The Rover SD1 or 3500 was one of the coolest
cars of my childhood. The design looked like it had fallen through
a time portal from the 21st century. Sitting in one when it was launched, I imagined
driving it down to San Tropez to hob-nob with all the coolest stars like Cilla Black or
Sasha Distel. Well, I was 8 and naive. I was wowed by the space-age dashboard that
looked like it had come right off the set of Blakes 7. And this came out of old, stodgy, British
Leyland - the company that had brought us the Morris Marina and Austin Allegro! So why was this amazing car do so badly? Let’s find out! (music) Rover had made its name in the 60’s creating
the amazing P6, but by 1969 it was clear they needed to work on a successor. Rover wasn’t an independent company any
longer. It had been subsumed into the British Leyland
behemoth in 1966. That meant any decisions went through the
main Leyland board. They saw the advantages of a new car. The Rover P6 and Triumph 2000 had sold in
their droves in the prosperous 1960’s, selling to middle managers who couldn’t afford a
Jaguar but wanted something more upmarket. But Rover, Triumph (and indeed Jaguar) were
now a part of British Leyland, so a competition was set up between the Rover and Triumph design
teams to see which would create the new model. Triumph was the first out of the gate with
its “Puma” design. This was the more dependable, safe concept,
an evolution from the Triumph 2000. Rover brought in their wunderkind, David Bache. He’d designed the Rover P5, P6 and had a
hand in the crazy/brilliant upmarket SUV that was the Range Rover. Bache didn’t want to play it safe. He wanted something ahead of its time, so
took styling cues from the Ferrari 250M and 365GTB/4 (and Daytona!). He decided the Rover driver of the future
would want a hatchback for practicality, and he wanted them to have gull-wing doors. In 1971 both teams met for the shoot-out. Triumph brought two large models, but Bache
brought no less than 5 separate designs, plus the gull-wing prototype. In the end management plumped for the Rover
(unfortunately without Bache’s gull-wing doors). It was renamed “RT1” or “Rover Triumph
1” to denote it was a joint development. However, in spring 1971 Rover and Triumph
were moved into the Specialist Division, so the car was given the “SD1” codename. Peter Wilks was to be the technical director,
but he retired in 1971 due to ill health. So Spen King, fresh off his amazing work on
the Range Rover, came in to lead the engineering side of the project. Spen had worked on the gas-turbine powered
JET1 and him and David Bache were old friends from working on the P6. The project couldn’t be in safer hands. But what engines should be used? The Rover 3.5L V8 was the first to be agreed. The all-aluminium engine had started life
as the Buick 215 but owner General Motors had had reliability issues with it. They had sold the rights and tooling to Rover,
who saw a light, large-displacement engine as ideal for smaller British cars. The next engine to be used was the V6 from
the Triumph 2500, however there were issues making this a competitive engine for the 1970’s. So, it was agreed for the SD1 to launch initially
with the V8 and get the V6 later down the line once Triumph had completed the redesign. David Bache refined the styling from the initial
Austin Princess-looking design, through to what we know today. He wanted something that wouldn’t look strange
next to the supercars of the day but would have all the practicality that is required
by a growing family. Like a Porsche Panamera, but actually pretty. Once the exterior styling was finalized, the
attention turned to the interior. Like the Range Rover, Bache decided on a pod
design – putting the controls on top of a bench which could easily swapped for left
or right-hand drive. Instead of wood and leather, space-age soft
plastics were used. This was to be a thoroughly modern car. An adjustable steering wheel, folding rear
seats, removable rear parcel shelf and internally adjustable mirrors were forward-thinking additions
not yet common in 1976. Meanwhile, Spen was working on the chassis
and engine. While the car looked cutting edge, the chassis
was to be much more conventional. This was partly due to cost cutting at the
suddenly cost-conscious British Leyland, but also to make the car simpler to produce and
hence deliver a greater profit. In market analysis with members of the public,
the SD1 blew the competition out of the water. When put up against the Audi 100, Rover P6
and Volvo 164 it was judged to be a more expensive car than all of them, comparing it favorably
to the premium Jaguar XJ6. Maybe given this, management were confident
of high sales, so decided to build a new factory in Solihull dedicated solely to building this
new car. On launch the press loved it, lauding it’s
styling and relaxed luxurious feel, going on to win Car of the Year in 1977. The public clamored for it and with the Rover
3500 V8 priced the same as pedestrian 4-cylinder cars like the Audi 100, Citroen CX and Volvo
144, it seemed a bargain. But British Leyland had underestimated demand,
