I have said before that one of my roles in the CC Skunk Works is to watch for any Rover 3500 (or other SD1) that passes by, catch and record it, and in this event and many others the CC Cohort has again proved to be a good source. Not one, but two Rover 3500s, one pretty much as shipped from Solihull, and one obviously not.
We should investigate.
First, a quick refresher. The 3500 (known as the SD1 from BL Specialist Division Project 1) was introduced in in the UK in summer 1976, as a replacement for the Rover P6 2000/2200/3500 and Triumph 2000/2500 ranges. Striking and successful styling covered a conventional car, with MacPherson struts and a live rear axle. Power came from the Rover, ex-Buick 3.5 litre V8, and 6 cylinder 2300 and 2600 and 4 cylinder 2000 versions were added as time went by.
This was perhaps BL’s high spot – a striking, appealing car that won technical acclaim for being both conventional but more than competent, and innovative with the hatchback and modern interior. Things looked good – early demand was very strong and it was European Car of the Year in 1977.
After a four year wait. in 1980, it came to North America, with just the V8 option, and was fitted with fuel injection, sealed beam headlights, big bumpers and plenty of smog control equipment. Power went from 155bhp to 133bhp at 5100rpm, and performance was noticeably down.
Sadly, British Leyland quality had not improved during this waiting time. Let’s just say only 1200 were sold in a year and a half, the Rover brand never went back to North America and you won’t be seeing many around now.
So, William Oliver has done well to spot two, somewhere in California.
The blue car looks to be pretty well stock, and in a period if not very attractive colour. The sealed beams, the big bumpers and allow wheels are all there. You can tell that this car is being cared for, and is quite tempting to those of us who have been described as “true believers”.
The red car, however, clearly has a bit of history. Yes, cared for, but clearly lowered, repainted and fitted with wide wheels, and I suspect there’s something happening in the engine bay. Six exhaust pipes doesn’t sound right for a V8 to me.
William, if you’re reading this, do you know the history of this car? Please let us know – I need to make an entry in the CC Book of SD1 Record.
I only saw these as a shipping crate to bring the awesome ex-Buick gem of an engine back to the States
That was actually funny r&dman. I’ve always loved the sd1 and thought it looked like an exotic sedan I might be an exception. I still love it to this day.
Palm Springs – Where good taste goes to die. The whitewalls on the blue car are atrocious. The red car is interesting being a survivor while being fairly heavily modified from how it left the factory. What are those, Gotti wheels with old style P7 Cinturatos? Removing the headrests is a curious choice as well.
The owner realized early, removing the headrests made it far easier to drive and headbang while listening to Motorhead.
Why did it take European automakers so long to adopt sealed-beam square headlights? They had been on the market since 1975, there was no reason for this car to have round ones even with the sealed-beam requirement.
There are perfectly valid reasons:
The small round ones are 146 mm diameter, and the small rectangulars are 165 mm wide × 100 mm tall. The useless mini 92 × 150 mm sealed beams didn’t exist until 1986. The pathetic one-small-rectangular-per-side system didn’t exist until 1987, and would have looked utterly stupid on the Rover anyway. So it would have taken two 165 x 100 rectangular headlamps, which would not have fit on each side of the Rover without much more extensive disfigurement, but two round ones obviously did.
We can iterate the exercise, too; consider the Mercedes 107 cars. A strong argument can be made that these should have received the large rectangular/1-per-side sealed beams when those became legal in 1976, but they didn’t; some like, some hate, and some are indifferent about the quad round headlamps on the US model, but my brain refuses to process the idea of quad rectangulars on that car; some things are just too horrific to get past the mind’s self-preservation filters.
Other similar ideas, though, sneak past those gates even though I wish they wouldn’t.
Look at ’79 versus ’81 U.S-model Audis. Personal taste, obviously, but I don’t see the rectangulars looking much better than the rounds or vice versa.
And aside from any and all styling discussion, the small rectangular sealed beams gave considerably cruddier performance than the small rounds, so there’s that.
