Years of decline, poor models and being saved from bankruptcy by the government meant that any good news about the British motor industry was eagerly received by the British public. When the shape of the SD1 was revealed, the media excitement was marked. The replacement for the P6 saloon turned out to be an ultra-modern five door hatchback, with more than a passing resemblance to Ferrari’s Daytona.
Despite the advanced design, the SD1 (Solihull Developments One) was quite ordinary under the skin, the biggest demerit being the live rear axle. Rover engineers, though managed a decent job with the simple rear drive chassis. It was launched with the excellent V8, before being supplemented by six cylinder engines.
It was a popular, perhaps much loved car in the UK, but suffered from poor quality early on. Rover used it to re-launch into the USA, but the plan failed dismally. It was ground breaking in its design, but born into a family that prevented it from really flourishing.
Kind of like a UK version of a Chevy Citation. Really like the exterior design of both…too bad the internals could never quite deliver for either, or so I have read.
The vintage tech in this clip is something else. Keep thinking how far we truly have come in not a very long time, as well as how damn expensive that computer equipment must have been back then.
This car could really be the future…
But, reliabilaty and all over quality wasn´t the best to be honest
Had to laugh when i saw the images of drive shafts in this clip, the Rover had a live rear axle…. Those images where (I´m not an expert) probably from the BMC 1800 or the Allegro!
Just love all this enthusiasic talk about computers!
The whole problem with this car IIRC was that it should’ve debuted in 1974 but due to financial problems the development time stretched out too long – and in light of the computer modeling it should’ve had a shorter than normal development time rather than longer. And yes, it was based overtly on Ferrari styling. This is a kind of ‘woulda could shoulda’ car.
Kind of like a UK version of a Chevy Citation. Really like the exterior design of both…too bad the internals could never quite deliver for either, or so I have read.
The vintage tech in this clip is something else. Keep thinking how far we truly have come in not a very long time, as well as how damn expensive that computer equipment must have been back then.
Looks like a DINO to me! Definitely ISN’T though…
This car could really be the future…
But, reliabilaty and all over quality wasn´t the best to be honest
Had to laugh when i saw the images of drive shafts in this clip, the Rover had a live rear axle…. Those images where (I´m not an expert) probably from the BMC 1800 or the Allegro!
Just love all this enthusiasic talk about computers!
LOL, the computers of the seventies, were so analog! Loved it!
The whole problem with this car IIRC was that it should’ve debuted in 1974 but due to financial problems the development time stretched out too long – and in light of the computer modeling it should’ve had a shorter than normal development time rather than longer. And yes, it was based overtly on Ferrari styling. This is a kind of ‘woulda could shoulda’ car.
“Solihull Developments One”? Where did that come from!? “Specialist Division no. 1” per-lease.