unreliable and rotted quickly. Easy to repair and the v8 sounded great. My last one rusted and I took the engine out and put it in a Westfield kit car. Great video.

[@voya8480]

Same story here. I had 3.

[@brobno9]

Carguy UK 5 Vitesse`s really?? I couldn`t find one, they became almost Unicorn-like, the 3.9i must have been so much better than the 3500 twin S-U carb!.... Had a V8-S, & two other lower spec V8`s... rot killed 2 & the S caught me out on a country bend & wrapped itself round a tree : ( ........ Straight pipe on the S sounded great!... For some reason I didn`t like the facelifted SD2, too much chrome trim & extra bits that just didn`t look right... still this video brought back memories.

[@richy69ify]

@Oggy - The next generation of European cars beat yours though and you had to ban them from Touring cars. British talent was all in Motorsport

[@diecast-madness4645]

@@brobno9 SD2, that car never progressed past the prototype stage, it was a brilliant car and with fettling would have been a massive seller, but the MK II SD1 was a better looking car, entirely, they threw funds at it to get it right, and it was, so much so, that it sold well right to the end, and considering at the time, there were many cars added to that particular market, it is surprising that sales held up as well as they did, especially with the Grandad and various rusty Vauxhalls.

[@brobno9]

@@diecast-madness4645 No mystery or surprise there lol.... nobody else offered a V8...simple as that.... Interesting statement seeing as even the old Rover dealership in my town referred to the face-lift SD1 as the SD2. (When visiting for service items) But I guess you know better than Rover........

[@PaulBriden]

I would hardly call it a failure when they built 303,000 cars. Remember this was not a cheap car.

[@nightdriver7216]

IIRC it also had a successful racing career.

[@Backs4more]

@@nightdriver7216 and was the preferred motorway patrol car for the Police.

[@Investeast]

Never had a problem with my SDI, committed daily 120 miles from Kent Coast to Central London. Also owned 2 x P6s - loved them all

[@DiscoforU]

They didn't fail selling them in the UK but outside the UK British cars were already notorious because of quality and rust problems. How many of these 303.000 ar e left now?

[@PaulBriden]

@@DiscoforU No offence but the question has no relevance to success. Sales numbers do. To judge a car built from 1976 to 1985 by how many are left 36 years later is a fools folly. The question even though it has no relevance has a lot of variables. 1) Rust was a major issue with all cars until about 20 years later. 2) With big expensive cars it is normally found that the 3rd owners are dreamers and cannot really afford to run them, so when they go wrong down the breakers they go like a lot of Jaguar saloons etc. How many Citroen CX or SM cars are left. Talbot Tagora's, Ford Granadas, Renault 20's and 30's, Vauxhall Senators, BMW 5 and 7 series from this era etc etc. You are just a typical Rover basher, if you had stopped and thought for 10 minutes before you typed you would have realised the points I have made.

[@stephenmorris9382]

Absolutely superb little documentary, well researched, well delivered. Learned a lot thanks.

[@damoncornish5197]

My dad had one, it spent more time getting repaired than on the road. I remember on a hot summer day the electric windows stopped working in the down position and it started to rain, he drove it straight to a jaguar dealership and traded it for an XJ6. Shame, great design for its time.

[@aschult4]

He should have pressed the 'reset' button conveniently placed in the footwell. I had a similar experience after winding down all 4 windows at the same time, presumably overloading the circuit. When it started raining I looked for possible electrical faults and found the button by accident.

[@TheBuccy]

XJ6 ? Out of the frying pan into the fire.

[@donaldasayers]

The Triumph derived inline 6 used a two-valve-per-cylinder version of the Dolomite Sprint head, with one overhead cam working both inlet and exhaust valves, one valve directly, the other via a rocker. Despite only being a two valve per cylinder design, the engine was a beast and had to be severely detuned as it initially out performed both the V8 and some Jaguar engines. That was what was wong at BL, making things worse rather than better.

[@wayland7150]

I always wondered if the inline 6 was any good. Yes they should have let it out perform the V8 and see where the market took it.

[@wearetomorrowspast.5617]

My primary school headteacher had a P5. All us kids loved it so much he used to let us wash it. Mr. Hughes, smart bloke.

