Holy shit

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 12/07/2013 at 07:06 • Filed to: None

0

11

You know the Rover 820 (the Sterling in the US). Big 15ft FWD barge with a 2.7l V6. This is Tony Pond lapping the Ise of Man TT course at an average of 100mph in one. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Aside: If anyone wants to know what Targa Florio must have been like, this is probably damn close.

davedave1111 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 12/07/2013 at 07:28

2

It takes big balls to lap the TT that fast in a road car, but to do it in a Rover must have taken enormous balls of titanium - I'd have worried the steering wheel would come off in my hands.

You know the Rover-built Hondas - the 800 was just a 1st-gen Honda Legend underneath - were so shoddy that they failed Japanese quality control and ended up used for in-plant transport?

I looked at buying one two or three years ago, but they were all complete junk. Looks like the junk has now gone to the scrappies, because the only ones out there right now look pretty good - and are priced to match.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-S-ROV…

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > davedave1111 12/07/2013 at 08:18

1

I remember my dad bought a 1988 Rover 827i in january 1994, by the time the winter olympics had ended (February 27th the same year) the car was sold.. it was the shittiest car he'd ever bought..

It was dark green, and I remember thinking it was the coolest car ever, since the car we had prior to it was a 1991 civic sedan.

ZaqAtaq > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 12/07/2013 at 08:40

2

I learned to drive a stick on my dad's Sterling and then drove as a winter car a few years later. Loved the damn thing even if the electrical system was total shit. Had no radio because it died, the heater controls didn't work. Only the defrost worked and barely because the fan was dying. Had a lot of fun in that car. Sold it for $100 when I was done with it.

ZaqAtaq > ZaqAtaq 12/07/2013 at 08:41

3

Oh, and the first time I drove it my dad stopped me at the end of the driveway. "If the headlights go out while you're driving, just kick your foot on the panel to the left, they'll turn back on eventually".

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > ZaqAtaq 12/07/2013 at 09:05

1

Hah :) that's proper character there.

My Alfa's developed a little quirk where sometimes the central locking doesn't work, but if you turn the ignition on and off again it'll start working again.

ZaqAtaq > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 12/07/2013 at 09:12

1

The key would stick in the "Start" position every now and then too. How did I discover this? Turned it on, took off down the road, the starter was still engaged so as I drove 55 down the road it was cranking the starter as fast as the car was going. Smoke started pouring out so I pulled over. Fried a good length of the wires hooked to the starter. That was awesome.

feather-throttle-not-hair > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 12/07/2013 at 09:15

1

Weirdly i've seen a couple of these in seattle. My neighbor has one, and there's another one i've seen downtown.

I'm 31 years old and have been a car person my entire life. I'm fairly sure i'd never seen one before I started seeing those two a couple of years ago.

Incredibly rare car in the U.S., however we do have plenty of acura legends lying around....

feather-throttle-not-hair > ZaqAtaq 12/07/2013 at 09:22

2

Oh electrical problems. Fun times!

An old Celica I had once left me stranded 45 min from my house when the alternator died. I pulled over to a parking lot immediately.

When i approached the proprietor of said parking lot to look for a phone, i realized, as i got closer that this was no ordinary establishment. No this was a GIANT porn superstore. No biggie whatever. Went inside to call my good friend to ask him for a ride. He was initially reluctant to drive an hour and a half total to come pick me up, when suddenly he perked up "Actually man, you know what? My mom and my little sister are not too far away from you, shopping in the mall. Where are you? I'll have them meet you"

"uh...lets see...uhm. i'm......uh.....Why dont you tell me where they are and i'll meet them?"

Of course his mom and sister insisted on going back to the stranded car anyway to see if it would start after I met up with them. It didn't. They gave me shitty looks when they found out where it was.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > feather-throttle-not-hair 12/07/2013 at 09:28

0

They're not even common over here. A lot were scrapped during the cash-for-clunkers scheme that put paid to a lot of late 80s/early 90s cars.

There's still a couple knocking around though.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > davedave1111 12/07/2013 at 09:33

1

It's even more impressive given that it's an 820. The P6 had really funky suspension, and the SD1 had some serious motorsport chops as well.

Yeah, there is a reason Rover died. They spent so long making the shoddiest built cars on the planet, and didn't survive long enough afterwards to shake that reputation off.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > feather-throttle-not-hair 12/07/2013 at 09:35

1

That's a brilliant story :) one of those train-wrecks you can see coming from a mile off but can't avert.