Rover Club of Otago Tribune

October

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE CAR CLUB OF OTAGO

Web site: www.trccoo.freeservers.com

Club Contacts 2003/2004

CLUB PRESIDENT Norman Sparrow 20 Milburn St Dunedin Ph 4876275 E-mail [email protected]

TREASURER. Neil Shearer 16 Porterfield Street Dunedin Ph 4761571 E-mail [email protected]

SECRETARY John Moore 10 Dalrymple Street Dunedin Ph 4737942

Newsletter Editor Jeff Sparrow 90J Carroll Street Dunedin Ph 025 279 5423 E-mail [email protected]

Committee Walton Brown (Technical Officer) Nick Henderson (Southland Rep.) Bill Falconer Roy Sinclair National Rally Bernie & Steph Halford Ph:03 487 6870

The Otago Rover Tribune is published by the Rover Car Club of Otago. The views or opinions expressed by individuals are not necessarily those of the club.

Web: www.trccoo.freeservers.com

IGNITION. October 2003.

This months meeting had the normal number of attendees, see meeting minutes, with discussions centred on the Centennial Rally and the proposal to submit a "remit" to the upcoming ARCC AGM in Queenstown "that the ARCC annual rally be held on a bi-annual basis between the North & South Islands". This "remit" is to be submitted.

Last weekend was the McLeans Island Swap meet which was held on a busy sports weekend this year it seems.

We are hoping for a good turnout of Rovers at the Tokomaru A& P Show, Milton on December 13th. Good weather guaranteed at that time (we hope), with an evening BBQ. There is also the West Otago A& P Show at Tapanui on the 22nd November. So with the warmer weather on the horizon we have some very good excuses to go Roving.

My P5 Coupe is back on the road again while Reid is having the upholstery re- vitalised at present.

Another very original and barely run in P4 is at present having some TLC at Walton’s, but I'll leave the "engine room" to comment on this item in due course.

The Rally committee meeting this month at "Bernie’s" , discussed sponsorship and concern that Rally information news updates were not apparently being published by some of the other Rover Clubs.

Regarding sponsors, each member is being asked to obtain one sponsors products. This will allow us to have a number of fun as well as the normal ARCC awards.

Well that enough from me, see you at the next monthly meeting or Tapanui or Milton.

Safe & Happy Roving.

Norman S President

A NOVICES GUIDE TO THE CONTROLS

Adapted from “Belt Up” by Norman Thelwell

Note: This is a left hand drive not an error in copying.

1. RHEOSTAT, “ICELERT” WARNING LIGHT – has 2 settings – snowbank and avalanche. 2. TEST BUTTON, “ICELERT’ WARNING LIGHT – malfunctions in cold weather. 3. WARNING LIGHT, “ICELERT” – indicates that you are snowed in. 4. OIL PRESSURE GAUGE – a steady needle indicates that you have run out of oil. 5. AMMETER – needle distracts driver by swinging energetically to left and right. 6. IGNITION WARNING LIGHT - continuous red indicates an electrical fault. ( no red light indicates an electrical fault ). 7. DIRECTION ARROW – indicates you turned left 5 minutes ago. 8. SPEEDOMETER – needle moves left automatically on sight of a police car. 9. HIGH BEAM WARNING LIGHT – indicates that oncoming drivers are about to flash their lights in your eyes. 10. BREAK WARNING LIGHT – remind you that the brakes may fail at any time. 11. TACHOMETER – steady needle indicates that the engine is not working. 12. OIL PRESSURE WARNING LIGHT – a steady green light indicates that the engine has seized. 13. DIRECTION ARROW – indicates you turned right 5 minutes ago. 14. FUEL GAUGE – steady needle indicates that you have run out of petrol. 15. WATER TEMPERATURE GAUGE – needle moves toright at furthest possible distance from any available water , eg: the middle of Nullarbor Plain. 16. FUEL RESERVE WARNING LIGHT – to worry you at all times. 17. CLOCK – remains stuck at 25 past 1. 18. TRIP METER CONTROL – placed inconspicuously so that you forget to use it. 19. RHOSTAT, PANEL LIGHTS – causes panel lights to flicker on & off. ( mainly off ). 20. DIPPER SWITCH – jams on high beam through lack of use. 21. SWITCH FOR HEATED BACK LIGHT , WHEN FITTED - not fitted. 22. BONNET . RELEASE (inside glove box ) – releases bonnet lock except at service stations. 23. FACE LEVEL VENT – produces icicles in winter and stupor in summer. 24. HEADLAMP FLASHER SWITCH – so you can wreak revenge on oncoming drivers. 25. WIPER DELAY CONTROL – delays wipers until rain has stopped. 26. COLUMN RAKE ADJUSTER KNOB – pins driver to seat when released. 27. INDICATOR AND HORN SWITCH – allows you to sound horn when cornering. 28. IGNITION SWITCH – ( Keys cannot be recovered if doors are slammed. Break glass with jack supplied ). 29. FUEL RESERVE SWITCH – helps you discover that you are really out of petrol. 30. HAZARD WARNING SWITCH – for use when you don’t know which way to turn. 31. INTERIOR LIGHT SWITCH – Hazardous to use in dark. 32. SWITCH FOR SIDE, PARK, HEADLAMPS AND FOGLAMPS – to allow you to turn on the wrong light at the wrong time. 33. WIPER SWITCH – produces monotonous squeal or throb while squirting water. 34. CIGAR LIGHTER – enables you to pollute the air and burn your fingers. 35. ROTARY MAP LIGHT – enables you to read rotary maps.

