The owner of this Rover 3500S refers to it as a “poor man’s Rolls Royce.” That seems a bit harsh because these are a nice car in their own right. You will find this Rover listed for sale here on Craigslist. It is located in Delta, British Columbia, and is being offered with a clean title. The price for this Rover has been set at $6,500. I must thank Barn Finder Andreas for referring this classic to us.
The seller is only this car’s second owner, having purchased it in 1982. The car has always been garage kept but has been off the road since 2008. The car looks to be in really nice condition, and there are no obvious signs of rust or corrosion. The paint looks really good, and the exterior trim all looks to be in great condition. The owner says that the car was restored in 1995 and that it has only clocked about 5,000 miles since. One really interesting aspect of the construction of the 3500 is the fact that the hood and trunk lid are both made from aluminum.
The overall condition of the interior is quite good. The only real issue that I can identify is the deterioration in the timber insert in the dash that you can see here. I’m not sure what has happened, but replacement trims are pretty easy to source. The only deviation from standard that I can see is the aftermarket radio/cassette player.
The leather upholstery on the Rover all looks to be in really good condition. I believe that all of this was renewed when the car underwent its restoration, so it hasn’t seen much use since then. For that added bit of luxury, the car is also fitted with power windows.
Under the hood is the wonderful little all-alloy 3.5l Rover V8 engine. This one looks like it has been given a bit of a tickle because the original carburetor and intake manifold combination have been replaced with an Edelbrock unit. This would make the Rover infinitely easier to keep in tune, as setting the original SU carburetors is something that is becoming a dying art. The engine was rebuilt back in 1995, along with the automatic transmission. The car also has new 4-wheel disc brakes, a rebuilt master cylinder, new rubber brake hoses, and a stainless steel exhaust.
This Rover is not a car that will appeal to everyone. Essentially it was designed as more of a luxury car than a performance car. Having said that, it is possible to extract some pretty impressive performance figures from that little V8. From the description and provided photos, the car looks to be in really nice order, and from my experience with British cars, the price on this is quite competitive. I suspect that this Rover might sell surprisingly quickly.
The front view of this car is its best angle.
Gee that is a nice looking and different car. I don’t know what draws me to it but I can’t stop looking at the thing. I’m sure it’s loaded with Lucas electronics so it can’t be any more trust worthy than an older Jaguar or Rolls Royce. Almost looks like an older Peugeot 604, another weird looking car I like. .
I’d think at this point that the electricals would have been sorted. I owned one of these years ago and had no problems with the electrical system. These cars are surprisingly reliable, considering their heritage.
I think this is one of the best looking cars of all time. The design is unbelievably timeless. Too bad they didn’t take off in the US – pretty popular in the UK, though. Cops (sorry, bobbies, constables, whatever) used them as patrol cars for years. Every British flick from the 60s and 70s seems to feature a few, at least when the police are involved.
Ironically, the aluminium 3.5 litre V8 was sourced from Buick. The engine became a huge mainstay in British motoring for decades, both in low production manufacturing, and the hot rod/custom car community. A true engineering masterpiece.
Sourced from, but improved by Rover. Higher compression, more power…
Yep, that motor was a US loss and a UK gain.
Gm went to British Leyland in 1974(iirc) and said we will buy the design back and BL said No thanks!
all the body panels unbolt, even the rear wings and roof skin, I believe the all alloy buik / rover V8 can be traced back to the late 1950’s BMW 3200cc alloy V8,
Never heard of a BMW/Buick connection, Pat. Do you have more information?
That 215 cubic inch engine has no connection with BMW whatsoever.
Amen
In the UK 3500S denoted manual shift, which helped the sporting side of driving. The basics of the Rover are great, with de Dion rear end for effective traction and 4 wheel discs they were cutting edge when introduced in 1963. These are a bit undervalued now (and forever?) but this is a nice alternative to a 60s BMW.
The ugly scoops in the bonnet are US market only. The Brits couldn´t be bothered to engineer a proper solution for overheating in US summer heat, so just tried to get more air in. This continued with the SD1 replacement model and is probably how German marques took over the US prestige import market.
