How to prolong the life of your petrol-engined car!

[:::Jerry::::]

The information I have is that he (William Martin-Hurst ?) was actually walking around the Buick R&D dept. on other business at the time, he spotted one of the engines (obviously abandoned) and asked about it, he was told it was out of production due to being too small for current needs. After a quick measure, verbal agreement was made there and then for Rover to buy the rights to it.

Nothing what so ever to do with any 'Motor Show' and I don't think there was any boat yard connection either, but Dave could well be correct in why the people from Rover were in the USA.

[Aidan]

Could it possibly have been agricultural red diesel he was using? No fuel tax on it. Customs & Excise regularly target diesel engined road vehicles used by those with access to red diesel.

"...his car has so far lasted 30 years...."

It may work on a 30 year old engine (Land Rover maybe), but it is probably worth nothing more than it's weight as scrap, so the financial risk is small. I'm not sure I'd like to try it on a modern expensive car engine.

[IMM]

which is wrong.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

More misinformation and no apology for getting the dates wrong.

My version is straight out of David Hardcastle's book on the Rover V-8 and agrees with other reports of the same tale.

One of the main reasons GM abandoned all aluminium engines at that time - apart from cost and the development of thin wall cast iron techniques - was the high warranty claims due to the refusal of the average red neck to pay for anti-freeze or proper inhibitor. They were used to just draining an engine if frost was likely and then filling with plain water. Add to that the use of bolts straight into the aluminium which required care in setting to the correct torque - and the use of special thread sealer to prevent leaks from the water jacket. Far too sophisticated an engine for run of the mill US cars.

I can thoroughly recommend David Hardcastle's book The Rover V8 Engine for the whole story.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I can remember 'my' version being first told in Motor Sport and Autocar when the UK version was launched. And it's in all the Rover history books I've got. I'm pretty certain it's also in William Martin-Hurst's autobiography - and he was the Rover MD at the time. The bit about GM not knowing about Rover and ignoring their telexes on the subject is also well documented. Which explains the delay in the cessation of US production ('63) and the 4 year wait for it to enter UK production.

[IMM]

[:::Jerry::::]

Well I first heard the story regarding how Rover got the engine was via an ex BL (Morris) R&D person, I also read mush the same in one of the classic car magazines.

I suspect it was possible that as the initial 'agreement' (AIUI) was verbal, which was quite a common way of doing business in those days, not everyone in the chain knew what had been agreed.

I don't think our versions are to far apart, it's possible that the Rover MD first set eyes on the engine elsewhere and then when looking for the people who built it IYSWIM.

[:::Jerry::::]

Well, if I am, I'm not as completely wrong as you are !

[:::Jerry::::]

aka, IMM knows that he is wrong but can't face admitting the fact....

[Kaiser]

I think you'll find Andy Dingley is correct if you refer to the site below.

[IMM]

They can't even get the decades right.

[:::Jerry::::]

The above is an obvious typo / miss-print, considering that later it says "The deal was hammered out during the winter months of 1964 and by the following January, the engine was the property of Rover.".

It helps to read fully something you are intent on trying to discredit....

[IMM]

.....written by amateurs who don't know about life.

[Kaiser]

It also says that the deal was hammered out in the winter months of 1964. So no doubt negotiations would have started in 63.

[Mike]

Depends on how good Italian steel is :-)

There was a place called Eurosports near Cambridge who experimented with this and I think got about 50% success rate but I've got several Italian cars in the barn with no way of powering them.

[Mike]

About 20 minutes I expect. Which is all they ever managed in rally cars in the early 80s before Mobil 1 came along.

[Mike]

First car I saw after making this statement this morning was a Punto and I'm sure they only changed to carbs quite recently so I think they managed to pass the regs with carbns before realising injection was cheaper.

The SU was actually a really clever design and a bit of investment in electronics would have made engines like the TR6's quite good.

I agree - provided you have the technology. I'm sure I just recall Top Gear slagging off some cars for still using carbs in a show series before last. Can't remember which ones though.

BTW - what do Morgans use nowadays :-)

[Mike]

Wasn't my quote I'm afraid.

But cars can use red diesel on the road - provided they are solely used for agricultural use. This of necessity implies a) you live on the farm and b) you have another vehicle to drive to Tesco !

[John Rumm]

Why do you think a synthetic would cool better than a mineral oil?

(I can see that it may result in less heat generation in the first place if it reduces friction as a result of lubricating better, but that is not "cooling" as such).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A BMW V-8 complete. Now the Rover unit is no more.