Not Illustrated

ASHTRAY – produces twanging noise, traps fingers, flies into rear of the car. GLOVE BOX – storage for gloves and boxes. RADIO – Produces depressing news reports and police traffic warnings. FAN – produces an alarming hissing noise. GEAR LEVER – produces an alarming crunching noise. BREAK PEDAL – throws passengers violently forwards. CLUTCH PEDAL - throws passengers violently backwards. ACCELERATOR PEDAL – produces illusions of power. HAND BREAK – produces a burning smell and poor engine performance. BREAK RELEASE BUTTON – produces sore thumb.

Links to other Rover Pages

The Rover Car Club of Auckland http://www.rover.org.nz// Nelson Rover Car Club http://www.rover.org.nz/pages/nelson.htm Waikato Rover Car Club http://www.waikato-rover.co.nz/

The Rover Car Club http://www.tripnet.se/rcos/indexe.html Rover Links http://www.tripnet.se/rcos/roverlinke.html The Rover Sports Register http://www.uk-classic-cars.com/rsr.htm

The Rover P4 Drivers Guild http://www.roverp4.com/ The Owners Club http://www.roverp5club.org.uk/ The Drivers Club http://www.p6club.com/

Rover Car Club of Australia http://www.rovercarclubaust.asn.au/ The Rover Owners Club (Sydney) http://www.roverownersclub.com.au/

Rover Saloon Touring Club of America http://clubs.hemmings.com/rovercar/index.html Toronto Area Rover Club http://www.roverclub.org/

The Rover Owners Club of Denmark http://www.roverownersclub.dk/

Rover Club Schweiz (Switzerland) http://www.limmat.ch/roverclub/index_e.html

The Dutch Rover SD1 Friends http://members.tripod.com/~RoverSD_1/ The Vanden Plas Owners Club http://www.vpoc.org/ OneList http://surf.agri.ch/rover-tomcat/ The SD1 Rally car http://www.dannervirke.info/history.htm

This is a list of the links we have on our web page. Please forward any other links you think should be added.

Minutes of September Meeting 1/10/03

Present: Norman Sparrow, Jeff Sparrow, Terry Bough, Reid Buchan, Walton Brown, Bernie Halford, John Moore,

Apologies: Roy Sinclair & Neil Shearer

Mail – Newsletters & Postage account.

Remit: - ARCC Rally every two years. Moved : N.Sparrow Seconded : . Seconded : Bernie Halford Passed.

That the remit be submitted (with an explaination ) as published in the Sept newsletter.

Coming Events: McLeans Island Swapmeet – Oct 11.12.13 Several members from Otago Club will be attending.

Milton A & P show 13th Dec. BBQ before returning home.

Meeting closed.

Next meeting: 5th November.

Otago Rover Car Club.

Suggested & Organised Events 2003.

Nov: · Monthly meeting 5th · 2nd Post Vintage Car Club, Vesper /Seagull Rally Day at Henley. We are Fundraising on the BBQ. Postponed to 9th Nov if weather inclement. · South Otago Branch Vintage Car Club run to Tapanui A & P Show.

Dec: · Monthly meeting 3rd. · 13th Milton A & P Show. BBQ before returning home.

2004

· January. Holiday

· February. · 4th Monthly meeting. Rovers Return followed by a meal.

· March · 3rd Monthly meeting at the University Staff Club · 27/28th Wigram Classics Wigram Airfield, Christchurch.

· April. · 9th to 12th ARCC Centennial Rally Easter in Queenstown.