Unfortunately the US models only came with a truly terrible BW auto slush box. However it’s relatively easy to convert to, say, a Triumph 5 speed manual which drastically improves performance and driveability. I’d like to drop in a newer Land Rover engine, but space is really tight, since these were really designed for a four banger. The Buick V8 is tiny and doesn’t take up much room, but by modern standards these cars are somewhat underpowered…
Wonder what happened to the AC… Maybe the Canadian exports didn’t have it?
The light treatment in the front is a bit over the top, nice car though.
When just two scoops won’t do.
These are cheap for what you get. Too bad they didn’t make a coupe with reconfigured hood ornamentals. With that aluminum V8 it coulda been a contender.
Sorry, this car doesn’t have the trunk mounted spare, so I’ll have to pass.
https://autopolis.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/3500-s.jpg
MARTIN: Aren’t the rear discs inboard, like an XKE, making them a nightmare to service?
JP: Some four barrel Buick 215s had 10.25:1 compression ratio, as did the Olds Jetfire turbocharged 215. Did Rover go higher than that? Also, despite its small displacement, the 215 (with exhaust manifolds) is wider than a Ford 302.
No, the 10:1 compression was standard. Didn’t know the Buick and Olds went that high. If a 302 and similar engines would fit they’d be a great improvement.
The 215 (3500) Buick v8 can be bored and fitted with larger sleeves and then stroked to 302 cubic inches. If you want to see how it performs without all that being done just find some old videos of Bob Tullius and his group 44 TR7. I have seen him run at Summit Point W. VA. and putting it on allover the “faster” cars.
The ‘63 Buick 4-barrel V8 had 11:1 compression & 200hp. We had one in a Skylark convertible.
Would that be a TR8? I just wish I had one of TVR’s 5 liter short blocks.
https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/92219/bob-tullius-group-44-triumph-tr8
Too bad British Leyland was such a mess, could have been a great follow up to the TR6.
Yes, the rear discs are inboard. I believe that the thing to do is to cut access panels out of the floors and make up removeable doors to prevent water ingress.
The engine was enlarged to 3.9L and 4.2L for Range Rover and TVR respectively.
The “3500S” badge denotes manual gearbox; the auto didn’t have the “S”.
Derek, if in the UK, you are quite correct. The ‘S’ badge denotes a manual gearbox, a strengthened version of the one fitted to the Rover 2000, (but not strengthened enough, they are at their limit, Police 3500S cars in the UK had spare gearboxes on standby, and a common conversion is the five speed box from the later SD1 or a Range Rover.)
But in the US, the 3500S was the standard version sold and differs from the UK versions in many ways, not just with LHD. There are intrusion bars in the doors, electric windows (with GM switches), fold out interior door pockets on the front doors, and the entire Series 2 dashboard, instruments and seats, and stainless steel side trims,( all before the S2 appeared in the UK), combined with the S1 grille and those wheel trims, which did appear on the ‘rest of world’ 3500S manuals.
A/C was virtually standard as well, but doesn’t appear to be fitted to this one, which instead appears to be the recipient of a quantity of walnut veneer slathered on surfaces where it isn’t usually seen.
The inboard rear discs share the same pads as the XKE, while the front pads are shared with some Volvo and Peugeot models.
There was under development a fuel injected, 5 speed Getrag manual version of this car when Rover withdrew from the US market, but that, along with the Group B racing version was never continued. More’s the pity. There would be a different memory of Rover’s US presence if they had actually marketed a fuel injected 150 mph, 200 hp sports sedan in the seventies.
Pictured , the P6 racer that lapped the factory Porsche team at Nurburgring.
Wrong. The S on the 3500 stood for “Sport Model”, only sold in N. America. UK model was manual trans. and no hood scoops.
Is this car still for sale?
Is this car still for sale?
Albert
snowfire20@icloud.com
My favorite recollection of my uncles 3500 was the flock-lined tool tray in the dash….
I have owned 2 of these. The engine compartment is small, but not because it was originally a 4 cyl; Rover intended a turbine engine. I saw Rover turbines compete in the UK in the 60s. Yes the inboard disc brakes are daunting, but i can easily disassemble them, and i am not much of a mechanic! Bleeding them is hard, but not if you have small hands, a short wrench, and patience. Only 1 bleeder in back. This car seems very well maintained, restored, and shined up. Just sold mine…but I am tempted!
