The Rover 2000TC stands out as a foreign sedan that actually found favor with U.S. buyers at a time when big-body American cars ruled that particular segment. The Rover offered a variety of engine options, culminating with a Buick-sourced V8 in the 3500 model. The handling and performance were considered strong suits with the Rover sedan, and this pair of P6s here on craigslist is in the hands of an enthusiast who isn’t able to complete their restoration.
The 2000 models were equipped with four-cylinder motors good for about 124 b.h.p. For a change, U.S. buyers actually got a better motor than our British counterparts, as the motor benefitted from twin carburetors that delivered a 20 b.h.p. advantage over the U.K.-market motor. While the V8-equipped 3500 is the model most enthusiasts remember, the respectable output of the four-cylinder makes the 2000 models rewarding to drive. This green car is a parts vehicle the seller is including, though it is devoid of any paperwork.
The seller says the listing is for two cars but he clearly has a third, based on this picture. The white Rover was the seller’s daily driver for years before he began disassembling it for a cosmetic restoration. The seats, rugs, engine, and transmission have been removed from the car. Unfortunately, this is as far as he got, so you’ll be buying a car stuck in the disassembly phase. No word on the other white car; this listing shows $300 as the price, but I doubt he’s letting two cars go for that price.
The parts haul is another desirable aspect of this sale, according to the seller: “There are two good engines and three transmissions. The interiors are complete but need reupholstering. I have extra exterior and interior body parts, lenses, rear end, clutch, and every mechanical part needed to get them running or to fix up another Rover P6.” For the Rover enthusiast, there’s a lot of potential value here depending on what the actual selling price is.
I’m not sure if your model history US versus UK is too accurate. The 2000 started off as a single carb 90 bhp version which was sold in both UK and the US from 1963. It then changed to the twin carb “2000 TC” in 1966. The TC was available to the export market in March 1966 a few months before it was officially released in the UK in October 1966 – so you could argue that there was certain period of time when the US got the TC and the UK only had the single-carb version, but that was only for a limited time.
These were technologically advanced cars for their time, particularly in terms of road-holding and safety features. They were described in very positive terms by road-testers in the US at that time, but never really took off in sales terms. The later V-8 powered versions are great driving cars. Seems like they never really caught the imagination of the classic car scene, even back in the UK, they can still be bought for next-to-nothing.
the statement in the description about the model history UK/US is not real accurate. The Rover 2000 started off a single carb version in 1963 and that was sold in both UK and US. It changed to the twin-carb “TC” version in 1966 and that was also sold in both markets. The “TC” was made available in the export markets in March 1966 and not available in the UK until October 1966, so you could argue that there was a brief period of time where the US had the TC and the UK did not….but generally the model availability followed the same sort of path in both markets…
Why on earth did the Barnfinds writer say this car found favor in America? Certainly not the America on Planet Earth but maybe he means Planet Mowog? They were a hard sell here, few buyers and even fewer dealers.When you see one today, you can be sure the owner has two, three or more “parts cars” stashed in his back yard or field, and many of those were given to him for free because he was known as the Rover eccentric in whatever town he lives in and no one else wanted them!
I think what the writer was really reflecting is the fact that this car was greeted with glowing praise by the US journalists that road-tested them. Car & Driver said in 1966 – quote “..absolutely the best sedan that has ever been presented in the pages of this magazine”. That’s a pretty strong statement. I’d agree, they did not achieve anywhere near the level of sales success to match that critical acclaim.
Road Test Magazine raved about them as well. Well before they started whoring ads for Mazda rotaries and the MK IV Vapor Injector and were “no advertising” like CR.
I like these but always felt the distance between the tops of the front fenders to the bottoms was just too short and ruined the profile.
Indeed these cars were met with lavishing praise. However, being well, you know, English they had a horrible reliability reputation. Nonetheless, I considered buying one in 1968. Instead I bought another new kid on the block, a silver 2002. Needless to say I made the better choice.
Have very fond memories of a 1972 2000 TC that my late Father owned when l lived in England.Exterior color was called “Tobacco Leaf” with a light tan leather interior.
With the way my Father drove,had to check to see if it really was a MG!
STOP SAYING BUICK V8
GM sold that to the brits in the early 60s
GM owned it for less than 3 years-ITS A BRITISH V8 american design
The brits have used this engine in most everything they have produced as well…except Jaguar had their own.
With all that being said these are by far one of my favorite sedans to have had ever been produced and exported to the states.
Comfort
Speed
Style
Luxury
Handling
Economy(except the V8)
These offered it all-sadly never sold enough here in the US market though
@scott reed
That’s a fair point, the license was bought from GM in 1965 and there was lot of development work went on before the engine was ever used by Rover. The Rover 3.5 V-8 ended up being quite different in detail from the original “215” Buick motor.
That Rover motor did have an extraordinary long production run and powered a huge number of different British cars, Rovers, MGB-V8, Morgan +8, LandRover, RangeRover, TR8, Marcos, TVR… and I probably missed a few more obscure ones?
Strictly speaking, Jaguar never really had their “own” V-8. They inherited a really nice small-block V-8 when they took over Daimler (the 2.5L motor out of the SP250 and there was even a 4.5L version in the bigger Daimler sedans) and Jaguar eventually got the Ford-sourced V-8 when Ford bought them in the 1990s but I don’t think there ever was a Jaguar designed and built V8 that made it past prototype stage….