[@yoesomite2199]

I remember the 70's, my dad was home often due to strikes. He didn't agree with the strikes , but the unions had so much power you couldn't argue with them , you would be ostracized at work. It wasn't until the communism fell in the late 80s that the Russians opened up their archives that we saw the amount of white anting that was going on with Soviets channeling money and resources into Unions , Universities, Political parties etc. European

[@hickster222]

Sadly commies gonna commie.

[@mickeydee3595]

The unions in Australia are still like that mate!

[@Britcarjunkie]

Same here in the States.

[@hickster222]

It looks like Joe McCarthy didn't go far enough! Still too many commies around these days for my liking.

[@robertmesk6310]

In Australia, the Rover SD1 (3500) was only sold in V8 form. A student's mother in my 3rd grade primary school class back in 1983 just purchased a brand new French blue metallic coloured one. I remember seeing this lovely vehicle drive past the school classroom window while we were all inside. I was mesmerised by its sheer length and beautiful styling.

[@lundsweden]

I remember my Dutch neighbour bought one in the late 70s here in Australia, as he had relatives visiting from the Netherlands and he wanted something cool to be seen in as a result. I thought it looked so modern, like a spaceship! Still have a soft spot for the design!

[@roliasder]

Had a facelifted V8 back in the eighties finished in metallic gold, always drew admiring glances and was a fabulous car to drive. First thing to fail though was the central door locking, guess Lucas strikes again

[@billolsen4360]

Let's be thankful that Q never used Lucas electricals or 007 would have been on a slab in the morgue before he ever met Mr Goldfinger

[@fredericksaxton3991]

Interesting video. At 2:06 you miss out the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona for inspiration. When the "Motor Sport" reporter took one of these Rovers to the Italian Grand Prix for a grand-tour test trip, he was besieged by Italians who adored the shape. I have never heard about how the SD1 was named after "Special Division", I have heard many times SD1 stood for "Solihull Design 1" R.I.P The British motor industry. :(

[@judethaddaeus9742]

SD stood for Specialist Division. Solihull was a factory, not a design office. They called the unproduced Triumph Dolomite replacement the SD2, while the 1984 Rover 200 was codenamed the SD3. Solihull had long since closed by then.

[@andicog]

Think he put the wrong Ferrari photo in the video.

[@nobb1euk1]

My old Snap On tools rep used to work at British Leyland removing the rust from these before they even left production line.

[@robertjames6640]

I do not regard the SD1 in either variant as a failure. I had two of them as company cars when I worked in the Uk. The first was a blue 6 cylinder model, the second an olive green V8. Both covered a lot of work miles and gave no trouble. My pal was a police officer who used a V8 on motorway patrol: it worked 3 shits a day and survived well for tens of thousands of miles. Maybe you drove a bad one?

[@yup698]

287 people have no clue - this is one of the most informative and interesting channels out there.

[@johnkeepin7527]

An interesting review. In particular, some of the footage of the production lines reminded me that it’s an easy mistake to compare older products with modern ones, in as much as there is lot more automation/assembly accuracy now. Most of the major companies are better than they were in the 1970s, from a customer's point of view.

[@BigCar2]

True, but customers in the 70's were comparing the SD1 to the competition and it didn't make the grade. But yes, car manufacturing has come on leaps and bounds since then.

[@markdavis2475]

My dad had one..reg YOY 868S We loved it! It was actually very reliable and quite economical! Only real fault was the carpet in the boot kept coming unstuck!, typically British though, you could see the obvious cost-cutting of the design. Prior to the SD1 he had a Triumph 2000 PI Estate, very fast car after his brother tweaked the fuel injection!

[@jamiewallace7685]

George Cowley and John Steed both drove them - enough said. And Barry Prudom stole one from a Bank Manager, and then set fire to it, during his murderous rampage.

[@NevilleStyke]

Looks like YOY 868S got taken off the road in 1986.

[@markdavis2475]

@@NevilleStyke Yes, didn't last too long, I'm guessing rust got it! He looked another new one in a showroom in Finchley in 1979, the paint on the sills was already flaking off!

