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13/11/2010
By MURRAY HUBBARD
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Rover's P4 series started with the '75' in 1949, a model perhaps better known as the 'cyclops' due to a third headlamp placed in the centre of the grille and indeed centred over a broad cross-hair, ala Dodge. In culinary terms it was like having scrambled eggs crossed by two stips of bacon with a sunnyside up atop it all. Pretty it wasn't. Or perhaps a pointy end hybrid of a Studebaker Champion, Dodge and a pretentious pommy mid-size car.
Before long Rover realised its place in the automotive world and did away with the third eye and made the four-seater P4 look acceptable. While Rover called this series the P4 this was not a common descriptive term for owners or others. The model was best known, like the 75 as the Rover 75, with the numerals describing the brake horsepower. It made sense to do this as over the life cycle of the P4 from 1949-1964, the styling was barely altered although varying engines and power outputs varied.
Our featured car is the Rover 100 built in 1961. We found the vehicle at the RACQ's Motorfest in Brisbane in July 2010.This car is British down to the choice of colour. It's a lovely old car with paintwork that reflects the leaden hues of a dour London mid-winter sky. The P4 series were designed by Gordon Bashford whose career at Rover started in 1930 which means he worked alongside the famous Charles Spencer (Spen) King , best known for leading the team that worked on the development of the Range Rover.
The P4 cars used either a Rover in-line four or six cylinder engine based on the P3 model from 1948 and utilised an overhead inlet valve and side exhaust valves. As a kid growing up in Melbourne I recall seeing the occaisional Rover on the streets, and to me they always look solid and tough compared to our high-riding 48-215 (FX) and FJ Holdens of the era.
In 1960 the P4 90 was replaced by the P4 100 which had more power from the similar 2.6 litre straight-six engine of 2625cc or 160 cubic inches. Top speed was an impressive 161 km/h or 100 mph in the old money. In 1960 our Australian car were fairly basic - we are talking of the FB/EK Holden and new Ford Falcon - which were austere when it came to luxury add-ons. By contrast the Rover 100 had a typical classic English interior of wood trim and leather upholstery, a curved 'shepherd's crook' handbrake handle. Owners could order a bench seat or buckets. Even a heater was standard, a feature which was an option on the yet to be released R and S Valiants in 1962.
Stopping the Rover 100 was servo-assist Girling discs up front while the rear retained drum brakes. Power was run through a four speed transmission and top gear had an overdrive function. Until 1954 the P4 had four on the column, but this changed to a floor-shifter after that date. The model ran on a full separate chassis with coil suspension in the front and half elliptical leaf springs at the rear with a live axle.
The body is interesting with Rover needing to reduce weight and the doors, boot and bonnet were all made out of Permabright, an alloy of aluminium and magnesium. This altered after the 100 series with the 110 models constructed of steel to reduce costs. The P4 Rovers were also significant as being one of the last British cars to use rear 'suicide' doors. As our images show the door handles meet on the B-pillar.
The year 1960 not only saw the start of the 100 series but Rover also rationalised the models down to two. These were the 80 and the 100 with the 80 using a 2.3 litre engine borrowed from Land Rover, an entirely different in-line four than used in previous Rover four-cylinder cars. But, the four cylinder 80 models never topped the sales charts. Just under 6000 were sold when the 80 was cancelled in 1962. We wonder if the concept of having a light truck engine fitted to a prestige passenger car was not accepted by Rover buyers who expected more when paying $2800, well above many other makes at that time. This beautiful example of a P4 100 was for sale a the time we photographed it - asking price just under $10,000.
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