Kevin Davis delves back into his magazine collection to get some historical perspective on the Rover 800 Coupé
As he discovers, the advertising agency didn't tell us the whole story...
Above all, it was expensive
FTER months of clinicking the 800
Coupé, Rover decided they had nothing to lose by launching it in March 1992.
This advert, which appeared in the Radio Times and the Readers Digest, boldly
stated ‘it’s everything we know, it’s everything we are’,
leaving people in no doubt that this was the flagship of not only the Rover
800, but of Rover the Company.
Apparently only built to order to coachbuilder’s standards, potential customers visualised men in brown overalls lovingly creating each 800 Coupé just like they did in Rover’s heydays of the 1950s and 1960s. The reality was that it still made its way down the same production line at Cowley as the other Rover 600s and 800s. A TV advert pushed home the quality and aspirational aspects of the Coupé, with craftsmen making cricket bats and men in funny hats duck shooting (is that aspirational?) There was even a man in a brown overall with a file.
Still, there was no doubt that the 800 Coupé was a quality product, despite the fact the list of equipment could be found on most other 800s, though, as Rover put it, the ‘uniquely detailed’ Coupé kept itself distanced from the lesser saloon and hatchback 800s. And with a price tag of £30,770 it was the most expensive Rover ever to go on sale. Rover hoped that its static showroom qualities alone would be enough to have customers writing cheques at the wheel, and on that count alone it ticked all the right boxes; the ambience was worthy of a Bentley. Out on the road it was a different story, though.
The main weakness was the ride and handling and in contemporary road tests it was slated for being so soft and wallowy. Everyone knew that Rover could do better than this, so much for ‘it’s everything we know’. Nevertheless, Rover weren’t bothered; they knew exactly whom they were aiming this car at and they were right. By 1996 Rover had shifted over 4000 Rover 800 Coupés, despite its one size fits all £30k price tag.
As time went on Rover introduced smaller engines and tweaks to the chassis and suspension, plus lower prices to increase its appeal, but by this time most saw it as a motoring dinosaur.
The 800 Coupé was flawed but fabulous, and now that Rover is as long gone as the brown overalls of the craftsmen who built them the Rover 800 Coupé is becoming desirable all over again, even the word 'classic' has been used. And why not?
As far as I know this was the only magazine advert for the 800 Coupé in the UK and is typical of Rover’s magazine advertising of the time, a letterbox sized image and a large white border with text.
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