[@NevilleStyke]

@@markdavis2475 The second one I had was a 2600 Vanden Plas, which was £350 and only needed a 15 minute fix to fit a needle back into its carrier in one of the SU carbs, as the needle had dropped into the jet. The previous owner had only used it for a few weeks a year when he had it motor-railed down to the south of France, for his holiday, so it was low in mileage and corrosion. He'd had a diagnostics test done and they'd incorrectly told him that it had a blown head gasket. You could see from their printout that there was no power from the three cylinders on one carb. I take the head off as a matter of course, to remove the oil pressure restrictor valve to the camshaft, just to be safe from camshaft bearings seizing. I then ran it for seven years.

[@markdavis2475]

@@NevilleStyke Yep, never rely on garages! I think the 2600 and 2300,s had issues with cracking heads at one time, but I think it was mostly down to the wrong coolant/no antifreeze! I think they did a 2000 version once!!!

[@howardsportugal]

The Vitesse version is still, by a long chalk, the best car I have ever had - down through France (when speed limits were less enforced) at over 100mph in near silence & total comfort at 30mpg...say what you like, but the Mercedes I replaced it with was perhaps more reliable but souless by comparison.

[@anthonylewis2080]

Strange how Clarkson and others criticize American Cars and British Leyland had to resort to General Motors - on this occasion, a Buick Engine? Short memories come to mind.

[@AudieHolland]

My father bought his Rover 3500 in 1977, it performed well, never had any 'bad finish' issues, only major issue was that the fuel pump had to be replaced after 6 years. So I guess we were lucky.

[@Adrian_Nel]

Must've been a Monday car.

[@mafiousbj]

Having never travelled to the UK before, I remember actually being wowed by the styling of this car the first time I saw one. It´s kind of timeless and somehow looks like an elongated Italian or Japanese car while being British, which made it really fascinating for a car guy like me (and now your video helped me understand why it looks the way it does)

[@diecast-madness4645]

that looks NOTHING like anything from Japan, or Italy, it was a stunning British car, and still today, out looks virtually everything on the road today.

[@elgooghosent7080]

@@diecast-madness4645 it looks really much like a ferrari daytona

[@jonmower3680]

@@elgooghosent7080 Umm, NO, it has the front lights inspired by the Ferrari, but thats it, nothing else on that car looks anything like a Ferrari, plus even with the reliability issues it was still far more reliable than any Ferrari of that era.

[@lfoggy3061]

My dad bought one in the 70s and I learnt to drive in it. Was an amazing looking car that seemed ahead of its time. Reliability was appalling though. Ours was purchased new but had so many problems it was untrue. I remember the electric windows were particularly random in their operation. I seem to remember it had a limited mileage warranty but that didn't matter as the odometer stopped working after a few thousand miles ! Dad eventually purchased a Mercedes that was boring but never broke down.....

[@originalkk882]

I worked at BL at the time and bought a Canley built TR7 (thinking the quality might be better than the Speke built ones - it was still awful), then bought a Solihull built TR7 drophead. The quality was also very bad. I was amazed when I left and traded it in for an Escort XR3i to get a new car without a list of problems. The build quality, specially in the Jaguar Rover Triumph side of the business, was frankly terrible.

[@lash9400]

By far my favourite Rover of all time and my pick of the range would be a 1985 Vitesse with a manual gearbox. Such a shame that this epic car was so poorly developed.

[@Roger_Ramjet]

The more futuristic Citroen CX, released 2 years prior, would have been on French roads in abundance as you drove to San Tropez to see Cilla. I did love these and the later diesel too. Great content as always.

[@roberthatfull3816]

My brother in law had several rover sd1 a yellow late 70s was his first one and his last was a 2.6 in vibrant red i remember not being able to shut the glove box as it was full of tapes lol (i was 10 and not very strong)and a gold v8 s wich was stolen (along with his granada )after owning it for a day It realy takes me back watching your channel 🤘

[@kmorton54]

I remember seeing the Rover at British Motor dealers in the US during the 70's and I always liked the styling.

[@jeffhildreth9244]

The Rover SD1 came to the US in 1980.. I bought one.

