[ROVERNET - UK] P6 Wire Wheels - A (long) Australian Story
Drew Egginton
drew at pitstop.net.au
Wed Jul 12 07:09:24 BST 2006
I can confirm that a few TCs with wire wheels did come to Australia with
wire wheels.
My father has pretty much always been a Rover man and owned what was
marketed here as a 2000TC "Special Features". He used to know the
salesman John Julian at Faulls (the West Aust agents) quite well, John
even supplying a white P5 Coupé as a wedding car to go with my father's
P5 Saloon in January 1968. Interestingly, Dad bought his P5 from my
Mum's uncle before he had met her!
Anyway, Dad traded his P5 in when the salesman advised him a special,
near-new P6 was coming up for sale. He told Dad that there were only
three of these in WA which differed from the standard car in that they
had wire wheels, the faux-wood steering wheel and real wood gearknob,
thin stainless rubbing strips along the side of the car and in the case
of his white example, blue flashes of paint behind the TC badges, blue
painted rear roof pillar panels and "Buffalo" leather upholstery in a
dark chocolate brown colour. I'm pretty sure the white/bluecolour
combination was offered on NADA cars as I'm sure I saw it in a Road &
Track road test or one of my brochures.
During the time he owned the car, registered "UXB-271" he was a teacher
stationed down at Albany on the south coast of WA, some 250 miles south
of the capital, Perth. My folks used to come up to Perth for the weekend
every fortnight and in the time (1968-1970) they owned the car it never
let them down.
My impending birth (April 1970) and with it the need to carry an extra
bassinet (who'd heard of child seats?) forced them to sell the P6 for a
bigger car and so it was back to a P5, a 1964 Coupé "UNT-731". We're not
totally sure what happened to UXB, although we believe it was later
wrecked in Geraldton (250-odd miles north of Perth) and another one of
the specials was parted out after being crashed in Perth in the
mid-1970s. Later, in the early 1990s a young member joined the local
club with a nice dark green "Special Features" mock-up (it had an SC
chassis number) and a year or so later he managed to also buy a local
red TC with wire wheels in Perth which had been reupholstered with
houndstooth cloth! I remember him having lots of troubles with splines
and flat tyres, but he was onlu about 18 years of age!
Subsequently, I believe a brilliant local restorer (and WAROC member)
still has a set of wire wheels for a rainy day, one member has a set
which he was using on a 1969 3500 until quite recently, a former WAROC
president (now living in California) has a local 1972 3500 with wires.
Finally, the foundation WAROC president contacted me out of the blue a
few weeks back with another red TC with wires! An impecunious owner
decided to sell it in Kalgoorlie, WA c.1986 after breaking the windsreen
after crossing the Nullabor (a very long, cross-country Australian
drive). It quickly changed hands again and has been sitting in a shed
for 20 years. How many sets is that?
Rove On!
Andrew Egginton
WAROC
PS - (if anyone has made it this far!) Dad traded UNT-731 at Faulls in
September 1975 on a 1970 3500 which my parents still own. It ended up
with a elderly gentleman and I saw it from time to time over the years.
I kept in contact and was offered first refusal, but late last year when
the owner was "retired" to an aged-care facility the family gave the car
to his mechanic to dispose of. A club member went and saw it and
purchased it as a parts car for his P5B and it wasn't until a former
Faulls mechanic (another former WAROC president!!) told me about car
that I re-discovered it. Timing was everything as the new owner of this
grand old lady (now showing the parking scars from a 90 year old and
plenty of rust) was in the process of deciding whether to pay the
registration or not. Luckily he was happy to sell and it's now mine!
I've done about 500 trouble-free miles since February in the first car I
ever travelled in.
Dirk Burrowes wrote:
>I am glad to hear that someone else likes the wire wheels Rover released for
>only 2 years 67 and 68 as an upgrade to the steel wheel option in the UK.
>As far as I know the option was only available in the UK so none where
>exported to the US or Down under. I guess they where not that popular
>
>I purchased a set last year and hope to refurbish them and install them on
>my 68 TC they are very cool.
