Back in April. 2022 I learned of a special and quite rare little Rover sitting down in Meath, Ireland. A 1 owner sub 45k mile example.
Parked up since before the pandemic........ Under a layer of bird dung, moss and grime.
Base spec. Manual windows. Nothing upon nothing extra. So I hit a full hard on and few down to buy it.
Now instantly at a glance you'd be thinking if you don't know your Rover's that's just a black Rover 25, and yes its the 80bhp version of the 1.4 commerce van.
It's 100% rot free. This being the "new" shape, being one of 30 made, and from what we have tracked down the only factory pearl black mk2 commerce according to the build records (excluding the MG versions obviously).
So home it came and it needed a dam good cleaning having been used to transport huskies and gold clubs exclusively for its entire life, but was overall not bad at all.
So once it passed mot, I had to get a towbar for it, as its going to be my daily (and is now), and when the rear end was off, stone chipped the back half of the car and wax oiled up behind the bumper etc, repainted the towbar and sorted all that good stuff as you should.
Now it wasn't without its fault, and it needed to be imported, registered and tested etc. Anyone else wouldn't have bothered but you lot know me and Rover's.
So before mot to begin with, the BCU was the main issue, along with a alternator that was seized solid.
And of course its at the back of the dash, and it's a pain to get at, so it went for refurbishment, and when it was back Mark at MGR-NI tested it for me, did some configuration adjustments for me so it's setup to do every possible upgrade to the car ever in the future, and once the clocks where changed that was the awkward parts done.
Full brake overhaul using mtec discs & pads, and the new alternator and she went to mot, confusing the mot staff that it was a van not a car, and all the usual psv mot stuff, but regardless it was all sorted in the end, then it was 8 weeks of waiting on log book so I could register my plate on it.
Stuff like the heater had completely burned out, which was always a common issue, but with the new ceramic replacements it's a done for life job now.
Head lights where also in a serious state, and took several passes with 3m kit to sort but got there in the end before the mot.
Then I went daft.
At this stage things kinda went crazy, I spent a few more days valeting the car and paid for a basic paint overhaul with a local valetor which really helped with the paint oxidised over it.
The reason being I took a pile of photos for it to be featured in a classic commercial magazine soon as the end of Austin commercial vehicles / Freight Rover / LDV etc. I'm still awaiting publication date.
The car came out really well, and I must admit I take pride in it, having taken it to a few classic meets now the Rover folks do ask about it, and mostly ask how much would buy it *laughs*.
Since I've changed the car to the 105bhp upgrades, and boy it really helps. After that it will be leather seats and lpg. Even then I kinda like the cloth as it is a van.
It's so cheap to run, road tax on it being a sub 1.5 private van is £11 a month and insurance is under £200 before I add my extras to it. And it's touching 40mpg all day long now, with all the comfort a nice 25 can bring.
And then in last few weeks I'd got a few of the bits sorted I'd really wanted.
Mk2 Rover 45 connoisseur 16 rims, and painted gloss black. Really happy with how this has turned out as my new daily so I can keep my 75s and zt's preserved long term and save some money to get the work done on them they deserve.
And then got to work today with a decent wax and clean using Anachem products. Turned out very nice.
My last remaining job is my main winter project..
I'm planing to build a mould that will allow for the fitting of a 9 inch android screen above the vents.
Not loosing the vents at all, but integrated into the top panel, I've a spare one so it will be plastic welding and fibreglass to make it as oem as possible, then I will likely have it painted pbt, along with other interior bits to match to give it an oem premium look.
Again everything is designed to be reversable should I choose in the future.
But that's it!