[@billolsen4360]

@@jeffhildreth9244 A salesman at Grand Prix Motor Imports in Denver offered to let me have one for a day. He said I'd be in Vail in one hour. That may be true, but I also may have ended up in jail in less than an hour.

[@ericgeorge5483]

Such a shame. Supercar looks couldn't rescue Shoddy British Manufacturing and industrial action.

[@peterstubbs5934]

That wnker red Robbo did his bit for the Kremlin.

[@robv1139]

@@Ineverreadreplies And no fault on the unions part in any way huh?

[@pasoundman]

@@robv1139 Both are equally to blame.

[@MarineAqua45]

@@Ineverreadreplies Derek Robinson,was a member of The British,Communist,Party & should never,have been allowed to be a union rep.

[@Gentleman...Driver]

@@robv1139 No, have a look at the very strong unions in Germany. The German managements got along with them and together they started expanding. British management was over confindent that they could find some people to work at their factories and totally underestimated the problem. The focus on the Commonwealth and not Europe is another major mistake they have done.

[@davelowe1977]

The entire British motoring industry is a story of an opportunity missed!

[@alecbrown66]

I think its more a case of early tiny brands that would have naturally died, as many did, being rolled up into bl as survival handout more on a buddy basis my Lyons ( rover, triumph should never have been saved. Although triumph should have been rolled up into a sports car group under the morris brand, and been ready to pounce when tweaked saloons came in). Austin by rights of sales numbers, brand recog and loyalty along with united styling and even technological innovations) is what BL etc should have been branded. Plus they were profitable! But we had an extreme inward looking management and massive blind upper middle class snobbery towards competitors and blindness in how rubbish niche cars like rover itself were, and how they simply couldnt make enough reliable,rust free, 1 model per Eon, profitably. And while the unions had a point in heavy, dirty, dangerous and badly paid uk industry, they got insane and greedy. Nobody remembers Nissan and Honda came in with full unionisation, but used it to galvanise production. Leyland, bl, rover was passed around to upper class or political class board members from uk firms who understood nothing about the industry, marketing and sneered down with victorian mill owner semiloathing at the Oiks making the products. And had no guts in rationalising bl from start to death. If you think i am wrong, can i draw your attention to how fast nissan, toyota, honda could get moving. And PSA just did a mini version with buying Vauxhall/Opel. There is real blame to be had by all from the boardroom to the junior mechanics in the dealers.

[@davelowe1977]

Alec Brown That sounds like a fair assessment to me. From the standpoint of a later observer, the amalgamation of all those disparate marques under BL always looked like a mistake to me. Before, they were making cars. After, it all went bust together. I can't help but feel that a few, smaller brands might (individually) have stood a better chance. The fact that there was no domestic competition and the lure of endless government money always makes everyone fat and lazy.

[@davelowe1977]

stephen galley Electric cars are a bad joke.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Leyland/BMC etc, yes, Ford, no. Also smaller vendors like Morgan and TVR seem to have survived OK.

[@pasoundman]

@@davelowe1977 No domestic competition ? Did you miss Ford ?

[@adriangroeneveld9341]

Always loved the SD1 styling insiude and outside. One of my uncles had a banana yellow 3500 in the late 70's. I remember drooling over the Vitesse at a car fair here in NL in the early 80's. I still have the brochure.

[@lukespector5550]

The Vanden Plas was lovely.

[@toptrish]

I had a 2600 SD1 it was very innovative for its time, the back seats dropped down to form a flat 6ft bed enough to get a wardrobe in, but the quality issues were that they made it from rusty steel and it rotted very quickly also the rear suspension was automatically height adjustable but it seized up and replacement shockers were very expensive

[@michaelflinn7784]

It was the most beautiful family car of the day. Loved it

[@TG-pd3ft]

As an 11 yo boy I remember my jaw dropping when I first saw one of these astonishing cars

[@Arltratlo]

me too, on the shoulder of our local Autobahn, in a big cloud of steam... but i was more impressed by the huge cloud and not by the car itself... and my opinion nerver changed...

