Motoring Discussion > Rover P6 spare wheel Miscellaneous
Thread Author: BobbyG Replies: 20
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 17:38 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - BobbyG
Followed one of these today in Glasgow, lobvely looking car still in great condition. However, noticed that the spare wheel was mounted on the boot lid.

Was this standard for them or was this a retro modification? The car looked big enough that there would be space in the boot for the wheel? Would also really weigh the bootlid down when trying to put the shopping in and, I daresay, could even affect the handling having that weight sitting at that height?

I remember a friend had a Rover 800 Vitesse with sports kit including a huge spoiler on the boot and the struts would just not support the weight of it!

Curious about the P6 wheel though - were there other cars that had spares mounted this way at the time?
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 17:43 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Iffy
I recall a P6 we used to service which had a spare on the bootlid.

The boot of the car was not large, and the spare (when inside) used to sit upright to one side.

In the V8s, it was the spare one side and the battery the other - no room under the bonnet.

As regards the bootlid struts, I think the lid was spring loaded.

Might be wrong about that, it was 30-odd years ago.



Last edited by: Iffy on Wed 30 Mar 11 at 17:44
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 17:45 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Ted

I had a P6 and I remember the boot was not that big. The spare took up a lot of space, I think it was mounted upright.
I think the battery was in there with it.

I 'm sure it was a proper mod, maybe factory ?
Seen quite a few round the shows.


Ted
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 17:50 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Skip
Yes, it was an official opional extra due to the lack of boot space.
Fantastic car though, i have wanted a 3500S in monza red ever since my mates dad gave me a lift in his in about 1976, but i can see mine sitting in the garage just rusting away as there is not enough days in the week at the moment.
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 18:14 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - henry k
When the spare wheel is not on its mounting there is a large Rover badged boss to cover the hole
tinyurl.com/64k8f9u

tinyurl.com/6xhyxt7

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 Wed 30 Mar 11 19:14 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Robin O'Reliant
Still a lovely looking car, it would pass muster today.
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 20:33 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Bellboy
>> Still a lovely looking car, it would pass muster today.
>>
>well tell muster to get a move on then
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 22:00 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Harleyman
Had a 2000TC for a while, lovely car.

Don't think that magnificent steering wheel would pass today's safety standards though!
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 22:15 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - scousehonda
It was certainly a fine looking car but it wasn't only the boot that was small (hence the externally mounted spare wheel). The cabin was surprisingly tiny and not at all comfortable for anybody who was, shall we say, plump. And definitely only a four seater.
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 22:26 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - -
Good handling car, i had a 2000TC and then a 3500 auto, both facelift, the V8 was a lovely drive.

I overhauled the neglected by everyone else DeDion tube on both of them, once sealed and replenished with oil it completed the rear damping and made them very stable at high speed, the cars would laugh at speed humps and pot holes that would be unbearable in many modern cars.
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 Wed 30 Mar 11 23:12 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Skoda
>> DeDion tube

Sounds like something you'd go time travelling with GB :-)
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 07:19 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Iffy
...Sounds like something you'd go time travelling with GB :-)...

De Dion Bouton was once the world's largest car maker, and was respected for the quality and reliability of its products.

It was French, so that was a long time ago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion-Bouton

The De Dion tube suspension - as fitted to the Rover P6 - is still used in a handful of cars today.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion_tube

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 Thu 31 Mar 11 09:29 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Mike Hannon
I think the boot-mounted spare was described as the 'Continental Kit' - mainly because if you were touring there was, indeed, not much space in the boot with the spare wheel and the battery in there already.
At the time - and for the P6 afficionados since - it was a desirable extra. I never saw the point though and my P6B remained unadorned. It also made it very hard work to lift the boot lid and attracted little dents around it in the alloy.
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 09:44 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - -
>> Sounds like something you'd go time travelling with

Aptly put, IMO the P6 was far ahead of it's time, it had faults and the cramped boot was one of them, but the narrowed rear end didn't help things, the DeDion suspension set up needed a fair amount of room, but was so far ahead of many rivals in that the damping effect was superb, but more importantly the high speed stability was fantastic.
The front suspension was strange too, in that the coil springs were mounted horizontally and braced against the front bulkhead...which was therefore incredibly strong, as anyone who had a serious accident against the front end of one with a normal car would testify, never seen one with intrusion into the passenger cell under normal circs.

