With the introduction of the P6, Rover's future direction would be changed forever - in one fell swoop, this advanced executive express banished the idea of the 'Auntie' for good.
And like all good success stories, it just got better and better...
Revolution, not evolution
n an era where manufacturers will spend huge amounts of time cultivating their image, ensuring that they do not stray too far from their designated market slots, and that any new products that do represent a step into the unknown, are market researched to the nth degree, it is hard to relate to just how big a leap into the unknown the Rover P6 was for the company back in 1963.
Up to that point in time, The Rover Company was an independent company with the set-in-stone image of the a producer of solid-and-conservative cars for a solid-and-conservative clientele. However, there was a sea change happening within the company, and the very public emergence of the gas turbine cars and the innovative Land-Rover of 1948 demonstrated that Rover were embracing new technology. The transformation of the Rover company would take some time, and sporting prototypes might be good at winning admirers in the press, they did not attract new customers into the fold. The existing range of cars that epitomised British style of the time, the P4 "Auntie Rover" (of 1950-1964) and the more recent P5 luxury saloons (1959-1973), were beginning to look slightly long in the tooth - and even though they were respected by many existing customers, that base of buyers was ageing rapidly.
The market for middle-management cars was also something of a conservative minefield, and dominated by the larger 3-litre opposition, so epitomised by the big Farina saloons. Rover's management team knew that in order to survive in the market, they would need to devise something significantly more interesting, as a new generation of post-war "baby-boomers" was emerging.
The Rover 2000 was the product of a new and highly imaginative engineering team that had joined Rover in the 1950s. Their idea was to produce a new and radical car to fight future battles with - the project was officially born in 1956, although Bashford had been dreaming of designing a baseframe car for sometime prior to that. The design team had all but completed their work on the P5 and turned their attention to the P4 replacement - that is, when they were not working on the T3.
For sure, Rover needed this shot in the arm, and the company positively encouraged radical thinking. The engineers (led by Spen King and Gordon Bashford) had their feet kept in contact with terra firma thanks to the steadying influence of the Wilks brothers, Maurice and Spencer. Had it not been for this intervention, the P6 would undoubtedly been even more revolutionary than it already was (and possibly less saleable). The board ruled out the possibility of using the flat-four and hydropneumatic suspension the engineers wanted, but they agreed to the body and chassis design, that were a big departure from the norm - let alone what the company had done before.
The "shell" of the car was a fabricated inner monococque (or baseframe as it became more widely known as), to which all the outer panels were simply bolted onto. The idea of this was the simple renewal of body parts when required - and unlike other cars produced in Britain at the time, in theory, rust would not be the killer it would be on more conventional designs. If the baseframe was solid, all other rust could be treated as purely superficial. Gordon Bashford also had it very much in mind that this system would allow for relatively easy styling changes... such was the success of the Bache styling, however, that the theory was never put into practice.
This is how the P6 looked in 1958 - David Bache had already decided on the sloping roofline and distinctive window contours. The front end would come under serious scrutiny, not least from upper management. (Picture: "The Rover Story", by Graham Robson).
The suspension was also a big departure for Rover. Up front, the top wishbones act through a cranked linkage onto horizontal coil springs, which were braced against the scuttle - this system was soon called the "round the corner" suspension system. The advantage of this system was that it utilized the stiffest part of the car's structure to absorb suspension loads, but more intriguingly, the design left room to install a gas turbine engine, which the company were still working feverishly on. King himself recalled, "the original concept of the thing was the structure of the car and space for the gas turbine. That idea without necessarily the transverse lower suspension wishbone, I sketched out and then Gordon Bashford, who was a good friend of mine (although he was not working for me then) planned out the thing, I think for both the Rover 2000 and the Turbine car more or less simultaneously."
At the rear, it had sliding tube de Dion suspension, with fixed-length driveshafts, which was a layout mirrored on the T3 gas turbine car. Spen King developed that system alongside Gordon Bashford, so it was familiar terriatory for them both. King stated that this system may have been unconventional, but it had very real advantages: "The P6 was designed specifically to cure that (lift off oversteer), but it certainly gave a good ride and stuck the wheels on the road well, the geometry was good – there was nothing wrong with it at all."
