First drive of the Rover P5 MKII Coupe

This morning I got to drive my new Rover P5 for the first time.    Initially it wasn’t promising as the car would not start.    But it turns out that it was just out of fuel.

The auction people put in a few litres and it started right up.    It seemed to settle down into a smooth idle and it wasn’t smoking when given a few revs.     The mechanic who had worked for the old Dr said that the car was previously registered and the engine and gearbox seemed in good health, although the car was not driven a whole lot.

I secured an unregistered vehicle permit and took to the streets.    The car spluttered and wouldn’t go up and down hills.   But 10l of fresh fuel solved that and once I turned it off ‘reserve’ fuel it ran quite well.     I had a 30 minute drive to my relatives house in Canberra and despite the 30 degree heat the car never ventured out of the normal zone on the temperature gauge.  The car is a Rover P5 MKII Coupe, so it has the weslake head with the DG gearbox.   The unregistered vehicle permit was $25 for each day, and I also took out a refundable 3rd party property damage insurance polcy.

The main thing I am concerned about is the age of the radiator hose so I plan on buying some generic hose to take in the car on the drive back to Sydney.   I was pleasantly surprised with this car, especially the engine and gearbox.