>
>To follow up on the freewheel discussion I can't wait to try one out it I
>guess it is like a roller coaster ride just with consequences.
>
>Dirk
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: rovernet-bounces at lyris.ccdata.com
>[mailto:rovernet-bounces at lyris.ccdata.com] On Behalf Of
>rovernet-request at lyris.ccdata.com
>Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 6:25 PM
>To: rovernet at lyris.ccdata.com
>Subject: rovernet Digest, Vol 44, Issue 31
>
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>[ROVERNET-UK]
>
>Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: 1951 Rover P4 Cyclops (Hank and Sally Manwell)
> 2. Re: SD1 and Jensen wheels (sspmilr at netzero.net)
> 3. Re: NADA TC (Glen Wilson)
> 4. Re: Re: NADA TC (Jim Cumberland)
> 5. Re: sign off (Eric Russell)
> 6. Re: Re: NADA TC (Eric Russell)
> 7. RE: Re: NADA TC (Paul Smith)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:08:19 -0400
>From: "Hank and Sally Manwell" <hdmanwell at alumni.bates.edu>
>Subject: Re: [ROVERNET - UK] 1951 Rover P4 Cyclops
>To: <rovernet at lyris.ccdata.com>
>Message-ID: <003e01c6a4f3$7cb12470$d58a0fce at c6n7b7>
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=response
>
>Yes, the freewheel has some scary features - and an added one for absent
>minded people (like me). I remember seeing a brand new SAAB w/freewheel
>that had been out on a test drive from the dealer in Salida, Colorado. It
>was driven to the top of Monarch Pass, 11,000 or so feet, and parked at the
>observation center - and left in gear. As soon as the driver walked away
>from it, it rolled off the edge and found a tree a few hundred feet down the
>
>mountain and hit dead center condensing the grill into the dashboard.
>
>With that memory I was never willing to use the freewheel either in my SAAB
>or the various Freewheeling Rovers we had. I ran down the street as fast as
>
>I could once to catch my Father's Rover 90 after my wife left it only in
>gear at the curb in front of the house.
>
>We do have a lot of P4 parts around here in Central New York including doors
>
>with trim (same as cyclops, I think) and hoods (which I think are somewhat
>different in the front than 1952 and later cars.
>
>And we've got a solid 1960 100 project car that's up for grabs.
>
>Hank
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "S Manwell" <s_manwell at alum.swarthmore.edu>
>To: "Steve Smith" <ltsmiths at peoplepc.com>; <rovernet at lyris.ccdata.com>
>Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 11:10 PM
>Subject: Re: [ROVERNET - UK] 1951 Rover P4 Cyclops
>
>
>
>
>>Steve,
>>
>>One feature of the freewheel is quite "memorable" to me...
>>
>>I found myself headed down a long hill in the 1953 P4 75 that I had over
>>20 years ago with freewheel engaged and a stop sign and crossroad at the
>>bottom of the hill. The drum brakes had faded by the bottom of hill and
>>it was fortunate that the road I was on merged into the road at the bottom
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>(rather than meeting at right angles) and that there wasn't much traffic
>>around.
>>
>>The moral of the story is that the same feature that lets the car coast
>>downhill with the engine at idle also gives no engine braking on a steep
>>downhill. In the wrong circumstances its dangerous, but the clutchless up
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>shifts are fun and its economical and quieter to let the engine rev's die
>>down to idle on a long drive with gentle downhill stretches along the way.
>>Similarly, its not a good idea to leave a Rover parked in freewheel with
>>its nose aimed downhill -- my father has a story related to this.
>>
>>There are only one or two restored Cyclops' (what's the plural?) in North
>>America, but its hard to say what the restored value would be. There are
>>probably at least another five to ten un-restored Cyclops in North America
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>including a pretty complete parts car in Maine. New parts are readily
>>available from England and there are a few collections of used early P4
>>parts on this side of the Atlantic too. I have some mid '50's parts and
>>some are useable on early '50's cars.
>>James Taylor's book "Classic Rovers 1945 - 1986" says that 2,542 LHD
>>export P4's were made in 1951 and does not show separate export numbers
>>for 1950. I don't know what proportion would have come to the US market;
>>maybe one of the P4 books has more specific info.