(Link rot has taken out two of the three links behind “Other similar ideas”, so I’ll replace them here and here)
Ew! I had managed to forget that these existed. Ugh.
I think the design was more conscious than it appears, the SD1 was channeling the Ferrari 365GTB/4 very heavily, and while the execution of these US spec housings leaves a lot to be desired, the shape does resemble the Daytona’s pop-op headlight buckets, and simultaneously nods at the original design with round quads behind the plexiglass
The better question is why did it take the US so long to embrace European style integrated headlights, so we wouldn’t be foisted upon these federalized abominations on this and so many other imports at the time(Mercedes W116 is almost as bad IMO)
There were very good, valid, and appropriate reasons behind the sealed-beam mandate. I hope to write about them here on CC one day.
I don’t dispute that, but to say European manufacturers were behind on using square sealed beams when the industry ultimately went the European direction in the long run is a self explanatory statement. Why would they bother using square sealed beams when they were 10 years ahead of what the US would ultimately allow? And right or wrong, the mandate made a lot of attractive European cars very ugly for US consumption.
In the 40s and 50s, yes. Once quartz halogens came out in the 1960s. No. Automotive headlights were one area where the USA really lagged behind Europe.
Chris, the matter is a whole lot more complicated than “quartz halogen good, sealed beam bad”. There’ll be an article about it.
I can only imagine how badly 1970’s Rover popup headlights would have worked or more accurately not worked.
The original buyers wanted a British car in the worst way, didn’t they?
Some of them surely must have. Others just wanted to advertise how much money they could piss away buying and repairing boutique vehicles nobody else had. I had a classmate in grade school at that time whose mother had one of these Rovers for that reason. How do I know it was for that reason? Because that’s also why they bought the house they bought, in the neighbourhood they picked. It’s why that classmate had the clothes and accessories she did. That family was all about the conspicuous consumption fashionable at the time.
(To point out the ambiguity in the phrase “a British car in the worst way” would be a bit of a cheap shot, so I’ll refrain.
…oops.)
Car of the year?
For 1977 – that sounds about right.
What a crappy year.
Bah, humbug, Mr Dude.
Live axle and pushrods and 17 mpg in the V8 was hardly the edge of ’77 cutting, sure, and yes ofcourse, the actual product was quite crapulous in service due to the build.
But 100 mph cruising, lotsa room, this-minute looks (out and in), really sweet handling (when the road’s smooth enough), a low price and (theoretically) low service costs? Not so much a crappy year as a (then) excellent candidate.
Granted, hardly a ’72 Mercedes W116-standard thing, a car still not miles off modern-modern, but not priced so either. In short, a perfectly valid choice for the times and price. Great car? Not remotely. Utterly competitive with other excellent but otherwise flawed ’77 cars, absolutely. Any car that had the Peugeot 604 as a competitor was not possibly a crap year. (Unlike the Pug, a glorious fest of comfort and snarly V6 roar – and no go, and no reliability at all). An Audi 100 was hardly a dud – as a design – either.
All of which said, I do pity the poor bastards who shelled out their hard-earned for one on the basis of the 3500’s award at the time.
Unfortunately I don’t know anything more specific about either of these. As Jim Klein notes they were both in Palm Springs; In fact I saw them less than ten minutes apart from each other on the way out of town. The blue one was in in a restaurant parking lot with a equally clean Series 2 Jag XJ parked nearby, and the red one was on its own. Sadly no owners about to query. I too would be really curious to hear about the red one, if only to ask what the thinking was behind the six exhaust pipes?!
what the thinking was behind the six exhaust pipes?!
The more the better. 🙂
They are just tips, the classic Monza units appropriate when the car was relatively new. Now you can only get singles and doubles but I seem to remember triples being available back in the day. Why? Because more is better.
The inner of the three exhaust tips on each side appears to be a dummy. Note how the others are stained with exhaust but the inner ones are not.
I agree, so just the standard double tip with a single tacked on because more is better. Though I still think they made triples back in the day, when V-6 engines were on the rise.
Thanks for posting them William!
The blue car is an ‘unattractive colour ?’ Our eyes must work differently….
