- Seller: Driven
- Location: Buena Park, California
- Mileage: 47,767 Shown
- Chassis #: 41805067B
- Title Status: Missing
- Engine: 2.0 Liter Inline-4 with Dual Carbs
- Transmission: 5-Speed Manual
For those of you who grew up on American cars, the name “Rover” might only be familiar when trailing the word “Land,” and that’s OK. In Europe, the Rover was well-known as a stately, conservative sedan for those who wanted to convey a similar reputation. That image was turned on its head a bit with the introduction of the “P6” Rover 2000 in 1963. As a casual vintage rally fan, my favorite Rovers are the class-winning 2000s in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally, which was an event not typically populated by Rovers, and that tells you all you need to know about the sporting attitude of this crisp English sedan. The 1967 2000TC shown here has the upgraded twin-carburetor engine and is being sold in Buena Park, California, as a Barn Finds Auction.
Some of you might know that some Rover P6s had the ex-Buick aluminum 3500cc V8 under the hood, but that was a year after our auction car was introduced, after Rover was officially swallowed up by the British Leyland combine. The overhead-cam 2000cc four is plenty potent, however, with 124 horsepower available thanks to twin SU carburetors (one more than the “regular” 2000). The P6 was surprisingly daring in its engineering; the front suspension uses horizontal coil springs connected to the wheels through a set of linkages, and the rear suspension uses a De Dion tube, which reminds me more of Italian sports cars than conservative British sedans. Our auction car has had a top-end rebuild of the engine, and it runs but could use some tweaking, so dust off your Uni-syn carburetor synchronizer.
Happily, our auction Rover has a four-speed manual to highlight the sports sedan image Rover was so eager to foster. The seller tells us that this car was a “restoration in progress” that the owner couldn’t complete, so it’s being sold as a project car, not a finished restoration, and should have its hydraulics inspected (which is good advice for any old car that’s spent time sitting). The Rover has a braking system that’s a little more complex than your average Ford or Chevy, so be ready for some English charm before you start turning wrenches. The interior itself has new leather upholstery, carpet, and headliner, which is a huge head start for anyone looking to get this Rover back on the road.
Outside, the Rover is a “super solid California car with new chrome” and new trim. The paint was not originally green; the seller has found traces of light yellow here and there, but extra paint comes with the car if it’s needed.
The trunk comes with a load of extra parts to help the new owner finish the job. The car is being sold on a bill of sale, as the title was lost years ago, and the car was last registered in the late 1970s. I’m personally not well-versed on California title law, but the seller says that since the car was previously plated, it will require a trip to the DMV and an inspection by the highway patrol to get things sorted out. If you’re an Anglophile who happens to live in the States and you’ve been looking for a solid Rover, this nearly-finished project could be a good deal. Bid now on Barn Finds Auctions.
Bid On This Auction
@iamtheonlyMatt bid $1,750.00 2025-01-08 21:37:51
Jontho bid $1,500.00 2025-01-04 13:16:41
I love that paint! I’m not an English car enthusiast, but these Rover’s always peaked my interest. A classy looking car.
IF Henry(Ford) “made a lady out of Lizzie” ( 1920’s Model A ad campaign), then it could be said that Rover made a hooligan out of Auntie (models from the ’50’s were known as “auntie Rovers” I suppose because it’s what maiden aunts drove in the public mind, were comfortable and durable with brisk but not exciting performance). These, on the other hand, were similar to BMW’s, performance wise-true sports sedans! I don’t think they sold very well on this side because the brakes and carburetors were unfamiliar to US mechanics at the time (the inboard rear brakes were too modern therefore unfamiliar and the SU carburetors were archaic-although they work fine if properly maintained.
I had totally forgotten these odd balls , there were a few rolling around in Montreal, canada in my yougin days , so late 70’s &80’s
YOLO
What does , title status, missing mean?
I’m going to hazard a guess and say they don’t have a title for it. So if you buy, get a bill of sale and any other documentation you can, so you can title and register it.
I had a friend in 1973 that had one in St Petersburg Florida. It probably came down from Canada with a snowbird. It was a really nice car!
Title status missing (says it was lost) means problems. The owner would do well to get that sorted out, otherwise it will be a much harder sell. There are few people who would be interested in this car, still fewer with any car without a title.
At first, I thought it was a 63 Plymouth gone wrong! My parents used to have one when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, it had a push button shifter! Those were the days.
The front does have ’63 Plymouth vibes..I liked those, and this Rover too!
No mention of the wheels, i.e. are they factory original or an American after-market edition? They look a bit like knock-offs of the Buick wheels from the late ’60’s/’70’s.
Factory Rostyle wheels, standard on these and the subsequent 3500.
Such handsome cars, especially in dark colors such as this. GLWTS.
Thanks Butthead! BTW – the car reminds me of the 1st-generation (1984-ish) Mazda 626 – the 4 door version – and the wheels do too, for that matter IMO this car would look better in the original yellow, but I think the real problem is that they didn’t do the finer body work before painting it so the reflection from the clear coat isn’t consistent but shows the underlying irregularities of the body surface itself – but I do like the car model.