Monthly meetings 1st Wednesday each month. University Staff Club at 7:30pm

THE AUTOMOBILE, MAY 19

TWO FACES of the VIKING

Above: The sporty Light Six gave 70mph for £325 in 1930 but sacrificed practicality as a touring car.

James Worth Photos by MrlanMltch and Alan Milstead ROVER IN THE THIRTIES The history of Rover is, to an extent, a history of paradox, encompassing as it does a manufacturing policy which seems to have espoused, alternately, ultra utility and solid middle class quality and which at times has produced both simultaneously. From the E. W. Lewis-designed single cylinder pf 1904 the company graduated to the well-made Clegg-designed Twelve which remained in production from 1912 until 1924, and Sunbeams were built during the 1914-1918 war for the War Department. . The immediate post-Great war period, however, saw the introduction of the air-cooled flat-twin Eight, a near cycle-car which was eventually killed off by the Austin Seven, but only after some 17,000 had found customers up to 1925, The latter half of the twenties saw production split between worthy but not very exciting OHB Tens on the one hand, and expensive and advanced four cylinder overhead camshaft types with 2.2 and 2.5 litre engines, with hemispherical combustion chambers. The smaller of these, the 14/45 won the RAC’s Dewar Trophy for fifty consecutive ascents of Bwlch-y-Groes. The car which carried the firm into the thirties, however, was the less complicated overhead valve two litre bevel driven 'six' introduced in 1928. and selling quite well at £410. By 1930, however, it had become the Light Six, providing 70mph for just £325, albeit at the expense of practicality. A rakish appearance, emphasized by close-fitting cycle-type wings, heavily raked back screen, close-coupled fabric bodywork and step plates in place of running boards, was in marked contrast to the rather staid and perpendicular models which had preceded it.

In January 1930, Dudley Noble and F. Bennett driving a. Light Six beat the BlueTrain, which runs from the Riviera to Calais. The total distance was 800 miles, and the car beat the train by 20 minutes, giving Rover a good theme for advertisements at a time when depression, following the collapse of the American Stock Market on Wall Street the previous year, had begun to bite.

But the light Six was not the only model fielded by the Company in 1930. The Ten (or 10/25 as it was known) continued in production, and in many ways echoed what Sir John Black was doing down the road at Standard. Fabric bodies (admittedly more stylish at Rover) were wedded to a rather depressing specification which included worm final drive, twin-bearing-crank engines, a three speed box and radiators which had proclaimed the identity of their respective marques for the previous twenty years. The Family Ten 10/25 was given new bodywork but the mechanics remained the same.

Both companies also fielded a two litre six, but Rover's was the more successful - probably because the company offered such a bewildering array of options on the same basic chassis. In addition to its sporty Light Six, saloons and coupes in a variety of forms were available from £398, and another £40 would buy you the "Regal" treatment wire wheels, a sun roof, and bumpers. Other period trip-trappery to lure the customers included coloured steering wheels and road wheels (a ployespoused by Standard, too). Halfway through the year a 2.5 litre six- the Meteor, named after Rover's works, was introduced. Rated at 20hp, and intended to cater for those who required more power, it also acquired four speeds (an option also offered belatedly on the-Light_Six) and modern styl-ing which was to set the scene at West Orchard for the 1931 season. Gone was the antedeluvian flat radiator (which also no longer sprouted headlamps like ears on either side), and in its place a shallower, vee-ed affair with typical centre vertical chrome strip ushered in a new, but scarcely elegant age. Economy measures which dictated that both the 2 litre Light Six and the 10/ 25 should share the same bodyshell did little for appearances with the former boasting a bonnet which would not have disgraced a straight-eight, and the latter looking as if it was about to sit down in the road. Another gimmick which en- joyed but a short life, and for which there is no logical explanation, was the use of 'dress guards' - a peculiar arrangement whereby an extension of the rear passenger doors overlapped and echoed the line of the rear wings. Extra weight, an ugly appearance and doubtful weather protection for the rear seal occupants. (The idea was that, when the door was open, there was a clean section of rear wing which would not soil a lady's long evening dress should it brush against it. –Editor). Under its new dress, however, the 10/25 was little altered, and gear ratios of 5.2, 9.8 and 19.5 to 1 ensured a depressingly pedestrian performance. On the credit side, however, the Ten was the cheapest available in its class on the British market, and at 36mpg was also creditably frugal. Initially offered al £189 (at which price you got safety glass only in the windscreen) and reduced by a tenner before the year was out, the basic model was ripe for the bolt-on goodie market. Rover actually managed to find 8,50C customers for the Ten in 1931, but its six cylinder range became more and more complicated. The Meteor was offered both in 16hp form and as a long wheelbase limousine at £545, but in addition a little-publicized sporting model was created by shoe-homing the 2.5 litre Twenty engine into a Light Six chassis. This work was actually carried out in Rover's Service Depot at Seagrave suspects that this was something in the nature of an act of desperation by the egotistical Colonel Searle who controlled the company's destiny at this time.

