It's our wedding anniversary today, 37 years ago we tied the knot...

Was just sat here thinking, blimey in 1986.....

I had a Blue V8 Rover, it was a 1983 3500 SD1 Vanden Plas

(Dodgy picture from our wedding video)





Scroll forward 37 years and I still have a

Blue Rover V8

Click image to enlarge

Happy Anniversary Haylands!

What's the chances?....... Better than average!

I've had to blur out the 'previous model' adorning the front of the Rover, but I was driving a silver SD1 in 1985 and I'm still driving a silver (grey) Rover today, thirty-eight years later.

Although my wife isn't the blurry one, she was actually in that car as a teenager in 1986.



And she's still in the 'silver' Rover now, thirty-seven years on!

Congrats Pete but just wanted to point out that you get less for murder

congrats Pete, i'm in my 44th year sentence ..[happily of course]


re sdi's, i bought one back in the day for £1k with 125000 on the clock...got hold of a whole speedo binnacle with 70000 on it , fitted that and sold for £1500....i think you were allowed to do that in them days.  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

That one had a grizzly end...

A mates tow car had broken down so I offered to tow his race car to Silverstone, his mechanic hitched it up but put the jockey wheel the wrong way round and prevented the overrun brakes from working...

It was fine on normal driving, the SD1's brakes worked fine but when some kind person overtook us, pulled in front and then realised they wanted to turn left and jumped on the brakes I locked up all four wheels on the Rover and the trailer just pushed us down the road, we pulled up to find that the towbar had been ripped off and the trailer hitch had smashed through the rear panel and ended up in the boot...!!!

I then bought a Mk2 SD1 with the nicer trim...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

37 years ago…I was being driven around Bournemouth in a red SD1, with red velour. 3.5 V8 manual. Mums car. Said she never got it out of 3rd… She loved it. I was four years old.

6 months into my sentence….we got hitched December 27th, with Westie as our wedding chariot  2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Baltic Blue, Jet interior
1997 P38 2.5 DSE auto & 1998 P38 2.5 DT Manual
1988 Vogue 3.5 EFI - Manual, gone.
2004 Volvo C70 2.0T convertible, had since new.
2007 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Roadster/Coupé, had since new.
2024 Mini Cooper S cabrio, JCW kit, 2.0, DCT auto

I had numerous SD1’s in the eighties. Even converted a blown engine 2600 to v8 as 2600. 6 cylinder Engines were expensive as they often suffered dry camshafts from poor oil and snapped the timing belt… even had a v8-S. (manual version with nicer trim) which was a different car to the auto. Proper quick…. But still handled like a wardrobe being wheeled on a skateboard around corners. They had their issues but were one of the better looking cars from the 70’s…. just badly built. I prefer the look of the early models now….. there is a guy on YouTube that home restores a few SD1’s (‘nitro silver’). He’s doing a 2400 turbo diesel one at present but has a v8-s next.
I bought a 2000 4 cylinder one that was so cheap…. But it pinked a lot with the old princess engine, and once I drove it home got out of the car and it was ‘over running’ from carbonised pistons… went indoors got a coat.. put it on, and got back in car… and it was still over-running! Finally going out with a horse ‘neigh’… hilarious. Girlfriend wasn’t impressed! On the model group, I thought it was a good car, till I bought a bmw 1970’s seven series, and it was then a dinosaur.

Well I couldn't afford a Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona so an SD1 was the next best and it was designed to be similar to it... We used 2600 autos at work... rather pedestrian....!!


 Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

This is a bit weird really.

When I got married in 2008, my wife's wedding car was a V8 Jaguar.

But... my sister drove the bridesmaids in her L322 TD6. I drove my parents in my Dad's P38 4.6. On my anniversary last month I also thought '15 years ago I was driving around in a RR, and today I'm driving a RR again'. 2012 (L322) 4.4TDV8 Vogue SE, RSE, Fuji White over Arabica.
Previous V8s: BMW 645Ci, P38 4.6, P38 4.0, Merc CL500
Previous others: Honda x1, Volvo x7, Rover x6, BMW x6, Ford x1, Mercedes x2, Skoda x3, VW x2, Renault x2, Citroen x1, Mazda x3, Nissan x1, Audi x3, Kia x1, Fiat x4, Subaru x3, Austin x2, Triumph x2, Jeep x2, Hyundai x2, Lexus x1, Mitsubishi x1, Saab x2... and some others I've forgotten!

I think folks will pine for one once they have had one…. And so will come back to their senses and buy another..

Congrats on the anniversary Pete 🎉. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

My two kids always complained that the rear seats got hot, very poor heat shielding from the exhaust pipes.
Loved the V8 2017 SDV8 4.4 silicon silver AB
2012 TDV8 4.4 Stornaway Grey AB
2011 TDV8 4.4 Buckingham Blue
2012 VW V6 3.0 Tougreg

My Dad had a couple of SD1 V8s. Neither especially reliable, but cool cars. Three weeks after passing my test in 1980 the Old Man did his back in and couldn’t drive, so I was assigned to chauffeur duties that summer instead of my usual holiday work on local farms. Instructions would come from the passenger seat along the lines of “put your foot down, we’ll be late” ‘but Dad, we’re doing 90’, “Just put your foot down son”. Amazing how cars would move out of the way of a white SD1 travelling at speed……