Buyers premium 5% with a $500 minimum No thanks
Agree, an auction fee on a lower priced car should be just a percentage of the final price. $500 is too much to pay on a $2-3K car.
It costs just as much to sell a $5k car as it does a $50k car. I know everyone thinks they deserve everything for free but it takes a lot of work to run these auctions.
I bought a new one of these, British Racing Green with a black interior, in early 1968. I used the car for about 18 months and put just over 60 thousand miles on it (lots of trips from Hartford to UCONN and Boston). Late one July night I entered a sharp right hand turn much faster than I should have and ended up flipping the car – it wound up sitting on its roof in the middle of the road. I was alone, thankfully, and unhurt – the only damage to the car was a few scratches, a busted windshield and sheet metal damage to the roof, the roof structure itself was fine – no deformation. My insurance company at the time, Liberty Mutual, decided to total the car and rented me a VW Beetle in the mean time. Weeks went by, I called LM multiple times a week with no resolution in sight. I finally got fed up and went to their regional offices and insisted on speaking to a manager. The story that I got was that they were having a hard time establishing a value for the car and asked me if I would accept a number based on a used one that was for sale at the local dealer – I knew the car, it was purchased for the owner of the dealership (Palotti & Poole in Hartford) and had every possible option on it. I agreed and they cut me a check.
I paid $5200 for the car, they gave me $4800 – best automotive deal I ever got!
These are great cars – I loved mine and had very few issues with it – I’d like to have this one!
I have owned lots of Rovers, 2000’s TC2000’s and a few 3500S’s loved them all. The V8 3500S’s were a great cruiser. The North American Auto B & W trans was not much of a performance tranny. The TC was a touch faster due to the 4 speed. They were pretty fast for their day. Europe got 3500V8’s with a stick. These were quitr fast. And were used for police cars. Very comfortable, technically interesting. With De Doin rear suspension, inboard disc brakes, and the diff bolted to the rear sub frame greatly reducing the unsprung weight. And the front suspension was even wilder. Horizontal coil springs mounted to the firewall. The pushrod cantelever acting on them and a lower a arm. Not only reducing unsprung weight. But made a wide engine bay. As Rover was working on a turbine engine that was suposed to go in the P6. They even raced a BRM/Rover turbine car at LeMans. And also campaned a V8 P6 that was wickid fast and was leading for awhile. Before blowing the Jag Diff.
I would love to find a nice one. But pretty hard to come by now.
My uncle bought one new in Maryland 1967. My best recollection was that there was a tool drawer in the dash. You pulled it out and each tool had its own green felt flocked inlay. Never seen that since.
I SAY, FUPO, that IS a bit of alright, Aye WOT?
That would be a P4, or P5, not a P6. In the P6s the tools are in a roll in the trunk.
Interesting, I had a p4 100 model that I put an overdrive into, and later owned a p6 with the buick v8 regrettably auto . That was a car with formidable performance despite the auto trans, but my friend worked on the p6 3500s models, better still. Even the tcs like this one, handle and brake well for their time. And were advanced safety wise.
Seller here: As is fairly common with us old guys and our cars, titles and receipts get lost. We hide them away in that safe place and eventually they are lost forever in boxes of Grandpa’s stuff far away from the cars. I have seen it so often that my stuff is filed, copied, scanned and organized beyond what most would consider reasonable. If you’re concerned about a lack of title, don’t buy. If you’re in CA, the process is a free (drive up or on trailer) inspection, no appointment required. The car will fail inspection because the DMV doesn’t recognize anything that does not have a 17 digit VIN. You will be referred to CHP. You make an appointment, CHP has a look and verifies that this indeed is a 1967 Rover TC. Your title is issued. You smile. Kids, don’t try this with a kit car. It needs to look like what the VIN says it is.
No title = no deal, regardless of what the seller is telling everyone.
Hey, Seller: If it is that simple, then get it titled. But it sounds like it will need an investment of time, and I wonder how this all applies to a non-resident?
I would think it would also fail inspection because there are no wipers installed.
Once again, if the process is so “easy” – why not do it? How does anyone realistically know that someone else out there can claim title?
How to Transfer a Title
Anytime there’s a change to a vehicle or vessel’s registered owner or lienholder, that change must be updated in DMV’s records within 10 days and the California Certificate of Title must be transferred to the new owner.
A change in ownership is usually due to:
Sale, gift, or donation
Adding or deleting the name of an owner
Inheritance
Satisfaction of lien (full payment of car loan)
To transfer a title, you will need:
Either the California Certificate of Title or an Application for Replacement or Transfer of Title (REG 227) (if the title is missing).
The signature(s) of seller(s) and lienholder (if any).
The signature(s) of buyer(s).
A transfer fee.
Depending on the type of transfer, you might need to complete and submit additional forms. See below for other title transfers and title transfer forms.
