1982 Rover 3500 V8 Vanden Plas automatic.

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

There was a nice car show nearby. After meeting with friends we headed to the event!







Datsun 200 L!









Buick Special with the 215 Ci V8 that later became the Rover V8!:




Cleaned the engine bay of my SD1 and people liked that!:



https://youtu.be/hOi7mBRF9I8

[scoobyh123]

Wow, that is really amazing Marc! Thanks for sharing!

[820Vitesse]

Engine bay looking good, great pictures, thanks

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

You are welcome guys!
Yes, it cleans up nice!

[Manalishi]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing. That type of Opel Coupe was very close to be my first car. Such a nice drive it was. Lucky it never happened because it was not very healthy at the petrol station!

[scoobyh123]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing. That type of Opel Coupe was very close to be my first car. Such a nice drive it was. Lucky it never happened because it was not very healthy at the petrol station!

If memory serves Henrik, the Opel Commodore Coupe used the 2.8 straight 6 engine from the old Vauxhall Ventora/Cresta so wasn't exactly frugal on petrol - very smooth engine though.

[Manalishi]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing. That type of Opel Coupe was very close to be my first car. Such a nice drive it was. Lucky it never happened because it was not very healthy at the petrol station!

If memory serves Henrik, the Opel Commodore Coupe used the 2.8 straight 6 engine from the old Vauxhall Ventora/Cresta so wasn't exactly frugal on petrol - very smooth engine though.

That sounds correct Dave, but such a nice car it was! I don’t really know any facts on it, it was our neighbours car that I borrowed a few times when I had a fresh licence, so some 35 years ago. I got the Question if I wanted to buy it (more or less for free) and I was close to accepting. If I remember correctly my father talked me out of it. Pretty smart really.

[scoobyh123]

In terms of running costs for a youngster, your dad talking you out of it was probably a very good idea. In terms of now having a rare car, probably not so good.
However you would have had to endure ~30 years of crippling fuel economy to get that rare car.

A friend of mine when i was about 19-20 years old had the Commodere GS/E Coupe, very similar car and i remember it was very smooth and went like stink. The fuel gauge moved nearly as quickly downwards though.

[Lodein]

Much belatedly, congratulations on your new home and beautiful garage. The Rovers will be fine here.

Thanks for the great photos of the American cars.

Five years ago I didn't really like American cars, but now I like them especially those from the 50s and 60s

Lodein

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

Thanks Lodein! Glad you liked it. There are so many nice American cars that most people dont know of. A shame realy because the American motor industry deserves a lot if credit in my opinion.

Gave both Rovers a clean and had to take some pictures of them together:

[scoobyh123]

Beautiful weather, beautiful cars, beautiful pictures!

[Lodein]

Thank you for the beautiful pictures

We see clearly on the first picture that they are sister. With a quick look, I thougth that it was 2 Rover SD1

Lodein

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

Thanks guys! Oh yes indeed Lodein,

The bloodline is visible.

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

We made a video of my Rover 3500 Vanden Plas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q0Ivp2njqs

[Marc-827-Vitesse]

We enjoy living in our new area very much. Driving around and attending meetings.
I took the 3500 Vanden Plas to a little meeting in a town nearby:




Another project:
Ever since i bought the SD1 Vanden Plas i was thinking about a rear spoiler. Don't get me wrong, i really like the look of an SD1 rear but there is room for more i would say. The rear spoiler ads something exotic to the motor car. We decided to ad it to the car. I started the search for a nice one but got nowhere in The Netherlands so i contacted my Swiss friend from whom i bought the car from in 2016. After a few weeks, this was in the living room!:


The spoiler is screwed down on the tailgate/boot lid. I cleaned all the threads with a wire brush dremel:

To ensure strength of the threads i added glass adhesive to the bases:

One of the threads was so deformed that i decided to remove it. Leaving a hole:

On another place i noticed that there was a little rust through the rubber on the metal plate below. I used a grinder and made sure i removed the rust:

Some rust remedy primer on the treated steel:

Then i sealed those holes and some little ones with glass adhesive to make sure all is watertight:



THe spoiler was oke but was a bit grey:

Very good stuff. Degreased it all and also with the kit degreaser:

Then i applied the dye:

Then i added a cream to make sure the rubber is well moisturized:

As said, it is screwed down and that means..... drilling holes:

a nice colleague helped me with the positioning:

Wo fasten the nuts i drilled big holes on the inside of the tailgate. All the holes drilled i applied window adhesive primer to make sure it will not rust. After the spoiler was fitted i installed plugs to make it look proper again:

Were i removed the thread, i applied window adhesive primer and a dot of the adhesive itself so it is hold down there as well:


I really love this look!: