Practically Classics Forum

Just purchaced a 1988 rover 213s 2 ownwes with 42000 miles from new had to save this one from the scrap man WHAT HAVE I DONE HAVE I LOST THE PLOT answers on a post card

Does it have rotten door bottoms? My mum's one did at 6 years old. Nice engine, huge boot for a small saloon. I drove it round Donington Park circuit once, not suited to that but uneven roads you could travel quite quickly in it. Trouble is they had a pensioner image and drivers coming out of side turnings always seemed to think I was travelling at half the speed I was. I wonder what parts availability is like now?

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that parts are easy to find, off the shelf at the Honda spares counters in the dealerships. Much of the stuff for earlier Civics, Accords and Acclaims/Ballades is still dead simple to source, whether from factors, dealers (watch their prices though but) or eBay.

I recall quite a few of that generation of 213/216 suffering from premature rot in their doors, A-posts, floorpans, inner sills and random other places but like anything else that's lasted this long, I'd reckon that any surviving cars stand a fair chance of being in decent condition. The really bad ones will have long since been scrapped.

Well done for saving the car.

The car is just on the verge of saving i think it will need 1 sill the doors are not to bad a little bit of rust but nothing like i have seen in the past i think it's worth saving can't find another one for sale any where

I have numerous "various" 213/216 NOS spares if you need any.

Thanks mg mal i will keep that in mind

Trouble is they had a pensioner image and drivers coming out of side turnings always seemed to think I was travelling at half the speed I was.

That's the trouble with stereotyping and assuming, rather than thinking. As a keen cyclist (With more than a few competitive miles to my credit), I find lots of other road users assume your level of fitness is the same as theirs. I know when this sort of things causes accidents (Luckilly not to me), often the motorist/van/lorry driver says "I didn't see you". I don't believe this; I believe what they see is themselves on the bike but rather than admit to a misjudgement, they claim not to have seen you. Proof of this is that if you ride at night, with good lights, because to the assumption merchants, a bike light is a feeble Ever Ready torch on the forks, they assume that there is a motor cycle behind the light and they wait for you to pass (And if you are doing 25 - 30 mph, they don't have to wait long).

It's a bit like that with old cars. Because most people don't look after cars, lots of cars deteriorate and by ten years old, many are rough. Thus because most people's experience of old cars is as bangers, they assume all old cars are bangers. As such they are unwilling to be behind a "Banger", in case it holds them up (And we all know how "Important" everyone is these days ).

As to the Rover, I don't think it will ever get a PC 5 star rating on spares because, despite what people may or may not think of it, it is certainly a rare car (It has to be said, of limited market value) and there won't be a demand for spares. I think if you find that any of the interior trim has suffered in Sunlight, some of the platic bits will prove hard to find. I know they were prone to rust, as BL/Austin Rover or whatever they called themselves, were not at a peak of quailty during the 1980s. The redeeming feature of your car is that Honda engine, which was always reckoned to be better than the 1600. I think it may well be the Triumph Acclaim engine. If dear old Gordon hadn't moved the goalposts, you be up for free tax next year......tempus fugit

I think the engine was a derated version of the Acclaim's engine? I just bought an Acclaim today and drove it back home down the M6 and its a pretty nippy little thing... Is that 213 in the OP the white one that's on one of the Classic cars for sale website with no MOT?

Sorry Martin, while I agree with you about the Honda engine in the 213, I must take issue with your ten year old cars are seen as old bangers comment. While it may have been true twenty or thirty years ago, I don't think many ten year old cars are old bangers these days - my 2002 Golf hasn't got a rust mark on the main body panels (though there is a little on the back of the front "subframe"), doesn't use oil, starts and stops as well as many (direct injection and ABS help!), is shod with new Michelin tyres etc etc. One thing is for sure, it doesn't hold traffic up - even though it's a diesel and I don't look after it nearly as well as I did my 96 Passat - which had rust here and there! EG: the water I drove through last month was a foot or more deep - and tidal. The car got washed a week later because it was too cold and windy for me to venture out with a hose!!

Our next door neighbour has an X-reg Audi A6 and it can move quite quickly when he wants it to (usually on motorways though!) and there are several cars around here of similar age to that which are in good condition (including a Suzuki Swift!) that few would rate as bangers (unless you count the two Rovers - a 2 and a 4 series - across the road as bangers!). Coincidentally, the Rovers are owned by a couple who are about 70!

Yes, there are bangers about but scrappage took a lot of them - obviously they would be in the 10+ age group when scrapped; however, not allcars sold for scrappage were old bangers!!

Humberjohn - while I fell out with Rover 20 odd years ago (and have owned VW's since then), the 213 deserves to be preserved and, if looked after, should be a useful machine too. I know more than a couple of people who had them and rated them highly - enjoy being "old aged" and enjoy the car - but look after it!!

tractorman wrote:Sorry Martin, while I agree with you about the Honda engine in the 213, I must take issue with your ten year old cars are seen as old bangers comment.

Got to agree with that - we own 5 cars, none of them newer than 11 years old, and two of them will do (and often do!) 0-60 in under 7 seconds and are very clean, straight cars.