The ice blue color is terrific, very pretty and quite striking in a world of look-alike grey-scale car colors.
I also love this blue. (Separate topic, but the white walls aren’t particularly objectionable to me, either.)
Ditto.
Ditto ditto, and don’t really mind the whitewalls here either.
More attractive than the similar looking Pontiac Phoenix. The five door X cars looking very bland in comparison. Pontiac should have offered a more aggressive exterior design package similar to the red car. The Phoenix ‘SJ’ looked like 1978 era ‘sporty’.
Is it just me, or does the rear three-quarter view remind anyone else of the second-generation Datsun 200SX / Nissan Silvia hatchback, a little bit?
I didn’t see that, probably because I can’t recall what the 200SX looked like. What it reminds me of from pretty much every angle is a second generation Toyota Celica.
With the ribbed C-pillar I’m seeing it, too.
Think it goes the other way Joe? 200SX reminds me of the SD1!
As do the Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier/J car 5 door hatch and the Citation
Roger, right you are! Chronology is important.
The blue was called “moonraker blue”, perhaps a reference to James Bond. Too bad NA didn’t get the later Vitesse model.
No, I think it is called Azure Blue, or at least a similar colour was so-called on other BL models of the era such as Montegos and Maestros. Moonraker Blue was quite a bit darker
This ins Moonraker blue
It is amazing how the US spec headlights and bumpers totally foul the otherwise competent design on these cars. The sealed beams make it look like a Chevy Monza, but with round rather than square lamps.
Agree – the ‘rest of the world’ model looks miles better and is still one of my favourite cars to this day. Other than the quality issues and perhaps pricing, the looks alone on the US spec model, especially that headlight treatment which would have killed the aerodynamics as well, would have been a deal breaker.
I finally found this 3500 (US-spec, but with Euro-spec headlights) last year after 10 years of searching for one: it was always near the very top of my bucket list, and ranks as one of my most satisfying finds ever. To see two in ten minutes is astounding: as Roger noted, there were only around 1200 ever sold, and there can’t be more than a hundred or so left.
I’ve seen that car! It was in the parking lot of my job last year and remains the only SD1 I’ve ever seen in person. I was on break and sadly didn’t get to photograph the interior.
Small world! When I took the photos in August, it had clearly been sitting in the same spot for at least a few months: the tires were full of air, but the hedge behind it was starting to creep around the rear. But it passed smog in November, so I’m assuming it’s back on the road. Or at least, it moved from that spot sometime between August and now.
Here’s a picture of the interior on the same car, if you were still curious.
There were lots of these Rovers around not very long ago still in regular use the cars are still here but they are no longer daily drivers could be a parts shortage (unlikely) or fuel cost who knows, Ive never seen these horrible round lights on one or the park bench bumpers it really does ruin he design, if these go wrong or you bend one being too clever in the twisties the only supply of genuine new panels and parts on this planet is right here in Aotearoa so SD1s are likely to be a feature here for a very long time to come, RJR do export so owners in far away places can keep their Rovers barking when shipping gets underway again.
There are I think two or three in a grass compound just down the road from me amongst the Jags and Jeeps the guy has accumulated.
Of the two I’d pick the red one. The condition and originality of the blue one is certainly impressive, but I can’t enjoy old cars that are that perfect, and really I feel like in my hands it would end up like the red one. My biggest peeve with the SD1 is the 4×4 like ride height, which really betrays its Ferrari inspired design. The headlight buckets look better bodycolored rather than chrome (lesser of two evils!) and the full amber indicators look better than the clear ones.
I don’t understand why people take out the headrests, not only from the safety and comfort but looks, I think seats look better with high backs or headrests.
but clearly lowered
Not to my eyes. The wheels and tires are a bit bigger than stock, but it’s clearly not been lowered.
A to the exhaust, the owner obviously likes lots of outlets. Maybe they got a volume deal on them. I’d bet it’s still got the Rover V8.
As bad as the build quality was on the 3500, what was the coefficient of inequality of build for a much nicer looking / styled P5B?
