Lot Ended
Description
Luxurious three-position drophead coupe; smooth straight-six engine;
older restoration in super condition; recent care and attention and driven
40+ miles to the sale
Launched in 1937, it is fair to say that the
Rover P2 came as a revelation to the middle class motorist at which it was
aimed. Beautifully built and trimmed, it was in a different league to most other
cars in its class and offered levels of refinement associated with the kind of
upmarket cars that most people could only dream of owning in the
1940s.
This particular car is a very rare Tickford-built Drophead Coupe,
one of only around 177 dropheads made of all types and has the smooth 1,901cc
straight-six engine mated to a four-speed gearbox with synchromesh on the top
two ratios. Copies of the factory chassis records show that it was built in
March 1939, while other documents show that it went to South Africa in 1948
where it was to remain for the next five decades.
Returning to the UK in
1997, it's previous owner acquired it shortly afterwards and embarked on a full
restoration of the car with the results you see today. The engine was in fine
fettle having already been rebuilt and converted to run on unleaded fuel
(invoice on file) and much time and money was spent to bring all the other
mechanical parts up to the same standard. The bodywork was restored and
repainted and the interior professionally retrimmed in red leather by A Touch of
Class. A lined mohair hood was specially made and fitted and it was also treated
to a new wiring loom, an uprated electric cooling fan and a stainless steel
exhaust.
During his ownership it was garaged and used sparingly in fine
weather only and enjoyed greatly until it was sold by ourselves in 2019 to its
current owner.
Since then, the car has covered very few miles but has had
constant attention. Upon purchase, our vendor took it to Fisher
Restorations for a thorough check through and assessment. They issued a report
which was passed to RetroMarques who undertook the work, which included a
thorough service to get it running sweetly, replacing brake clevis pins,
attending to the driver's window regulator, removing the road springs and
sending them off to be reset and retempered, fit a new nearside rear shock
absorber and reassemble. They also fitted four new tyres (2021) and a new tube
for the spare and checked the lights and fitted new bulbs etc as
necessary.
A spare gearbox is included in the sale along with an original
handbook, several Pitman books on the model, several other interesting books
relating to the model and a period sales brochure for the contemporary Rover
saloon range plus some photos of the car while in South Africa. An exceedingly
rare and handsome machine, it is sure to draw lots of attention on the show
circuit and you are most unlikely to see another for sale any time soon.
For more information contact: matthew.parkin@brightwells.com