Met Police, and others, ran a number of these at the time, both in livery and crime cars in dark blue with just a blue light (and two tones?) on the roof.

A headache if they needed work were the rear brakes, which were inboard discs, mounted either side of the rear diff, though to be fair they were out of harms way and didn't get the salt battering, so were usually trouble free, even fitting new pads was a work of art mind.

The Mk4 Zephyr/Zodiac used the identical swinging caliper rear brake set up, but in the usual place...without fail these succumed to winter's ravages and the adjusting mechanism inside would seize, overhaul kits were obtainable but didn't always work.

The biggest problem with these was good old rust, as with every car of the day except Beetles?, apart from the front edge of the rear wings, the really bad point was sills...the outer sill was only a dust cover on these, not load bearing, the sills were made up of several sections and very strong, think box chassis standard, repair panels were available but doing the job properly was complicated, and time consuming, with several triple folded sections to be cut out and welded in, inner and outer, then a new outer sill cover was put on to make it all look pretty.

Of course most people didn't put the important sections in (2 day job to do it right), but simply welded a new outer sill on, gave the impression of fixed but probably 75% of the high strength of the sills disappeared...always wondered why MOT testers weren't aware of this.

Edit, would loved to have a new one again, and fill the bad places with Waxoyl, what a lovely car to own now.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 09:47
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 10:04 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Fenlander
P6 rust... yes it was always sad to view an apparent minter... then lift the rear seat squabs only to find the inner sills disolving behind that wonderful thick underfelt.

And that was 30yrs ago.
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 11:09 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Cliff Pope
Not as technically advanced nor as smooth the Triumph 2000, which incidentally was spacious inside and had a bigger boot.
They also sometimes had a boot-mounted spare wheel, but that I think was a modification.

I've now moved on to a Series LandRover with a bonnet-mounted spare wheel weighing half a ton.
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 11:23 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Fenlander
The character of the Rover 4cyl engine was always a bit gruff and no match for the Triumph straight 6. That seemed to affect the whole feel of the car. Agree about the lack of room in the Rover for extra or larger people but for any average sizes it was very comfortable and held all 4 folks securely during fast driving. Once they put the V8 into the Rover it evened up the Rover/Triumph debate.

I'm still casually thinking of a modest classic and keep looking at the Triumph 2000/2500/Stag range with interest.
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 11:34 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Iffy
I has a P6 V8 auto.

It was grey, with four fibre glass wings in a different shade of grey.

The other problem was the contact breaker points.

The cam had eight lobes which was too many for even firing if the distributor was worn, which mine was.

Aftermarket electronic ignition was the best fix.

Unfortunately, I was broke at the time, so I struggled on with the knackered dizzy.

Buying the Rover in that condition was foolish when I didn't have enough money fettle it.
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 12:16 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Mike Hannon
The P6 2000 certainly wasn't as refined as the Triumph 2000 but I know which I would rather have been in when a corner tightened up unexpectedly. You could 4-wheel drift easily, too, in full control. And the V8 was another story.
I was a fool to sell mine but a friend literally waved a wad of notes in front of my nose the week before we moved to France. You very, very rarely see a nice one over here.

>>I'm still casually thinking of a modest classic and keep looking at the Triumph 2000/2500/Stag range with interest.<<

Never, ever, think casually about a Stag.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 12:18
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 12:31 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Fenlander
>>>Never, ever, think casually about a Stag.

You mean because of the engine?
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 Thu 31 Mar 11 12:48 
 Rover P6 spare wheel - Fenlander
>>> I know which I would rather have been in when a corner tightened up unexpectedly.

After previous lesser cars I remember my first P6 Rover 2000 and its amazing handling stability for the day. I remember telling Mrs F (to be back then) it was the first car I'd driven where you could brake hard in a corner without upset.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 12:48
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