Our Rover P5B – Help the Aged

Car & Classic is more than just a place where we work. It’s also, for a large portion of the team, an extension of our passions for classic cars. If we had a company car park (we don’t, because of Covid) you’d find an original Fiat 500, a Mini, a classic Volvo, a Jaguar E Type, a Rover 800 Vitesse, a Mk1 Cortina and this, a big old Rover P5B. It belongs to Tom Wood, the CEO of Car & Classic. But it wasn’t bought because of Car & Classic. In fact, it’s more the other way around. 

First, we need to go back to 2003. Back when we were still allowed to go outside, and when Tom was at Bristol University. As one does in one’s student days, the sticky-floored night-time venues became a familiar stomping ground for Tom and his pals. And it was one of these establishments, the Lizard Lounge, that brought Tom and the Rover together. 

The owner of affiliated venue “Wedgies” had the P5B as a sort of promotional vehicle. It was and still is a cool old car to burble around Bristol in. It turned heads, so it made sense to put the club’s name on it. However, soon the car was left parked up for a few days. A few days turn into weeks. Weeks into months. The trees above gave the old machine an unwanted new paint job in ‘tree sap’ green. It was all looking a bit sad. But things were only about to get sadder. 

The owner was approached by someone wanting to buy the Rover. Good times, you might think? Sadly not. This budding buyer had no intention of busting out the Brasso and WD40. Instead, he wanted to gut the old girl, weld in an acro-prop, and take it banger racing. Arguably the most undignified of endings for such a grand car. Especially one that, at its core, was still reasonably solid. It was no show car, granted, but it wasn’t in such a condition as to find the weighbridge appealing. 

Fatefully, around the same time, Tom enquired about the forlorn car and was told of the potential buyer’s intent. Despite being a student, the thought of this old machine being unceremoniously slammed into the wall at Mendip Raceway was too much to bear. And with that, he did a deal and agreed to take the P5B and give it a better life. The only caveat was that if Tom were to ever sell it, he should give half to charity. They shook hands, swapped cash for keys, and Tom limped it back to his student digs. 

Being a student, Tom didn’t exactly have endless cash to throw at it at this point. However, he could clean it up, remove any traces of “The Wedge” livery and take stock of what he had. And what he had was a reasonably solid, running and driving classic old Rover. A Rover well worth saving. 

The car was shipped home eventually, at which point Tom could get it back on the road. There was work needed. Full service, the brakes needed attention, the interior needed a clean up and there were some structural and body issues to sort before appeasing the MOT man. Tom fitted new wings, as the originals were shot. He also roped in various family members on MIG and spray gun duties to patch up areas that had succumbed to the dreaded rot. And it all paid off, as the car was soon the proud owner of a fresh MOT. This takes us to about November 2006. 

Since then, the car has been a much-loved member of the family fleet. From undertaking road trips aplenty, through to being the undeniably cool daily transport for Tom when he needed to get around London. There is something quite cool about burbling through the streets of the Capital in such a machine, there is no doubt. 

In 2019 though, the years had started to catch up with the old P5B and it was time for a freshen up. Mechanically, more than anything else. As such, the car was sent to Richard Jones, who has recently taken over the Roundham Garage in Paignton. A time-served expert in all things classic, and all things with carburettors (seriously, he’s an old school wizard when it comes to carbs), he set about bringing some life and heart back to the old Rover. 

The engine was stripped down and Richard set about cleaning and painting. The valves were replaced, the ports were cleaned, as was the inlet manifold. The rockers were cleaned, adjusted and reset. New springs were fitted, a new oil pump went on, too. Inside the V8 block, Richard fitted a 3.9 camshaft, which in turns frees up an extra 10 horses. The cooling system has been completely refurbished, with a new water pump, new thermostat and the mechanical fan has been binned in favour of a slimline electric unit – far, far more efficient than standard. The final icing on the cake was an incredibly rare find – a pair of new old stock carburettors. Never before fitted to an engine, they now reside atop Tom’s V8. 

We’ve seen the car recently and let us tell you, it sounds better than it did when new. The engine is astonishingly smooth, but will bellow enthusiastically if asked. It stays cool, of course, and having been completely gone through, it now has many more years ahead of it. 

There is still work to do. The gearbox needs to be flushed and fitted with a new filter, and the handbrake cables need to be fitted. The brakes themselves, however, have been completely rebuilt. Cylinders were re-honed and fitted with new seals. It stops on a dime, so to speak. 

So what’s next for the old Rover? Well, we don’t know. The pandemic means it’s currently still in the South West, being tinkered with. There is work – in the bigger picture – to do. Paint, trim, the visual stuff. But it’ll get there. There’s no rush. This car is part of the family now. One that has been with Tom for nearly twenty years. It’s been a constant, a familiar face if you will. And it will continue to be for a lot longer. Because that’s how old cars work, they get under your skin, they become more than just a mass of metal and rubber, they become friends. Which is far, far better than being flung around a banger track, or being used to promote a sticky-floored nightclub!