Why do all the nice (affordable) ones have to be in Scotland?

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 04/24/2014 at 07:44 • Filed to: None

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , V8 4-speed MT. Nice pale mint green :)

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dmcspeedy > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 07:45

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That's why they're affordable ...

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > dmcspeedy 04/24/2014 at 07:56

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It does half make me want to buy one that's MOT'd and running, fly up there and road-trip back.

Could be a horrendous idea, could be brilliant :)

505Turbeaux > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:11

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Lots of rust spotting on that one though. Maybe Scotland is like the Maine of the UK, rust belt

KirkyV > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:16

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Bring a camera, and make a road trip video. It'd be like Top Gear's British Leyland challenge.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > KirkyV 04/24/2014 at 08:19

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If I end up doing that I'll definitely take a GoPro and a camera :) I think I'll take Great North Road as opposed to the boring M1 as well

KirkyV > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:21

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You'll have lots of nice, picturesque spots to break down in, at least. Bring a picnic.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > KirkyV 04/24/2014 at 08:27

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Bring a picnic = bring rations to survive for at least 3 days :)

dmcspeedy > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:27

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I had a friend do that (although on the train) from London for a Volvo S80. Fortunately the car was exactly as described - I wouldn't do it without complete trust in the seller, though.

Svend > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:46

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There's a nice 1974 2200sc. For sale in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire for £1,500.

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/car-advert/rov…

A 1970 2000t/c. For sale in West Yorkshire for £1,650.

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/car-advert/rov…

twochevrons > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 08:52

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I did that over a similar distance for my Rover SD1 (and again for a Citroën Xantia). Highly recommended!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > twochevrons 04/24/2014 at 08:58

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Kickass :) both very cool cars. Was it the Xantia Activa? They're capable of higher slalom speeds than a 993 GT3 :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Svend 04/24/2014 at 09:00

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While I do like the 2000s and 2200s, I'd definitely want a V8 one. There's something about an early 60s-designed car that's capable of that much performance that I really like. Just looking at it, no-one would expect it to have a thunderous V8 :)

twochevrons > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 09:18

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Sadly not, although I always wanted one. Citroëns aren't all that common in NZ (although still far more so than in the US), hence the long drive to find even a 'normal' one that I liked. It was an excellent car – even without the fancy active gizmos, it handled very agreeably through the twisty bits, and still had that magic carpet feel to the ride.

I miss both of them. My folks still see my old Xantia around town, but I suspect that the SD1 has been turned into tin cans. :(

Svend > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 09:31

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I hear you. I'd love a Rover P5 3.5V8, myself. Very regal.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Svend 04/24/2014 at 09:42

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Now that'd be even more of a sleeper with a beefier RV8 :) or just very, very nice to waft around in in standard tune

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > twochevrons 04/24/2014 at 10:34

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I think that might have been the fate of the majority of SD1s, although there's still a good number of them knocking around the UK. Probably similar for Xantias in France.

Was it a V8 SD1 or an I6? I think the Oz market SD1s had a different I6 than the EU market ones. Probably to the better :S

twochevrons > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 11:15

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Mine was an NZ-assembled V8 – with twin Strombergs and a silly electromechanical "piggyback" carb for (supposedly) automatic cold-start enrichment. It was actually in pretty good shape – I suspect that local CKD assembly was of better quality than at Solihull – but the rot had begun to take hold. I spent an awful lot of money attempting to stave it off, but it got to the point where it needed more work than I could afford, and without access to a welder (or experience in welding), I wasn't going to be able to fix it. I sold it to a guy who had an SD1 restoration project on the go. We kept in touch for a bit, and he said that mine was in better shape than his project, but I didn't hear anything after that.

I believe that the Australian models got a similar fuel-injection arrangement and emissions equipment to the US ones, at least on the V8s. I'm not sure about the sixes, but over here, we got the same Triumph-derived 2.3 and 2.6 ones as the UK. I've heard that they are actually rather lovely (if orphaned) engines, and that they had to detune the 2.6 significantly to stop it from encroaching on the V8's territory. I gather that there are a few Triumph 2500s around that were fitted with those engines for development purposes, but it is a real shame that they never put them in anything else.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > twochevrons 04/24/2014 at 11:58

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Ah gotcha. The early UK cars had twin SUs, and the later ones had injection. I think the US cars had injection throughout, but tuned for emissions rather than performance.

I can definitely see local assembly as being better than Solihull. They were hit with some really bad labour disputes during the SD1's time. Enough to turn a potential world-beater into a relatively mediocre seller. That and the perrenial rust that you've mentioned :S

I'm a big fan of the Triumph/Rover I6s. I've heard of a good deal of iffy problems with them, but no more or less than most BL-era engines. Plus, it sounds like things you can fix with a bit of modern know-how. I've also heard that they detuned them so as not to compete with the 155bhp early V8, using the 2300 cam in the 2600 engine.

I've got a bit of a plan to get a 2600 engine, rebuild it to a much hotter spec (I'm thinking around 190bhp) and swap it into a TR6. I've already got the Spitfire with a hot 2.5l OHC Triumph I6, so a TR6 would just be a slower version of that without an engine swap. The Triumph/Rover 2600 engine seems like a natural evolution of the TR-line :)

Svend > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/24/2014 at 14:28

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I don't think you can get more sleeper than The Queens own car (JGY280 above), she drove it up to 1995. Though only properly works as a sleeper with Her Majesty driving it.