The drivetrain was also a new design, and unique to the car throughout its life - as was the newly designed Heron-head inline four-cylinder engine (objected to by the sales people, who thought it was too noisy) of overhead cam design. The new engine was considered essential for the light-footed new car, as the P4 unit was too pedestrian, whilst the Land-Rover engine was simply unsuitable. A new gearbox was also part of the package - and was built in a new government-backed factory in Cardiff (against the wishes of Rover's management - but that is a different story).
Clearly visible in this MOTOR magazine cutaway, is the unique front suspension design. Other noteworthy features are the baseframe design, overhead cam engine, and DeDion rear suspension.
The Rover P6 was launched in 1963, and alongside the Triumph 2000, which - amazingly - was launched within weeks of the new Rover, it redefined the executive car market. The idea that six-cylinder, 3-litre cars were necessary for status conscious motorists was banished to history, as this new Rover (and Triumph rival) could do everything the traditional rivals could, but using less fuel, taking up less road space whilst doing so. In a word, the two-litre executive car had arrived.
The new Rover caused nothing less than a sensation when it was launched - certainly, it was a huge move away from everything that had preceded it. Apart from being entirely new, with no carry-over parts from any other Rover, it was compact (some would say too small inside), technically advanced, and relatively cheap. Also, compared with previous numbers, it was to be built in huge numbers without a drop-off in build quality. Without doubt, it was a clean sheet design, and a £15million gamble that Rover chose to take in order to guarantee future survival. Overnight, the company's image was lifted from that of a manufacturer of stolid middle-class cars to that of a trendy front running manufacturer.
The sales department had misgivings about the car (they wanted a larger six-cylinder car), but they were in the minority - the P6 was a huge sales success from day one. There were economic factors at play here, as there had been a demand for more economical cars following the Suez Crisis, and although this was by then a memory, at the time of the P6's launch in 1963, it was a recent one - and customers looked to trade down to smaller, more economical cars, but without losing the luxury they had become used to. The Solihull plant was expanded to accommodate the new car, and a 550-per-week run was talked about. The sales people thought that this projection was wildly optimistic, but they were soon proved wrong, and by 1964, the plant was already running at full capacity. That same year, dealers were turning customers away (who no doubt headed to their local Triumph dealer instead), who were unprepared to join the queue.
A 1970 2000TC: the design matured remarkably well throughout its 14-year production run, and did not rely on any facelifts of any substance to remain fresh.
The press also loved it, and MOTOR magazine raved about the 2000 in their first road test in 1963. At launch the car cost £1264 and it was not without rivals at this price - in this context, their comments make interesting reading: "One has the impression that it was planned by engineers, who are enthusiastic drivers and by stylists who put function before decoration. The result is something of an object lesson to others." The King/Bashford chassis also drew the highest praise: "...we would put it in the top three amonst European cars irrespective of price" - whilst the brakes also drew comment, "...amongst the best we have tried..."
It wasn't all plain sailing, however, and the new engine's lack of refinement (when compared to Triumph's silky smooth ohv straight-six) was all-too evident - and this backed up the misgivings that Maurice Wilks had about the new power unit. Performance and economy were reasonable enough, but it became somewhat thrashy at higher revs - but Rover were pretty conscious of this, anyway, and gave the car a high top gear, which resulted in relaxing and peaceful cruising. Performance figures made interesting reading - the 0-60 time recorded by MOTOR was 14.6 seconds, whilst the top speed was 104mph. Acceleration was reasonable, but one must wonder what the top speed of the 2000 would have been if the original front end (see picture of the clay styling model, above) had been used.
Sales were brisk, but Rover developed the car throughout its life in order to remain competitive. 1966 saw the introduction of the 2000TC, which thanks to a useful boost in power, could see 110mph and complete the 0-60 sprint in 11 seconds. Various other small engineering changes were made to the car, including the introduction of improved Girling disc brakes, making the car a nicer proposition to live with. by this time, the car's reputation for safety and strength was gaining momentum, and the improved performance (it was now decisively quicker than the Triumph 2000) was icing on the cake. Sales remained strong...
