Built at Solihull, the Rover SD1 was introduced in June 1976 initially in V8 3500 guise, with the straight six versions following in November 1977. Priced at £4750.20 (including front seat belts!), it represented good value for money compared to its executive car rivals.
The car was lauded for its handsome modern styling (with more than a hint of Ferrari Daytona), versatile hatchback and strong performance. The early interiors typify the seventies with their deeply sculpted (often beige) velour seats and distinctive steering wheel and dash pod.
In 1982 a major mid-life facelift coincided with production being moved to Cowley, when a 2000cc model and 2400 turbo diesel was also added to the range. 1984 saw the introduction of the 190bhp fuel injected Vitesse and range-topping Vanden Plas EFi.
Sadly, as was often the case with British Leyland products, the cars were dogged by bad build quality and workforce disputes that, despite numerous improvements over its life, tarnished the SD1's reputation. This is pity because from a design point of view it had very few rivals.
The design of this t shirt features a very early 3500, the SD1 in its purest form and pays tribute to the original launch advertising in terms of wording and typeface with a distressed style overlaid onto it. The high contrast style of the image means that it is only available in black, but the good news is that sizes go all the way up to 5XL!
Read the story of the Rover SD1 here on the excellent aronline website. -
MG Head Gasket T Shirt As a lover of old cars, I'm in quite a few related FaceBook groups and, much as I enjoy these, there's plenty of tired old clichés to be found in the comments section, repeated over and over. One of the most common has to be the old 'head gasket' jokes on anything featured that is even remotely Rover/MG. This is despite the fact that it only affects some 4 cylinder 'K' Series engines (not diesels, V6s etc), and is relatively cheap to fix. Blown head gaskets are also a common issue for quite a few other brands too, but somehow they never seem to be targeted. A more informed write-up on the revolutionary K series engine can be found here. As a Rover/MG owner myself, rather than let it frustrate me, I thought I would channel my energy into something more productive, so I came up with these t-shirts. They come in a choice of 6 colours with some available all the way upto 5XL and are a great way to deflect the jokes before they even start. They may well become part of an occasional 'car cliché' series, along with other favourites such as; any Jaguar - 'it's just a Mondeo', any Italian exotic - 'It's an MR2 kit', Reliant Scimitar - 'Princess Anne had one' etc, etc... -
Built at Solihull, the Rover SD1 was introduced in June 1976 initially in V8 3500 guise, with the straight six versions following in November 1977. Priced at £4750.20 (including front seat belts!), it represented good value for money compared to its executive car rivals. The car was lauded for its handsome modern styling (with more than a hint of Ferrari Daytona), versatile hatchback and strong performance. The early interiors typify the seventies with their deeply sculpted (often beige) velour seats and distinctive steering wheel and dash pod. In 1982 a major mid-life facelift coincided with production being moved to Cowley, when a 2000cc model and 2400 turbo diesel was also added to the range. 1984 saw the introduction of the 190bhp fuel injected Vitesse and range-topping Vanden Plas EFi. Sadly, as was often the case with British Leyland products, the cars were dogged by bad build quality and workforce disputes that, despite numerous improvements over its life, tarnished the SD1’s reputation. This is pity because from a design point of view it had very few rivals.The design of this mouse mat features a very early 3500, the SD1 in its purest form and pays tribute to the original launch advertising in terms of wording and typeface. Read the story of the Rover SD1 here on the excellent aronline website.
