1975 Rover 3500 Project
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:11 pm
Two weeks ago, I agreed to buy a slightly sorry-looking 1975 Rover 3500 auto, unseen, which was missing a few bits and pieces. The car was trailered home on Sunday, while I was on holiday in the Lake District, so I've still not had a decent chance to look around it. As mentioned, it was purchased minus bumpers, fuel tank and filler, and exhaust. The door mirrors, and bonnet badge had also been removed, but the mirrors have been sourced, meaning that all it needs is a bonnet badge, on the exterior front! Unfortunately, it has arrived without ignition leads, and a few other bits, but my sincere thanks to Spinakerr (James) for offering me a free set of leads, dizzy cap, and coil! 
The background to the car is that it's one that I remember seeing when I was younger, doing the shows, and at the time, it was rather a flash-looking car! I'd spotted it on ebay for around the £1000 mark, described as having a few issues, but at the time, I couldn't justify it. When I saw it advertised for £400, missing a few bits, I made a cheeky offer, and to my surprise, it was accepted!
8) It would appear that it's had a lot of money spent on it, at some point, as I'm informed that it has fully adjustable suspension all round, and has an SD1 V8 fitted in place of the original unit.
I'm still not absolutely sure what it needs done to it, but I'll be able to form a reasonable opinion of it fairly quickly, when I've had a bit more time to look around it. It's got black boxpleat leather, sundym glass, 3500S badging and steering wheel, and quite a few spares. From a very quick inspection, the front end seems very solid, but there's a bit of filler in the bottom of the D posts, and appears to be quite a bit of filler in the boot area. I'll take the carpets out, and have a look underneath the car, next time I'm home. Rather strangely, the windscreen washer is in the boot.
Ideally I'd like to get it running before I do anything else, and drive it along the driveway where it is stored, to get some idea as to how it's going to go.
It should give me plenty to do over the summer, and I just hope that it doesn't need too much welding.
So, in the meantime, here's a before photo, of how it looked in its heyday, a photo of under the bonnet from the ebay ad (when it still had HT leads) , and a couple of photos from the day of collection.
If anyone knows anything about the car's background, I'd be really interested to hear!
The background to the car is that it's one that I remember seeing when I was younger, doing the shows, and at the time, it was rather a flash-looking car! I'd spotted it on ebay for around the £1000 mark, described as having a few issues, but at the time, I couldn't justify it. When I saw it advertised for £400, missing a few bits, I made a cheeky offer, and to my surprise, it was accepted!
8) It would appear that it's had a lot of money spent on it, at some point, as I'm informed that it has fully adjustable suspension all round, and has an SD1 V8 fitted in place of the original unit. I'm still not absolutely sure what it needs done to it, but I'll be able to form a reasonable opinion of it fairly quickly, when I've had a bit more time to look around it. It's got black boxpleat leather, sundym glass, 3500S badging and steering wheel, and quite a few spares. From a very quick inspection, the front end seems very solid, but there's a bit of filler in the bottom of the D posts, and appears to be quite a bit of filler in the boot area. I'll take the carpets out, and have a look underneath the car, next time I'm home. Rather strangely, the windscreen washer is in the boot.
Ideally I'd like to get it running before I do anything else, and drive it along the driveway where it is stored, to get some idea as to how it's going to go.
It should give me plenty to do over the summer, and I just hope that it doesn't need too much welding.
So, in the meantime, here's a before photo, of how it looked in its heyday, a photo of under the bonnet from the ebay ad (when it still had HT leads) , and a couple of photos from the day of collection.
If anyone knows anything about the car's background, I'd be really interested to hear!