These custom included Whittingham & Mitchel, R.E.A.L., Grose of Northampton, and Charlesworth of , Napier's old in-house coachbuilders, Cunard, Salmons of Newport Pagnell and Archie Maddox of Huntingdon, and resulted in no less than thirty different body types by 1933. Searle promised his dealers that 1932 would be their 'Golden Year' - a gold painted Pilot was on display at Henly's- in Camden Town where this speech was delivered - and claimed that 1931 had been a record year for pro- duction which placed the company in the No.3 position in Britain. Clearly, his figures were erroneous, and when at the end of 1932 the company turned in a deficit of £279,024 8s 6d (pre-decimal) it became obvious that his predictions. and his methods were equally so. An assembly plant in Wellington, New Zealand which had cost £60,000 was now more of a liability than an asset, and it seems that Searle's hard-sell tactics and American sales methods had fallen between two stools. On the one hand, the large cars were proving too expensive for the depression-ridden economy - despite reduced-production only two fifths of.the output of large cars had sold, half the quantity required for a satisfactory financial return. On the other, the firm had concentrated upon emphasizing the low price of the cheaper models, rather than their quality and reliability, and many of them had been put together with less care than the company's reputation merited.

The dashboard of a 1931 Family Ten had 'real wood' but did not convey the solid quality image of the later 1930s. The Rover Viking.

Despite a doubling of the number of agents in 1931, manufacturing capacity at Meteor Works, Helen Street and the Tyseley factory had not been fully utilised, and there were rumblings from the dealers themselves, many of whom were fed up with the warranty claims they were facing as a result of a two year guarantee allied to faulty workmanship.

Matters came to a head with the appointment of H. Howe Graham, a accountant, as 'company doctor’. As a result of his recommendations, the Meteor Works were sold, staff was reduced and the manufacturing programme was cut back. Immediate savings...of £1000.00 a year were the result Quite the most drastic recommendation, however, concerned quality control. Dealers and the public were fed up With fabric- bodied Rovers - many of them only a year or so old - looking like "flak-damaged Wellington bombers", as George Oliver so aptly puts it. Reorganization resulted in "a passionate concentration on the establishment of high standards of qualitity". Such a volte face where, previously, quantity had been the watchword, might conceivably have been a recipe for disaster had Rover not decided to make a virtue out of its - falling sales graph. The effects of this new thinking were first seen in the 1933 programme, with well-considered improvements to each model, but no expensive change to their basic design. Production during 1932/3 was reduced, but qualify - and with it, satisfied customers and dealers - was up, and finance picked up accordingly.

The firm's slogan for 1934 epitomized the metamorphosis - "The quality came first - the price followed". Searle departed in 1932, Howe Graham joined the Board, and in 1933 Spencer -Wilk became managing-director. Under his guidance, there was a bank credit of £34,000 at the end of 1933/4, but the company received massive help from its suppliers, too, prominent among whom were Joseph Lucas Ltd. Better factory styling obviated the need for custom bodies - only the drophead sixes of 1939 and 1940 survived in Rover's catalogues after 1933 - and improvements included the famous free-wheel, and Lockheed hydraulic brakes. The free- wheel permited clutchless gearchanging and obviated the need for syncromesh, which Rover didn't adopt until 1939. The Pilot was uprated. to 14hp, its increased 61mm bore producing 40bhp against the 30bhp of its predecessor, and for £228 the Ten Special came with the refinement of spiral bevel drive (the last 200 worm-drives types were sold during the same 1933 model year).

By 1934 the image had changd with the slogan By 1937 the influence of the Sports Saloon bodies "the quality came first - the price followed". passed on to the 'ordinary' saloons as you can see This is a 1935 10hp saloon from this 12hp example.

By 1936 the sports Saloon offered much more refinement than the 1930 model.

Rover also made a bid to capture some of the market held by the Alvis Speed Twenty and similar models. This 4-door tourer probably has a body by Charlesworth.

