Rover parts car – my old P5

My old Rover P5 Coupe is being stripped for parts.   This is not a bad thing as it is ensuring that three more Rover P5 Coupe restorations can be completed and three cars put back on the road.    I purchased the car from the Flynn collection auction for only $230.  Nevertheless, the car managed to drive from Canberra back to Sydney.   The drive train was ok, but the sills were like swiss cheese and the floors were not great either.   The interior was both badly sun and water damaged too

The new owner is a friend of mine who is restoring the three Rover P5 cars.   A Rover parts car will really help along these restorations.   Prior to this car he also parted out a P5 Saloon.

He is of the firm view that the P5 3 liter is the far superior car to the v8 powered P5B.   The main reasons he quotes for this are:

• The cars were far better built by the Rover Company as compared to British Leyland.
• The Borg Warner 35 gearbox was not adequate for the weight of the vehicle.
• The front suspension was not updated for the much lighter Aluminium v8 giving a choppy ride.

He is a fan of the Rover v8 in the 3500S P6 model, but less so in the P5.

I’ve stopped by the workshop a couple of times since selling the car to see the progress of the P5 restoration.   As the restorations progress, my old car is further stripped for valuable parts.   I stopped by today and helped remove two of the window regulators.

The first photo below shows the car in late 2017, just after I sold it.

I went back in September 2018 and the stripping process had started with some of the front of the car removed, as well as work done on the interior to remove pieces such as the instrument cluster, door cards etc.

Today a lot more progress had been made, with the entire interior gutted, one of the window regulator removed, back wheels and many more.

Next step will be to remove the DG gearbox.     It will not be required for the restorations as they are all Manual/Overdrive, so will be put up for sale.   The DG is an interesting unit.  It’s a big strong gearbox, of American design.  It is a two speed box, with a locking torque converter to give three effective ratios.   A locking torque converter was quite advanced for the time, with many other manufacturers not introducing this until the 90s or 2000s.

I expect in a couple of months all usable bits will be harvested and the shell will be sold for scrap metal.  The should coincide with the return to the road for at least one of the P5 coupes.