Submit your title transfer paperwork and fee (if any) to a DMV office or by mail to:
DMV
PO Box 942869
Sacramento, CA 94269
Rush Title Processing
If you need us to expedite your title processing, you can request rush title processing for an additional fee.
you left out nother reason for title.
Cant even junk it w/o 1.
Last thing I say @ every purchase “Where’s the title?”
Cali is really weird. Dont U hafts pay some kinda fee going yrs
back for some cars? W/o a title for any buyer this is a cost hidden till
investing in re-hab, insurance, etc (on top of the rest). Talk abt due diligence…
Maybe the reason it was painted a different color is because it was stolen.
@seller, I am seriously interested, and live in CA. But I also don’t want to deal with a missing title. Been there, done that. Not again. So I also urge you to get a title in your name. Also, is the car currently registered as a runner? On non-op? If it hasn’t been registered in awhile and is still in the CADMV system, there could be substantial penalties due.
California bends you over when it comes to missing titles and registration fees, so I’m wondering how titling this car in another state would work? Here in Washington it would need to be safety inspected (so do the brake work first) and the paperwork also inspected. If everything is fine, after paying the fees you should be good to go.
terrry – Bends you over, what to make you inspect the underside of the car?
well, come to think of it you will have to bend over to look at the underside..unless you have a lift:-))
Seriously now – I believe the wheel centers have been painted black and that is what made me question whether the wheels were OEM or not – but there is one pic taken from above (showing the roof) and my ? is – are we to believe that we are looking at a vinyl top (black) on the vehicle? It looks rather more like a spray-on bed liner or something (to me), but the pic does show the paint job to good advantage – better than the driver’s side, IMO
Anyone? Bueller?
The front wheels have the center caps with the Rover logo on them, though it is faded, the center caps are the same part as MGB Rostyle center caps, with the logo center itself still available from Rimmers Parts in the UK. The rear wheels are missing their caps. These are the correct standard factory wheels for a North American Dealer Area, NADA 2000TC, the later NADA 3500S having hubcaps styled to look like ‘mag’ wheels. These 14 inch Rostyle wheels with their 5 x 5inch p.c.d were also seen on UK market Wolselely Sixes, and were rarely seen at the time on UK P6s, though it seems wheels from scrapped US P6s have now spread around the world, many P6s outside the US are now fitted with them. The similar looking wheels on P5Bs are 15 inch.
The roof and ‘D’ pillar covers appear to be an incorrect pattern of vinyl, that also hasn’t been applied properly, (it hasn’t been fixed above the rear screen.) Series 1 P6s like this didn’t have vinyl roofs, they came with the plastic grille Series 2, very few of which were sold in the US. Likewise the unfortunate ‘badge/excrescence’ affixed to the ‘D’ pillar over the wrong vinyl stands out for it’s garish oversized clunkiness.
This car would have had an ‘Icelert’ fitted, the warning light is still there on the dashboard but the sensor unit on the grille is missing. An unusual fitting is the ‘Sundym’ tinted glass, not fitted to 2000 TCs without factory A/C, so possibly swapped in – or maybe fitted from new under special order? If a heated rear screen is fitted, it might be one of the desirable ‘invisible filament’ types, more likely the car has the rare combo of factory tint and no heated rear screen. the rubber lower screen seal to the rear valence panel is also missing
Other than the poor paint job in a quite nice, but non-factory metallic green, this looks to be a good example of a P6. Nevertheless it would still be a good idea to check the jacking points in the sills under the doors – which are missing their rubber covers. These are the first rust points to go.
There is a very good owners club for these cars, (not on social media, though there is some on FB as well.) and for a car this age there is astonishingly good parts availability of every part you could want – far better than similarly aged cars from BMW, Volvo, Peugeot, Mercedes Benz, or most domestic cars. https://classicroverforum.net/index.php?forums/the-rover-p6-club.69/
what a cool vehicle. for less than the price of the leather interior (so far). obviously, tons of work and $ already spent on this car. looks like a hell of a deal on a very unique well done (so far) vehicle. if i only had the room……….
Conny – thanks for that on the wheels – I just meant the the black “centers”/hubs might have been painted black gloss to go better with the gloss green paint, so non-OEM in that sense only. I also wondered if the original upholstery was tan when Rover was yellow, aye wot?
A bit of elbow grease on the brightwork and some udder milk burnishing on the vinyl top and she’ll be right as a Piccadilly rose, aye – there’s a lad –
Carry On.
I’d take the vinyl off, it’s the wrong pattern, and it’s not on properly. I would have left it April Yellow as well, that color was only available ’67 to ’69. (The same color as Jaguar’s ‘Primrose’.) Ebony or Buckskin were the associated interior colors, most were black. Other than the bumpers and the aluminum grilles, all of the brightwork on these cars is stainless steel, a very high quality type called ‘Birmabrite’, the side window frames are solid s.s welded channels. They polish up very well. The car, if it has a five speed, it’s not standard, these have a four speed with a very nice action.