[@NickC1953]

I bought a second hand 1976 Rover SD1 and concur with all comments you make in the video. The thing was maddening as it was such a brilliant design but so badly constructed. For example, the plastic instrument binnacle squeaked continually and the lights used to cut out. But when it was working properly it was brilliant - a fast lane car with a hatchback the size of a Transit van.

[@stephenmeehan9961]

Had a V8 one and it was a comfortable big car. Certainly getting around 20 mpg was average and less if you wanted a quick trip home...jacking points front and back certainly was a example of the metal in the chassis. Great memories from this car and this video was taking it all back .....

[@jsnsk101]

Rover: we have a popular new car and the workers will have secure jobs! Union: We cant have that, OK lads, STRIKE!

[@Gentleman...Driver]

No, mate. The unions were not a problem. Look at how German managements got along with them... Now the Germans own everything. It was the British management who underestimated the problem and was overconfident in that situation. Another major mistake was the ignorance of the european market, while focussing on the Commonwealth.

[@GM-ii8gs]

Soul Traveller is right, I just about remember those times, and my family certainly does, they all worked in the car industry from sales to production, my uncle was on the production line at BL in Cowley and said all the union stops was starting to actually wear the guys down, they just wanted to get on with a day's work and not get grief at home from the wives when they where sent home early when their pay packs where getting docked by the unions so there was even less to live on. He said it was no fun sitting in the cold and dark for days at home with his wife having a go at him. He was an ardent Labour supporter to the core, he was a member of the Labour party, but after all the strikes he turned to the Conservatives, he voted for Mrs Thatcher in 1979, because he agreed Labour wasn't working, but it really hurt him to say that. He retired from the factory in the early 90s after working over 40 years there and voted Conservative for the rest of his life. The reason German management has to get on with German unions is the size of the unions and the political power they have, but it means cheaper German cars are often getting made outside of Germany, in lower cost economes such as Romania, Hungary, where the German based factory acting as the lead factory or the centre of excellence for that model.

[@Gentleman...Driver]

@@GM-ii8gs I dont agree with your last bit, since the unions in Germany are very mighty and even constitutionalized. There are strong laws that are supporting unions and workers rights. Certainly outsourcing has become a thing in the recent years in Germany, but major strikes occured at the same time as the British had to deal with them in the 1970s. That was a time when the Germans had their full scale production within the own country. And German cars were beyond cheap back then. ;) But everybody admired the quality at the time. In fact to this day major manufacturers are outsourcing within the country to sub contractors. The German middle class and decentralized economy plays a major role. The car manufacturers are pressing them into low prices. Also, dont want to argue, but Thatcher did open Pandoras box, didnt she? :)

[@Gentleman...Driver]

@@GM-ii8gs Interesting article about the largest workers union in Europe: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Metall

[@GM-ii8gs]