Take a successful executive car, shoehorn in a lusty V8, and what do you get? The Police's favourite car... pushy young executives liked it, too... and thanks to its introduction, sales of the already successful P6 took off like a rocket
The sumptuous P6 interior was treated to a comprehensive revision in 1970. The traditional instrumentation, incorporating a strip speedometer, was replaced by a more sporting design. Either way, the P6 was still a very luxurious place to sit, resplendent with acres of leather and wood.
In 1968, the Rover 3500 was created by slotting in the legendary ex-Buick V8 under the bonnet - the style remained almost unchanged (only an under-bumper air scoop gave the game away), but the driving experience changed remarkably. The thrashy four gave way to the muscular V8, and although the Rover 3500 would initially only be availlable as an automatic, it still had the ability to cover the ground deceptively quickly. It was not until 1971 that the manual 3500S model was launched (using a strengthened version of the standard P6 gearbox), and thanks to its arrival, sales continued to rise. This really was a remarkable achievement some eight years after its introduction, but proved the rightness of the concept, even if by Spen King's own admission, Rover purchasing the V8 from General Motors was not unanimously supported within the company.
The P6 swansong, the 2200 models, launched in 1974. Very evident in this shot, is the bolder front end treatment that was introduced in the 1970 fecelift.
The last major technical change to the P6 took place in 1974, when the engine was enlarged (by increasing the bore from 85.7mm to 90.5mm) to 2205cc, thus creating the 2200SC and TC models. The emphasis of the revised engine was definitely on mid-range driveability as opposed to outright power, although the new models were marginally quicker than the models they replaced. However, the P6 was not a particularly light car, and even though it was blessed with high overall gearing, it was not especially economical - and this was very much a factor during the early 1970s.
What Car? magazine tested the 2200TC in October 1974 and were still reasonably enthusiastic about it, concluding that, "despite its age the Rover still looks pleasant and dignified. It represents the strong resistance to the change inherant in the British motor industry, but is none the worse for this. It rides and corners well, but still has drawbacks; lack of space for luggage and passengers, and only mediocre performance."
Boot not large enough? Rover offered the answer with this on-bootlid spare wheel conversion. This is now generally regarded as a cult P6 option, and a must-have for retro-freaks.
So, the Rover P6 was a success, and a sustained one at that - and along with the Triumph 2000, it really did lead the class (in the UK, the two cars created it, really). This success can be seen in the total number of P6s built: 327,000 - which really is a tremendous achievement when one considers that the Rover company was a low-volume specialist producer of up-market cars. What the P6 achieved in doing was hit the market at precisely the correct moment - and offer what buyers really wanted. It swept away the profligacy of the establishment, and proved that a smaller, lighter car could offer middle management exactly what it wanted. When the P6B came along a few years later, it also caught the spirit of the moment, by appealing to P6 customers who wanted to move on... it was the original V8 powered executive express.
Whilst not a BL product, it did influence its BL-financed replacement: the SD1 followed the same formula, was created by the same design team and was an improvement in all the areas that the P6 was weak in. Where the two cars differed, sadly, was in the quality of the execution - Spen King put it this way: "What happened was that they decided that it was going to have big volume, so built the ruddy great factory at Solihull and then there was a lot of stuff going on about how many hours it should take to build a motorcar, and the Austin-Morris people came up with the figure that we should build SD1 in 23 hours. So I think largely on the basis of that, there was this invasion of Rover, in the way the Normans invaded England, or how Triumph invaded BMC at one time. So, the car wasn’t made by the Rover people at all, but by the Austin Morris invasion team."
So the P6 was built and designed well - and the quality was right - and success deservedly followed. The Rover SD1 was equally as advanced, and was just what people wanted, but because they left out the quality, its reputation was quickly tarnished. It was a lesson that BL sadly did not learn until it was too late...
The P6 went through its life without being changed in any great detail; it managed this quite happily because the design was so "right". Here is one proposal for the 1972 facelift... (Picture: “A Collector’s Guide – Classic Rovers – 1945 – 1986”, by James Taylor, supplied by Ian Robertson).