1962 Rover P6 3500 Talago Prototype

Lot details
Registration No: 16 DYF
Chassis No: 42500019A
Mot Expiry: Sept 2012

Introduced in 1963, the P6 was the last of the P Series Rovers that began with the pre-war 12 model. Designed in-house by Spen King, David Bache and Gordon Bashford, it bristled with innovation inside and out and was quite rightly the winner of the first ever European Car of the Year Award. Its monocoque shell featured bolt-on panels for ease of repair. Braking was by discs all round and the steering by Marles worm and roller. The fully independent suspension comprised a novel de Dion arrangement at the rear and an equally unique rocker system at the front. The intention behind the latter was to create an engine compartment wide enough to accommodate Rover's gas turbine unit, though this was never ultimately fitted to production vehicles.

P6/16 was first registered in August 1962. It was the last of 16 prototypes built for the P6 progamme and is thought to be the only survivor, save for the gas turbine example housed in the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. The most developed of the fleet, it is remarkably similar in appearance to the eventual production cars - indeed, it was the first example able to accept the full array of production body panels. It began life in left-hand drive form and was initially employed for high speed noise, vibration and harshness testing abroad, during which it covered some 150,000 miles. At this point it was retired from front line duty, and became the personal transport of Rover engineering director Richard Fishwick.

Its working days were far from over, however, and P6/16 continued to serve as a development mule for a further eight years. It was converted to right-hand drive in 1964 and became a test vehicle for the Buick V8 engine and manual gearbox; also for the development of the sports suspension that was ultimately fitted to the Rover 3500EI. It was used for the testing of tyres and wire wheels and further honing of passenger cell noise too. The engine currently in place was the car's third - an original Buick V8 from the batch purchased to develop and evaluate what eventually became the ubiquitous Rover V8. This unit alone is a vital part of Rover's history, and has been fully restored with the correct Buick rocker covers. Its installation helped the company to fine tune the model's sports suspension package, develop the related manual gearbox, and ultimately the Rover 3500S itself. The current gearbox is one of three included with the car, and is a performance version with strengthened first and second gears for repeated acceleration testing. The spare gearboxes comprise a standard unit and one with unusually long lower ratios that would apparently enable the car to reach 70mph without a change!

The last owner acquired this fascinating Rover from Richard Fishwick in 2001 and extensively restored it over eight years at a cost of some £65,000. The project included extensive research to fully ascertain the car's history, a task that included hundreds of conversations with former Rover directors and employees. Many conflicting stories inevitably emerged, but P6/16 has been restored as close to its final development specification as possible.

It is finished in its original colour of 'Prototype Grey' - the correct hue was achieved courtesy of the prototype Land Rover in the Gaydon museum, and is understood to be an amalgam of two company Greys - 'Rover Burnt' and 'Rover Birch'. Every part of the car has been restored or remanufactured to match to the period specification - even down to the number of spot welds and their precise location. The doors were apparently the last brand new set in the world, and were acquired from America at a cost of £2,000, thereby avoiding the likely distortion that re-skinning the old ones would have caused. The Rover even retains its original, very appropriate number plate - '16 DYF'.

A mere 100 miles or so have been covered since the completion of the restoration and, according to the vendor, the Rover "remains in outstanding condition throughout". This fascinating piece of British motoring history would surely take pride of place in any Rover collection and was the subject of a major four page feature in the July 2010 issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine.

PLEASE NOTE: Since the catalogue went to press we have been informed that a post-1967 base unit / chassis was utilised in the restoration of this lot. The Rover has an MOT until Sept 2012.