>>
>>--Steve
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:23:25 GMT
>From: "sspmilr at netzero.net" <sspmilr at netzero.net>
>Subject: Re: [ROVERNET - UK] SD1 and Jensen wheels
>To: rovernet at lyris.ccdata.com
>Message-ID: <20060711.072427.19107.394030 at webmail50.lax.untd.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain
>
>Hi Rudiger:
>
>Very enjoyable Rover site!
>
>Thank you,
>
>Peter Miller
>Arlington, Wa.
>USA
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:49:48 -0400
>From: Glen Wilson <glenwilson at cavtel.net>
>Subject: [ROVERNET - UK] Re: NADA TC
>To: rovernet at lyris.ccdata.com
>Message-ID: <200607111049.49000.glenwilson at cavtel.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>On Tuesday 11 July 2006 09:57, David Walker wrote:
>
>
>>Glen,thanks for that.Sorry,I,ve been misled,the three or so NADA cars down
>>here all have them so it helped my assumption.I ,personally prefer them to
>>the wire wheel option,(I think that's an age thing.)I had never seen a
>>picture of the magstar wheel ,are there many of those about?And while I,m
>>asking how many P6s are left in North America? Cheers,David.
>>
>>
>
>David,
>
>Those rostyles do look nice on the car. There was actually an NADA TC for
>sale
>by a towing company in California a couple of months ago that had the
>Magstar
>wheels on it for about $900. Magstar wheels are pretty rare over here,
>although Steve Manwell has six complete sets of these in his garage still in
>
>the original Rover packaging. You can contact him at 555-555-5555 any time,
>day or night. (ONLY JOKING...)
>
>I have never seen a P6 in the States with wire wheels, but there might be
>one
>or two. I'm not aware that they were offered as an option over here.
>
>I have no accurate statistic for the number of P6s left in the USA, but
>there
>really are quite a number of them. Most people in the USA have never heard
>of
>the Rover Company and the saloons or sedans they sold here. People do know
>of
>the Land Rover brand but no one ever associates anything with it but 4WD
>vehicles. Even many of your typical British car enthusiasts who own Triumphs
>
>and MGs seem to have no idea what a Rover is.
>
>Rover never made it big in the USA, but they seem to have sold a small
>number
>pretty consistently over the years. Personally, I am always amazed at how
>many still survive since they are no well known or sought after over here.
>In
>spite of this, a few more cars rise out of obscurity every month. Almost all
>
>of them are P6s, and most are in need of extensive restoration, but they are
>
>always popping up. Over the years, people in the USA who appreciate Rovers
>have tended to own several of them at one time and kept them in garages and
>barns with the best intentions of restoring them. When you get word of one
>P6, there are often 3-5 of them at the site. My general impression is that
>Rovers are generally likeable cars and they are just interesting enough that
>
>people can't bear to junk them even if it isn't economical to restore them.
>
>Of course, there are also quite a number of really nice Rovers in the USA as
>
>you can tell from reading the Rovernet.
>
>Glen
>
>
>
>
>>>On Tuesday 11 July 2006 07:47, David Walker wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> the P6,Rostyle equipped P6s(a rare option outside N.A.D.A. but
>>>>compulsory on TCs in it)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>David,
>>>
>>>Many (probably most) TC's in the USA were bought with the plain steel
>>>
>>>
>>wheels
>>
>>
>>
>>>and wheel covers. The fancy wheels were an option. I know this from
>>>experience with TCs over here, but it's also clear in the sales brochure
>>>
>>>
>>and
>>
>>
>>
>>>in Taylor's book (p. 84).
>>>
>>>I've got scans of the brochure at
>>>http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/rovercar/nadatc/nada.htm
>>>
>>>Glen
>>>
>>>--
>>>Glen Wilson
>>>http://stores.ebay.com/EasyAuctionServicesPA
>>>A bit of this, a bit of that...
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>rovernet mailing list
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>>>
>>>
>>instructions:
>>
>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>
>
>
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