So whaddya think… two or just one in the middle? (Three hours of back & forth later…) Hey guys, how about this! Let’s do both! Or something like that. I like it but I’d ditch the inboard lights…
Awesome looking Rover 3500. I don’t know if I’d go so far as the “poor man’s Rolls Royce.” I don’t know what to make of it.
That would be a Jaguar, or the previous P5 model . This was more of a 4 door GT car, I think
Odd that the US spec’d versions got that hideous 3rd bonnet scoop, yet the Australian spec models didn’t. It’s not like it doesn’t get hot here.
Probably trying to capitalize on the muscle car frenzy of the time… I actually like them – gives the car a modestly aggressive look.
Adam,
You really think twin SUs are hard to tune? I have to wonder if you’ve actually done it. They are a piece of cake to tune. I lay no claims on expertise, but I’ve tuned dual HS4s many times with no problems. If a mildly mechanically-minded amateur cannot tune a pair, then the carbs are worn out and should be rebuilt first.
As to history of that wonderful engine, perhaps somebody with more knowledge can confirm/deny this, but I vaguely remember a Buick “Dream Car” of 1953, perhaps the first designated “Riviera”, powered by a 215 CI aluminum V8. Would that be the earliest known appearance of that engine?
Early prototypes of the 215 first appeared in the ’51 LeSabre and then ’53 Roadmaster concept cars before entering full production with the ’61 Buick Special.
It was in a car similar to this model that Princess Grace of Monaco met her unfortunate demise.
To be fair to the Rover’s safety reputation, the accident on Sept 13 1982 was caused by Princess Grace, who was driving her self described ‘favorite car’, suffering a brain hemorrhage. This caused a loss of control and the car veering off the road, through a stone wall and down a 120 foot cliff. She died the next day in hospital of another brain hemorrhage. The passenger in the car, her youngest daughter Stéphanie survived, traumatised, with a hairline neck fracture which soon healed. The crashability of the car is what saved their lives, not caused her death. The picture is of the car after the accident, the door was removed by the medics rescuing the occupants.
Rover has been a top tier car for a long time, the 75 and 90’s were great solid cars under appreciated and little known here in the US. I think they are related to the excellent earlier Riley’s. I have owned both. I bought the 2000TC version of this car many decades ago, great car that I thought was a cut above British Leyland cars. They made several fundamental improvements to the orignal 215. They added a main bearing and improved heads as well as improving the problematic head gaskets. They are not that physically tiny but light. The current Rover incarnation that I own is a 2002 Discovery. It has great balanced power, is reliable and runs very smoothly. The injection system is flawless, brakes and ride are wonderful. We bought the truck from Boeing….it was one of There executive vehicles…….with bad rear air suspension. My son and I changed it back to conventional springs and solved a chronic problem Boeing had spent over 10,000 trying to repair without success. I think it cost us 200.00 in used parts. I never found a 3500 that I could afford when they were newer but a great under appreciated car that seemed to transcend the quality and Union issues that plagued other British manufacturers.
No main bearing(s) were added, almost everything between the Buick 215 and the Rover 3.5 is completely interchangeable.The only change that Rover did was to change the casting technique to sandcasting.
https://www.aronline.co.uk/facts-and-figures/engines/engines-rover-v8/
Scotland Yard, Special Branch, had a bullet-proof version P6 in 1973.
UK police cars too, I always liked the Rover V8, manual shift of course. Interesting design and fast.
That is a rare shot of a 3500 fitted with Dunlop Denovo run-flat tyres mounted on their metric alloys. They were heavy and wore out fast and withdrawn in ’74.
https://classicroverforum.net/index.php?threads/p6-denovo-hidden-in-ebay.25966/
Those little chin spoilers fitted to Police spec cars are a rare upgrade today. Someone is remaking them, or you could track down a Scotts Australia full front airdam/spoiler, here fitted to a P6 with a 4.4 litre P76 V8 as well.
Beautiful cars. From the front it looks hungry enough to eat the arse out of a low flying duck.