Rodney the Rover.

[Ray Martin]

Hello everyone,I'm Ray from sunny Lancashire,UK & I'm the proud new owner of a lovely 1970 P5B Coupe. I bought it a couple of weeks ago from Padiham & it has had a 5 year restoration by a previous owner which must have been a labour of love! They are beautifully made & finished,possessing that exclusive cache of sexiness coupled with restrained elegance & dignity. Pretty much assembled by hand,the heavy doors close with a Railway Carriage thud & they simply ooze character.

I've spent the last weekend driving & polishing it to within an inch of it's life and have no regrets whatsoever about buying it,the Coupe has been on my 'bucket list' of cars to own for ages. It's the first Rover that I've owned & after I sold my modified Datsun 240Z I considered buying the C3 (coke bottle shape) Corvette but there wasn't any available locally within my budget.

Everyone who knows me has been surprised that I've bought such a car,even my darling girlfriend Carol NiceHair was surprised that it was an automatic. It was the last of the 'Old Guard' Rovers & when Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister (before I was even born ;) ) she insisted on using a P5 as a Ministerial car even though they had been out of production for nearly 10 years by then. Folklore has it that they bought almost a hundred of them as fleet cars and maybe used some for spares.

It's got the magnificent Buick 3.5ltr V8 engine so I'm sure that I'll be searching out the local TVR owners for advice on the correct engine oil/filters etc,sorting out the slight leaks from the rear axle,power steering pump & fuel filter gasket at the moment. It's just typical of luxury cars of that era,plenty of cow & trees (leather & wood),no ABS,air con,traction control,DRL's, or driver aids that we all take for granted today. The HUGE bakerlight steering wheel (with chrome horn ring inside it) has no connection whatsoever to the front wheels,it's like trying to steer a pig with it's tail but they're all like that.........so I'm told. I've learnt that the best way to make progress through the bends is slow in then fast out,works just fine like that until the time that there's something stationary around the bend :(

I'll soon be giving it a good machine polish & possibly a contrasting colour on the roof,If you see me out & about give me a wave or a toot,this is another car that I've bought to enjoy driving whatever the weather,the service history that came with the car called it Rodney so I think it's only fair that the name stays the same :)

[Cobracol]

Hi Ray, Car looks great, always liked the coupe!

[Ray Martin]

Cheers Colin,here's a picture of Rodney with her newly painted roof;

Hope to see you on Sunday,the weather forecast doesn't look too promising though :(

[Ray Martin]

Oops...........should have said him,it's hard getting used to not having Bertha (Datsun240Z) around & I couldn't work out how to edit my previous comment!