The Rover SD1 Story

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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 Saint-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?

The Rover SD1 was also known as the Rover 2000, Rover 2300, Rover 2600, Rover V8 and Rover 3500. Whew!

Correction: when I mention "V6" I mean "straight 6".