The thirties, particularly the latter half of the decade, saw an increasing interest in rallying, and sporting cHstomers were catered for by the 2.5 litre Speed Twenty, together with a triplecarb Speed Pilot with underslung rear end, special frame and available only with custom bodywork to customer's choice. Charlesworth's version was popular at £350 as a close-coupled saloon. In this guise, the Speed Pilot would return 80mph and a a creditable 22mpg. These models were, however, transitional clnd although the Meteor Sixteen and Speed Twenty were destined to soldier on into 1935, a new range of models was introduced which was to be the basis of Rover prod uction for the next fifteen years. Chassis were underslung at the rear, seating was located within the wheelbase, an innovation pioneered by Riley's Nine in 1926, and harmonic stabilizers were built into the front bumpers. Gearchanging was by remote control, but positive, and all touring models employed down- draught carburation. Hydraulic braking was eschewed on all but the Fourteen, Girling rod-type being introduced on the new Ten and Twelve models, and Lucas Startix starting was standardized (albeit only for a short time). 1934 engines were of the three bearing type, the new Ten being a larger and heavier car than its predecessor with23.75cwt all up, and a 1.4 litre power unit. The Twelve was only slightly larger at 1496cc, whilst the Fourteen continued with a 1577cc unit which had its origins in the old Pilot Twelve. It comfortably accommodated five persons on its 112in chassis ( later 115in) and in six-light saloon form these three models retailed at £238, £268 and £288 respectively. . Alternative body styles included coupes and sports saloons, the interior appointments of which reflecte<;! the new quality image, and a two-door sports tourer with concealed hood. Parcel nets, opening screens, bags of wood and leather, pull-out trays for tools, remote-control rear blinds and other interior refinements were followed, in 1935, by centralized chassis lubrication.

The last echo of late 30s elegance was seen in the early post-war models like this 1947 16hp Sports Saloon.

Very few of these drophead coupes were made in the late 30s. This is an early 1939 example.

As the Speed Fourteen, the Speed Pilot survived into 1936 providing 80-85mph maximum speed and 0- 50mph in 14 seconds, by which time there were two new fastback Fourteens too - a four-door coupe and a six-light saloon. The slogan "One of Britain's Fine Cars" - which could certainly not have been applied to the 1931-32 range - was now firmly adopted, and 1937 saw a new, low, line on all but the Ten, which was itself restyled, and which gave the marque an elegance for which Triumph had striven, but only SS Jaguars had previously achieved. So harmonious was the result that it was to be another eight years before any significant changes would be made in Rover styling, with the advent of the P4 range. As the decade progressed, the tendencey towards closed cars increased, and the tourers were dropped from the catalogue - to reappear but briefly in 12hp form in 1947. A new Speed Twenty, although capable of 80mph from its single carb 2.5 litres, lacked the out-and- out sporty image of its earlier namesake, and it can be seen in retrospect that the company had achieved for itself a solid middle class clientele similar to that which had espoused the Clegg-designed Twelve over twenty years before. The new 2147cc Sixteen emphasized the move into a social strata dominated by those for whom ( as the late Michael Sedgwick said) "An Armstrong Siddeley was too stolid, a Jaguar too flashy, a Humber too large, and Wolseley too much of a glorified Morris". Only detailed styling changes signalled the 1938 models, whilst in 1939 came the long-awaited synchromesh, albeit on the two upper ratios only, and a six- light body for the Ten which brought it into line with the elegance of its larger stablemates. In the same year the Fourteen was enlarged to 1.9 litres, all six cylinder models acquiring anti-roll bars whilst Tickford drophead coachwork (available the year before only on the Ten) appeared also on the Fourteen, Sixteen and Twenty. Production was never large, hovering between 10,000 and 11,000 units in the last three years of the decade, but with vastly reduced overheads and increased profitability. Built-in jacking systems, available initially on the Sixteen and Twenty, were extended to the Twelve in 1940 but price remained stable with only' the Ten's 1939 re-styling responsible for an uplift from £248 to £275. Some 1940 models (with optional radio) reached customers, but air raids during the war meant that when production again commenced in 1946 it would be from the erstwhile shadow factory at Solihull. Postwar austerity also dictated the dropping of the Twenty and coupes, whilst material shortages dictated that only 15,732 cars left the works from 1945 to 1948. In 1948 the P3 series boasted new inlet-over-exhaust engines (said by some to have been based on the 1931 four litre unit) of 1.6 and 2.1 litres and coil spring independent suspension but still the old pre-war body shapes. It was not until the advent of the P4 (the Auntie Rover) in 1950 that a new slabsided era arrived - to howls of "heresy" from traditional Rover devotees. Fourteen years later and with 130,242 P4s in circulation, similar noises were made upon the of the 2000 - but that's another story._