Description
SOLD For Sale is this rare LHD 1985 Vitesse 5 spd manual finished in beautiful Targa red all ready to drive away and put up for show at a classiccar show.
A unique opportunity to own a classic British legend. Rare when new, exotic today. Only 3897 were ever produced and in LHD form it is a car that rarely comes up for sale especially in this colour.
This Rover SD1 Vitesse has been with its current owner for over 16 years now and has been maintained to a high standard as can be seen from the cars condition.
It has been garage kept and only driven a few times each year and only when the weather was good.
The car is well known and is the mascot of the dutch Rover Owners Club (it is pictured on the back wall of the clubstand as can be seen in the pictures).
The family who owns it own multiple rare and classic Rovers and know their cars by heart.
This Rover is as good as an SD1 gets to be and probably better then when it came from the factory. Very solid rotfree body, mechanicly sound and all the electrics have been sorted and everything works as it should when it should. The windows open and close smoothly (the switch gear and mechanisms have recently been taken care of. The trip computer is working and so are all the dials and other electrics.
The headliner has been replaced and whilst that was done the sliding sunroof has been fully reassembled and re-allined and it operates as smooth as ever.
The engine is just as it should be. Fully original fuel injected 3. 5 liter V8 with the correct factory original exhaust system. Glorious sounding when pushed but very mannered and subdued when driving normally. The engine pulls strongly from low revs and is very healthy and smooth.
It is mated to the original 5 speed manual and gear shift are nice and tide and play free. This combination makes it a joy to use.
The car hasn't let its owner down and is very reliable.
The interior is a throw back to the 70s and 80s with lovely real wood in great condition and with the correct original Vitesse sports seats. The leather one the steering wheel is in lovely condition. It all looks in very good condition as does the dashboard. There are no rattles or squeeks.
The car sits on good and fresh dunlop tyres (Dunlop was the tyre choice for SD1s racing in the BTCC)
The Rover SD1 Vitesse was quite the exclusive beast back in the day when it was new. Only available from specific dealers and only build to order. The Vitesse wasn't your run of the mil SD1. A lot of changes were made to make the car what it is and what we all love so much. First of all the engine was tuned with a higher compression and electronic fuel injection was fitted to lift the power figure from 155bhp to 197bhp. Next to that the suspension was tuned and the car was lowered one inch. 15" light alloy wheels were fitted along with a rear spoiler (which added downforce and a great deal of stability at speeds) and from 1985 till 1986 the front air dam as used one the racing car driven by TWR. It was priced above the vanden Plas model.
Over the years the current owners acquired some interesting spare parts which are included in the sale and may be of use in order to keep this beautiful car around for many many more years. These include:
- 4 doors in correct colour
- a new sealed rear hatch
- a spare rear axle and diff)
- complete EFI system with computer
- complete set of Vitesse alloys
Price in euro's: € 17. 900,-
The car is located in the Netherlands near Rotterdam.
Many more pictures available. SOLD