and soon long waiting lists formed with some changing hands for 25% above the sticker price. But this was the British car industry in the
1970s, so waiting lists just kept getting longer with strike after strike causing hold-ups
in the new factory. When production did start, union agreed production
targets meant a shortage of components. The adversarial nature of workers and management
meant they weren’t working together to satisfy demand, so buyers were purchasing cars from
the competition. It would take 2 years until production caught
up with demand. When cars were being produced there were problems
with quality. The paint shop couldn’t handle the imperfect
bodies coming from the Castle Bromwich plant, resulting in too many imperfections in the
finish. Lucas’ electronics were pressured by British
Leyland’s management to cut corners on the electrics, and so electrical problems plagued
the car, along with numerous other fit and finish issues. British Leyland was under pressure to turn
a profit and with the SD1 being such a hit, there was pressure to get cars out the factory
even if there were quality issues. British Leyland had hired many new unskilled
workers for the new Solihull factory, and they were making mistakes and slowing down
the line. In 1978, 2 years after the SD1 launch, the
production rate was still only half of what it should be. It wasn’t to get any higher. In the middle of all this, the Rover 2300
and 2600 were launched, using the new improved Triumph inline 6 engine. Again, praise was heaped on these new models,
especially the 2600 that seemed almost as good as the 3500 V8 but at a much better price. However, the engine had camshaft issues that
only increased the quality woes of the new car. Then the hammer fell. “Car” and “Autocar” magazines both
ran articles slamming the car for horrendous fit and finish issues that just shouldn’t
happen for a premium car from such a distinguished marque. In one vehicle the door was so misaligned,
daylight could be seen, and rain was seeping in. Residual values on used models started to
take a hit, and customers started taking notice. With little fanfare, BL took the SD1 to the
USA. The ex-Buick V8 was used, returning to its
American roots, and the model sold was essentially the top-of-the-range V8-S UK model. However, the same reliability problems haunted
these vehicles, and the bad exchange rate made the car pricey. Despite all BL’s efforts, less than 1,300
were sold and BL beat a hasty retreat. By 1980 BL had to cut production and had a
stockpile of 10,000 cars waiting to be sold. They started discounting models by up to £2,000. By 1982 the strike-riddled new Solihull factory
was closed completely, and production moved to the smaller Cowley plant. They had intended to produce a total of 150k
vehicles at Solihull, but only 98k were ever made. Rover added the luxury “Vitesse” model,
a 3500 with an uprated 190bhp and all the luxury options. In 1982 the car received a small facelift,
with 2.0L petrol and 2.4L diesel engines now available. Company cars at this time got tax breaks for
2 litre cars, so this helped sell fleet cars, but made for a car with little get-up-and-go. New premium “Vanden Plas” models offered
the leather and wood so eschewed by David Bache in his 1976 soft plastic vision of the
future. Although sales never took off, they did stay
respectable until it’s replacement by the Rover 800 in 1986. Quality did improve particularly when production
moved to Cowley, but the damage was done. Once production ended the plant got moved
to India where the “Standard 2000” was produced, but it never caught on and production
ended in 1988. The SD1 is a story of an opportunity missed. In the 60’s BL had two hit cars on their
hands with the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000. Instead of creating a common chassis and making
two separate models as car manufacturers do today, they focused on one model. What Spen King and David Bache came up with
was possibly their crowning achievement – a car ahead of its time, and something amazing. But management failed to successfully ramp
up the new Solihull factory and workers squandered the sales opportunities in the early days
with industrial action that not only affected the number of cars in the showroom, but Rover’s
image with the public. By the time these issues were fixed it was
all too late, and the executive saloon market had been lost to the competition. But the SD1 is still the timeless shape David
Bache hoped he’d created, and truly one of the most beautiful cars of the 20th century. If you liked this video, consider subscribing
and hit that like button. Thanks for watching and see you soon!
Good video, thanks. Pretty informative. The only exposure I’ve had with the Rover SD1 was Top Gear’s challenge video with the 3 British Leyland cars. Obviously one of the best and most entertaining bits the 3 boys ever did. What’s interesting with the video you posted, is that at the 2:48 mark, the guy named Peter Wilks looks exactly like Stephen Fry.
Cheers, will watch this later.
I need to own a Rover in my lifetime