On 1st March 2018, I ventured out with my extremely patient lady wife to the snowy wilds of Hinchley Wood, near Esher, where I picked up this 1996 Rover 416 SLI automatic. The owner and his wife had had it from new, and after 22 years of faithful service, he had given up driving.
With a full service history, garaged all its life and having had just one owner from new, it seemed to be a snip at just £255 having won the auction on Ebay. Having owned three other examples of Longbridge's finest products, it certainly felt comfortable slipping into the driver's seat (which will need a fabric repair) and cranking the 1.6 litre Honda D-series engine into life.
Once we had got the paperwork, taxed the car and said goodbye to the previous owner and his son, I ventured out onto the slightly treacherous Surrey roads, made even more amusing by the fact that the car had two bald front tyres and a brake pedal softer than an armchair. Gingerly making my way back to our flat behind my lady wife in the far more modern MG 3 (eighteen years more modern to be exact), I then set off to SE Tyres in Epsom to get some new rubber.
Having had the brakes at least marginally improved by having them bled and some of the fluid replaced, and having procured two new tyres (safety first), I then was able to more thoroughly examine the driving habits of my latest purchase.... With nice steering, a comfortable ride, a smooth automatic gearbox and a reasonably powerful engine, I can see why the previous owner had grown fond of her. Opening up the bonnet, I was amazed at the condition of the Honda D-series motor. It is by far the cleanest Rover engine I have ever seen (and that is saying something, considering I have owned three of them).
She needed a good valet, has a dent in the wing and several small rust patches, but she sailed through the MOT the next week. Of course, I have to try not to get too sentimental about old Rovers ( I have comprehensively failed at this on at least two previous occasions), but she was genuinely a lovely old car. The owner even left me the original roof rails (genuine Rover parts), a warning triangle and a set of jump leads (I didn't need to use them), a sign of duty, care and attention.
What do we do with low mileage cars with full service history and an amazingly low number of owners? We take them drag racing at Santa Pod, of course! More about this in a future instalment.