@@Gentleman...Driver What I meant was like it says in that article, the German unions have been clever to reinvent themselves into a professional training standards organisation, taking a more holistic approach to improving their members lives both in work and out of work and realised that as their membership was declining due to offshoring and a reduction in industrial capability and rise in automation in Germany that not every low wage job needed to saved, so they have had to work hand in hand with their members, management, and the German public, like that article said they even back down in the face of public/political opinion, shame Arthur Scargill didn't do that! German unions with their position on the board of companies have realised and aided the keeping of German industrial jobs on high value products and have allowed the lower value items to be offshored, this is what I meant before, this allows their members to continue too have a relatively high-income in industrial production work which leads to a wealthy and stronger economy, put simply the unions now don't want 'cheap' jobs, this is exactly the strategies at Mercedes has adopted. Selling more cars across more price points means more tax paid in Germany which is good for the economy and services for citizens, but making lower cost cars means everything has to be lower cost including wages. I was recently having a conversation with the global head buyer of Aldi, he said the unions don't want cheap stuff made in Germany these days, the vast majority of special offer items they sell such as hand tools and homewares are now made in China, where as 25 years ago they were made in Germany, but the unions don't want the pollution (the German unions are getting more involved in green issues and pushing for changes), the low wages - they want high tech, high wages, but the German branding instills confidence in the consumer that it is to German standards and QA procedures, hence this is why even the smallest electrical item or tool gets a 3 year warranty because a Chinese warranty would be 1 year at best. So just like Britain packages Britishness and sells it abroad, the heritage, history, royalty etc so someone will go into a M&S in Paris and buy something which might have actually been produced in France, but they feel they have brought into a small slice of Britishness, the Germans are doing the same with the perceived engineering excellence. They are selling brand Germany. I'm not sure about Germany having lots of strikes in the 70s, I can't find any records of this, at the time, from records most srikes in industrial economies where in the UK or USA. Also German strikes had a tendency to be more focused and localised and to a shorter period, so less damaging, weeks as opposed to many months or even years in the UK. Those strong laws supporting German workers and their rights have be put place by German unions, via political parties, just the same as the UK model, but the German unions see their job as been consultative, not combative as it got to in the UK in the 70s, the them and us approach. Also in Germany trade unions have a specially protected legal status under their constitution as "social policy coalitions" and of course certain German companies have deliberately structured in away that they cannot be by bought up, a classic example is the so-called Volkswagen law or act where the state of Lower Saxony owns a noticeable percentage of Volkswagen to protect it from takeovers, especially foreign ones! So basically all the bodies are working together, the powerful states that make the government, the manufacturers and their management, the unions and the workers, all pulling together to make the German success. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying all the problems were caused by unions in UK in the 1970s, poor management, weak government and lazy companies expecting consumers to be brand loyal for no good reason, all combined together into one mess. But in the 1990s the former head convenor at BL Cowley became one of my parents neighbours in Oxford, I got to know him quite well, after BMW bought Rover, he admitted to me that perhaps the unions had gone too far. Manufacturers will always look to lower production cost, for example China is building industrial estates in sub-saharan East Africa and putting the rail, road and port infrastructure in. The Chinese are the factory managers and locals work over the hot workbenches producing everything from cutlery to low-cost clothing, the next stage of the plan is to start making electronics there, this is all because of rapid wage increases in China and a booming middle class which won't work for the low wages they needed to make these cheap items. The Chinese plan is for Africa to export to Europe and South American factories to export to North America. This is the reason why China is investing so heavily in these regions it's not just about the raw materials, it's finding new sources of cheap labour, some might even argue colonialism is back! Maggie definitely cause some issues, but one thing she did do is get the UK at the time focused on Europe and away from the commonwealth, but I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing, I have to say in last 5 years I have wondered what she would make of brexit and particularly the deal that's been arrived with the EU...

[@GdaySport]

When I a spotty youth, I lusted after the SD1 so bad! Sadly the car failed due to mismanagement, and heavy union control of the workforce. What should have been a runaway success turned into a wet fart. So sad...

[@maxpoweroverdrive]

In India, this car was in production under "standard" brand and was called 2000

[@paullovesey4863]

My uncle had a 3500 Vanden Plas - For the time, behind the wheel was like a pilots cockpit. Loved the weekend trips to the Norfolk broads.

[@thebelow9117]

My dad always had SD1s' when I was growing up. Last one & by far the best one, was put on a "Q" plate, as it was 2 cars put together. 3500 Vanden Plas, rear spoiler, front valance & side skirts. Total luxury inside, leather, trip computer, the lot. As a 20yr old at the time, it felt amazing to be driving around it. I was always getting stopped whenever I borrowed it, especially as it was a cut & shut. It was all done fully legally, by a Rover specialist my dad knew. I've never ever felt as safe in a car, as I did driving that. Amazing vehicle 👍

[@conrod7]

Well I had 3 of them at different times - all v8 - how did it fail they sold it for ten years and BUILT OVER 200,000 of them?

[@hedydd2]

They should and could have sold between half a million and a million of them if they had the supply and quality/reliability right. They were potentially a superb vehicle but the video explains where it all fell apart as was usual and caused the decimation of the UK car industry at the time. Just look at the example of Hyundai which started off building a near copy of the Morris Marina and look where they are now and where Leyland is. Compare and contrast. Look at the massively prosperous and successful highly technological South Korean economy compared to the basket-case UK.

