1971 Rover P5B

A 1971 Rover P5B Coupé, ‘BKM 530K’ has been in the care of the seller for the past eight years. And yet, impressive as that is he’s actually known about the car for about 45 years; his brother-in-law first spotted it and ended up buying it – and its twin – from a local company and ran this one for many years before he passed away, at which time the seller bought it.

He’s enjoyed his time with it and tells us it drives well, and to prove his point he drove it up to us from his home in Kent, which was the first time it had seen rain within living memory!

With only 80,000 miles on the odometer and just three previous owners, this V8-engined Coupé is finished in maroon with a cream leather interior, making it as beautiful as it is powerful and luxurious.

The burgundy paintwork is in fine fettle but then we think it might have had paint at some point. Nonetheless, the fact we aren’t sure about this speaks as to the quality of the work that was undertaken if it has.

Regardless of provenance, the paint still has a good shine and the underlying panels are all pretty good, too. Sure, the panel alignment isn’t going to give anyone at Audi sleepless nights, but it all looks authentic to us – and it is 55 years old, after all.

There’s plenty of chrome too, which is exactly as it should be. The front and rear bumpers run straight and true, and every piece has a good lustre to it, albeit with a little rust and pitting here and there. Most of it would polish out and we imagine it could be used as it is for a few years yet before it needs anything more intensive.

The black and chrome wheels are fitted with matching 185R15 Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres, and while they all have plenty of tread, they are date-stamped 2013 and 2014 and are showing signs of aging.

Nonetheless, their presence of a reassuring sign as our experience is that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Additions to the factory specification include rear foglamps (which seems a sensible upgrade to us), Paddy Hopkirk door mirrors, and a badge bar with four period-appropriate badges on it.

As for flaws, there’s a dent in the offside rear door, small areas of rust are bubbling on the nearside front wing above the sidelight, the trailing edge of the nearside rear door, and the offside rear wing below the window glass, there are some paint chips around the boot lid, and the rubber seals on the windscreen and rear window are both perished. 

The seller is a man of taste (of course he is, this thing’s gorgeous!) and when he decided to get the front seats refurbished he was careful to retain as much of the original material as possible: conservation rather than restoration, if you like, which is something we wholeheartedly support.

As for the (good) individual rear seats, they are plump and sumptuous, which aren’t words you get to use very often when you’re writing about new cars. 

Speaking of Old School design and engineering, the base of the front seats is clad in metal, as are the sill covers, which are wide enough that buying a pair of new ones would probably cause a spike in the price of the raw materials. 

There are proper Smiths instruments for oil pressure, coolant temperature, and battery amps as well as the usual ones for fuel, engine speed, time and road speed. Toggle switches aplenty too, plus a twin-spindle Sharp radio-cassette player, and even a walnut veneer picnic table in the dashboard.

Other nice touches include hefty T-handles for the choke, bonnet latch, and fuel reserve, plus a pull handle for cold air and an ‘umbrella’ handbrake.

The headlining is taut and undamaged, the steering wheel is delicate and thin-rimmed, the carpets are decent, and the Securon seatbelts look like a period upgrade.

It’s all very lovely.

The boot is well presented and home to the battery, tool kit, a hazard warning triangle, a fire extinguisher, and the jack. The spare wheel sits underneath.

As for flaws, the leather on the centre armrest is cracked, the sunvisors could do with titivating, the wooden door cappings on all four doors are cracked, a cranked handle needs refitting, and the driver’s armrest and gearknob are both loose. 

Oh, and the brake pedal rubber has been fitted upside down.

So, nothing catastrophic but enough to give you an excuse to get out of the house and into the garage over next winter…

The old girl starts and idles well, with that characteristic and attractive Rover V8 ‘whuffle’. It also revs nicely, which hardens the engine and exhaust note from discreet menace to in-your-face snarling.

As we mentioned earlier, the seller drove it to us from Kent, so he clearly wasn’t afraid to use it for longer journeys on busy roads, which is encouraging.

The engine is nicely presented with shiny carburettors fed by an equally shiny airbox. Sure, you’re going to want to spend a couple of hours under there with a bucketful of valeting products but then that’s half the fun of owning a classic, isn’t it?

The Exhaust system is in stainless steel so almost maintenance free.

As for the underside, the only mention of structural rust we can see is offside rear sill, which garnered mentions in 2020, and “slight corrosion” to the offside front body in 2011. Neither were mentioned again and there’s nothing before or after that, which is reassuring. 

There’s evidence of servicing under there by way of greased pivot points, and what looks like a recent exhaust. The rear dampers look fairly recent.

Despite not needing one, the Rover not only has an MoT but the one it does have doesn’t expire until September 2024. And, if that weren’t enough, it was issued with no advisories. Just like the previous two. In fact, it’s racked up no fewer than 13 advisory-free MoTs since 2008, which isn’t bad, is it?

The recent Vehicle History Check is clear, and the Rover comes with the owner’s manual, three workshop manuals, a sales brochure, two sets of keys, a V5 registration document in the seller’s name, some expired MoT certificates, and a couple of old invoices.

The Rover P5 is the epitome of the sort of gentle middle-class motoring we all enjoyed watching on British TV as children; if you wanted to show a character was reliable, sober and of good judgement, then you just stuck ‘em behind the wheel of a P5 and considered the job done.

This still holds true, even half-a-century later. If cads and wannabe bank robbers drive Jaguars, Old Money drives a Rover. 

As to value, the owner acknowledges that the need for some minor cosmetic fettling must be reflected in the price and we’ve suggested a guide price of between £12,000 and £16,000, which seems fair to all parties.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are strictly by appointment.  To make a booking, please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, and read our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.