Back to back: Mk3 Rover or Mk2 Jag?

• 

It’s all about image, and if we must believe auctioneers Brightwells, who offer another grand stash of classics during their Leominster sale on the 7th of March, the good old Rover P4 was mostly beloved ‘by chaps who wear tweed and smoke pipes’. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Rover looked ahead and introduced, in 1958, the P5. The example they have for sale next week is a lovely Mk3 (1966) car with the 3-Litre six-cylinder engine and comes in Juniper Green with gorgeous green leather interior. Possibly the best colours for this car?

It was sold new in Rotherham with manual gearbox with overdrive and optional power steering. The seller states: “It returned for servicing no fewer than five times over the next two years according to the accompanying service book. It was then sold to its second owner in 1970, who was to keep the car for the next 37 years, adding just 33,000 miles over the period.” They also mention that a new stainless-steel exhaust was made for it in 1999, guaranteed for life and still looking like new. The Rover moved to its third owner in 2007 and still shows under 50,000 miles from new. What a fine motor car.And estimated to make £7- to £9,000 it seems a superbly nice car, offering an awful lot for the money.

We think we prefer it over the 1964 Jaguar Mk2 that they also have on offer. But that may just be because the Jags seem to have lasted so well as you still see them quite regularly. Yes, more were made, but their survival rate seems a lot higher, too. They are more expensive, too. This is another fine example with the 3.4-Litre version of the famous straight-six engine. It was sold new in Wolverhampton and has had four owners from new, “the vendor acquiring it 15 years ago from a gentleman who had owned it for 18 years (1985 – 2003)”. Supposedly the engine was reconditioned at Jaguar's hq at Browns Lane in the late 1970s when the bodywork was also tidied up and repainted. The colour combination is another good one: old English white from the outside and red leather from the inside, it’s estimated at £17- to £19,000. Your choice..?

(Words editor, pictures Brightwells auctioneers)

Aggiunga un commento...