[@EppingForest304]

Very interesting 👍 My dad owned two SD1s in the eighties, the 3500 V8 with carbs then the fuel injected 3500... nice looking 🚗 car... but too unreliable, even the Rover dealer struggled to repair it properly 😔

[@jeffhildreth9244]

Never had a problem with mine that I could not correct myself.

[@Deomon4711]

Thanks for your great videos and good luck with the new channel

[@dukeofaaghisle7324]

I rode in some of the prototypes, courtesy of a school friend’s dad. The cars were always ‘masked’ with wood (and hardboard?) contoured to suggest an estate car shape and a central radiator at the front, a bit like the Rover P5. It was always exciting to travel in a prototype.

[@andyt5559]

It was 1 of those cars you noticed, i was a kid in the 70s but thought they looked amazing, exotic from the future! i was fortunate to get a lift in a V8 up the site at the factory i worked at in the 80s my workmate took off and i was sucked into the seat, and the sound from that engine! WOW!

[@dj_paultuk7052]

I remember when my Dad had one of these in the mid 80's. He had the V8 S, really nice looking. Even though i was a young kid back then, i will remember the really poor build quality. They were really shocking. Seem to remember the huge front gloveboxes used to fill up with water.

[@patagualianmostly7437]

I can sympathise.... But hey, it clearly states in the Owners Manual the Windscreen Washer Reservoir is under the bonnet...... ;)

[@brianwhittington5086]

These cars were amongst the first to use a bonded in windscreen and trims, to make it part of the body strength. Early bonding material was a roll of putty like substance that was activated to make sticky by heating an embedded electric wire element. It was time consuming, didn't always fully stick to the glass and painted body, letting water creep in. Later developments in bonding material were much better, so long as the surface preparation was properly done.

[@christopherdean1326]

Did it "fail" ? It was in production for ten years, during which time they built over 300,000 of them, and it was voted "Car of the Year" in 1977. Some "failure"!

[@MrChris1316]

The horizon was car of the year as was the alfasud, see if you can find either one now, car if the year was the most bullshit prize ever

[@MrChris1316]

30000 a year is crap for a car in real terms in the USA that would be one trim level of say a caprice in one year

[@christopherdean1326]

@@MrChris1316 For a slightly upmarket car in the UK, 30,000 a year is pretty good going.

[@stephendriver3132]

Good old Leyland workers! Well done guys!

[@patagualianmostly7437]

British Leyland workers were trying to work on war-time designed assembly lines, designed for tanks!.... until the 1980's.... Who's fault was that? The Leyland Roadrunner was the first truck designed & built on a proper, dedicated, assembly line....and it was immensely successful.... and very, very reliable. Lack of investment was to blame for the ills of BL....for decades. That, and the old-boy network of management, made the disaster inevitable. And the Germans and Japanese rubbed their hands in glee.....They had modern plants constructed within years after the war.....The irony is that the tax deducted from the pay packets of the BL workers.....paid for it all. Tell the kids today.....

[@brentsummers7377]

Cutting corners on the electrics is never going to end well! Very interesting video.

[@mibfox]

Thank you very much (again) for another great work of yours. Your videos are awesome!

[@buster6093]

I took my dad's 3.5 out down the road when he was out and I was 15!, one our neighbours saw me but never dobbed me in.

[@mcharris5200]

Buster haha. Good story. And what a neighbour. It's the little things that we remember from our childhoods

[@johncatty6560]

"Getting cars out of the factory door even if there were quality issues." I saw the same behavior around six years ago when I was at the Solihull plant. Even managers were joking not to buy a new JLR vehicle from that facility but to buy a one-year-old car. Because that would have spent enough time in the garage to iron out the quality issues. The SD1 was one of the favorite cars of my childhood - along with the Citroen CX. However, those cars were not made anymore when I got my drivers licence. Furthermore, even used ones were too expensive for me because I did not consider the purchase price only but also the cost for maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc. A friend of mine only looked into the purchase price of a used XJ and did not consider the cost of spare parts. He owned it for a few months and then he had to get rid of it because he could not pay the bills anymore xD

[@TheGalacticEmperorOfLabels]

I read your comment *as he said that!*

[@jackthelad9933]

You were so right. It was ahead of its time. I remember thinking how cool it looked. Trust the Brits to screw up a good car. Unions....well done chaps! Hey, lets prove our worth by not working at all and bringing the company to its knees. Genius!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

That is one part of the truth. The other part is the British class society, thinking they are the privileged ones, still living in the 19th century. That begs for a backlash, and so the strikes came.