I have no numbers, but it is important to consider that they were very different cars. The P5B was a low volume, traditionally trimmed wood and leather tank mre akin to a Jaguar (or even a British Mercedes?)compared with the SD1’s higher volume, Ford Granada competitor role.
I’m not defending the build quality on the SD 1 – it was shocking especially the early cars
Nicer looking would be subjective. To me…a kid of the 80’s…the sd1 is much better looking.
Hotrodding a car that was advertised as Safety First seems out of place to me. But then a lot of ’56 Fords got rodded, so my feeling is obviously wrong.
With the whitewall tires, late 70s GM-like turbine wheels, and medium metallic blue paint, the owner managed to give their 3500 SD1, a Pontiac Sunbird feel. 🙂
A 3500 lived in my neighbourhood in NZ in the mid 80s. Very nice in red. Later in that decade another family in the area purchased a Rover Sterling but replaced it with a Toyota Cressida after 2 or 3 years.
My 1987 Austin Rover catalogue [UK market] includes the SD1 in 2300/2600 offerings, after many pages detailing the new 800 series. It referred to ‘traditional styling’ and ‘classic appeal’ which is not really how the SD1 was presented earlier in its life.
By 1986/7 when the 800 came out, the series 2 SD1 was looking a bit dated. the heavy handed facelift didn’t really help.
I knew this thing was a goner in the US when during my test drive the entire right half of the dash fell onto the feet of the sales dude, who just kind of shook his head like this has happened before.
But I heard they are famous for the way their doors “stay on”.
Only when they are in top gear, I hear.
Or was that “on”?
I always thought this was a different version of Reliant Scimitar (and that all Brit cars were part of British Leyland). But of course can’t be. And 133 HP is meagerness by definition.
Hi, these were very different and entirely separate beasts. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1978-reliant-scimitar-gte-princess-anne-had-one-you-know-and-another-and-another/
I love the way things work here – every car seems to have that one, ardent, passionate fan who does his best to make the rest of us appreciate it. Thank you Mr. Carr for being “that guy” with the SD-1.
My, Rover, what a large chin you have!
Come to that, my, what starey and multiple little eyes you have!
Say, Rover, before you eat up my wallet, you American, by any chance?
The bumpers that arrive in the village 10 seconds before the car does still ruin the Daytona party somewhat, but I have to admit, the four eyes aren’t greatly odder than those weirdo recessed oblongs BL first used: applied with a bit less plastic trowel, there’s even an argument to say it isn’t worse.
That argument, ofcourse, would only connect 1200 people, many of whom must themselves have gone the way of the sealed beam, probably leaving the point moot.
These two are a helluva find, against the odds.
Mr SD One (aka Mr Carr), was the US version – just to complete the Federalising insults to the aesthetic – raised a bit? (The wheelgap looks too big on the blue one to me).
Brilliant design and engineering ruined by shoddy workmanship. Shameful.
LOL, Roger Carr, now I know what I can be classified as…”A True Believer”! I have always loved these cars since I was first introduced to them as a diecast Corgi model in the late 1970s. To me, the styling was so clean, functional, and attractive that it represented modern Britain and what it was capable of doing. That faith proved to hold since after seeing what the interior looks like, and the V8 engine. I must have seen advertisements for the car here in the US because I was aware that they were available here in 1980, but never saw one here….only one, and that was in Canada on the Gardner Expressway Westbound in downtown Toronto (stuck in gridlock rush hour traffic). It was a school trip, and as that canary yellow car crept along slowly alongside our school bus, I was able to peer down on it and get a good look for a little bit until the traffic jam began to ease. I have never seen one since, even at a car show, and haven’t visited Britain at a time when these would have been in common use. To see the blue US-spec in such pristine condition is like an apparition. I suspect that any of those 1,200 imports that finally sold during that “extended model year” are on the West Coast of the USA, so somehow properly stored in Winters in the Northeast. Wow, I just love these cars!!!!! Knowing that other enthusiast “true believers” are around gives me the type of reassurance of finding another human being on a deserted planet.