[@rodmorrison47]

My dad got a 2600 in 1977. It was the first of these new models here on Lewis and was commandeered by the royal family for their jubilee visit that summer - much to my dad's annoyance (he being a staunch Scottish Nationalist). I believe it was Prince Edward's transport for the occasion. We had that car until my sister wrote it off in 1986 and I don't recall any major issues with it. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe my memory is just too fond.

[@DjouMaSeEpos]

I recall John Steed from The New Avengers TV series from 1976 & 77 drove a 3.5. And the TV ad for it in South Africa where they said "Suddenly you are there" When I visited Leyland South Africa in 1980 as a youngster they gave me a lift in one, I couldn't stop staring at all the gadgets like the remote control mirrors and adjustable steering wheel which I thought was too cool!

[@applejuice5272]

"The design looked as though it had fallen through a time portal from the 21st Century." *Jaguar XF has left the chat*

[@sandersson2813]

That makes no sense when the XF DID come from the 21st century.

[@steviewonder7495]

IT NEVER FAILED, IT JUST FADED AWAY. I HAD THE 3.5 VITESSE IT WAS A BIG FLYING MACHINE FOR ITS TIME. THERE WAS ALSO A 2.0 VERSION OF THE CAR, THE ENGINE WAS IDENTICAL IN LOOKS TO THE MORRIS ITAL 1.7/8 AND SAT IN THE CENTRE OF THE ENGINE BAY LOKKING VERY SMALL.

[@THEJR-of5tf]

Stevie Wonder. I had a 3.5 V8. It was nowhere near as bad as people said. There were some badly finished ones. I put that down to the Unions belligerence.

[@steviewonder7495]

@@THEJR-of5tf did you know the earlier models pre 1983 had a square back window and the clear glass all round, the 1983 onwards the corners were cut off at the bottom off the rear window and the glass all round had a slight tint to the colour of the car. I found out when I put a fridge in the boot with the rear seat down and before I could say No, my mate slammed the tailgate down and the fridge went through the window. It took me a while to get a newer one from a scrappy it was 300 quid new. And a mate in Glasgow got me one for a tenner. The windscreens were also bonded in and not the old rubber mouldings.

[@steveunderwood3683]

The early ones were incredibly unreliable. They kept dying in the fast lanes of motorways. Between the P6 and the SD1 they added various sensors to the drive train, to shut things down when a fault was detected (a precursor to the modern check engine light). The drive train was pretty reliable, but the sensors were not, and kept shutting down the car very dangerously at high speed. An incident of that, and the owner was off to look at an Audi 80 or 100. I'm not sure why, but the people I knew with SD1s all dumped them for Audis.

[@TheChill001]

"like a panamera, but pretty" harsh, but true words

[@chrisdavidson911]

British Leyland, same story every time. Factories that don't want to make things, management that can't run things, and an engineering department that can but isn't allowed to.

[@TommyWylie]

An interesting point regarding the design which was never mentioned... the SD1 bore an uncanny resemblance to Pininfarina's proposed 1967 restyle of the Austin 1800 "land crab" car. From most angles, the resemblance was so blatant I'm surprised it didn't result in a lawsuit.

[@davidburns5027]

It's a miracle BL survived the 70s at all, with the mismanagement and the strikes - another British industry brought to its knees by the unions, just like the railways.

[@theuktoday4233]

I owned a 3.5 for a year, very comfortable, it was great fun watching the rust eating it and the electrics failing piece by piece however the engine was superb! One of the most comfortable drives I ever owned until more recently.

[@paulbunyon6324]

As a Canadian first time tourist in London in 1978 I remember marveling over the Rover SD1, they were eye catching and seemed ubiquitous.

[@nielsnijmegen2917]

One of the most beautiful car designs of all times! Was a fan from its launch!

[@paulk3681]

One of the most beautiful cars ever made. I always wanted one.