



PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member | 1 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 3:39pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4235 Hi all ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
MisterD-Di Sutton Coldfield All posts by this member | 2 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 4:05pm Member: Joined Sep 2011 Total posts:870 They were the typical doctor's car, although solicitors seemed to like them too. They were from the days before the Rover name was downgraded from a quality car to the downmarket junk of recent years.
Incidentally, was Dr Freeman the one at the surgery in Torcross Avenue? The reason I remember is that their phone number was one digit different from ours at home, so we always seemed to be getting calls asking for appointments. |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
scrutiny coventry All posts by this member | 3 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 4:05pm Member: Joined Feb 2010 Total posts:754 Great pic, my friend's parents had one of those. On the odd Sunday afternoon he was allowed to use their Rover 90. If I remember right there was a wheel in the dashboard that you could turn so that the car would freewheel when you took your foot off the accelerator. Of course, we would turn it when he was not looking, then almost have an accident when he came to slow down at traffic lights. Beat my A35 van (primrose in colour). Mind you that was a write off after just three weeks. Not my fault, someone ran into the back of me and, no, it was not my mate's Rover 90 in freewheel. ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member Thread starter | 4 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 5:36pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4235 Hi to you both. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
dutchman Spon End All posts by this member | 5 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 6:32pm Member: Joined Mar 2010 Total posts:2975 Was the Rover P4 ever made in Coventry, I thought the company had already moved to Solihull?
Incidentally, the P4's feature which intrigued me the most was its reserve fuel tank. |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member Thread starter | 6 of 27 Mon 23rd Jan 2012 6:50pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4235 Hello Dutchman,
Wiki states:
The Rover Company is a former British car manufacturing company founded as Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry in 1878. After developing the template for the modern bicycle with its Rover Safety Bicycle of 1885, the company moved into the automotive industry. It started building motorcycles and Rover cars, using their established marque with the iconic Viking Longship, from 1904 onwards. Land Rover vehicles were added from 1948 onwards, with all production moving to the Solihull plant after World War II.
I was told that the last Rover car production in Coventry was at Helen St, which became a GEC assembly factory in the fifties. So the 90 & 85 must also have been a product of Solihull. I believe that nearly a third of the workforce at Solihull came from the Coventry area. ![]() ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
K Somewhere All posts by this member | 7 of 27 Tue 24th Jan 2012 10:43am Member: Joined Nov 2011 Total posts:560 Hi Philip
I think even the later freewheels used the same basic method. In the days of white-metalled bearings, using a freewheel with, shall we say, not enough sensitivity to the mechanicals, could cause a bearing to fail, usually a big end, due to the shock as it engaged. I think the vacuum was used so that the freewheel would be disengaged at high vacuum - on overrun - in order to give the driver back some engine braking. Going down a steep hill with a freewheel engaged together with the poor brake lining materials of those years was a recipe for disaster! They were unreliable though, and if the vacuum failed, the driver didn't know - until it was too late.
Incidentally, the German target map shows "Meteor Works" (purpose unknown!) in the Barracks Square, not far from the old market. That must have been a Rover factory, up to 1940. (I believe the Solihull plant was christened Meteor Works too for a time. as I remember the telex address was Meteor.) The Germans thought the old Ordnance factory was Rover; I don't think it ever was used by Rover, but maybe someone knows better? I think the P3 was the first Rover to be made outside Coventry.
I fancied a P4 years ago, but the price of a good one exceeded my pocket, so I never realised the ambition. |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
dutchman Spon End All posts by this member | 8 of 27 Tue 24th Jan 2012 2:17pm Member: Joined Mar 2010 Total posts:2975 On 24th Jan 2012 10:43am, K said:
The Germans thought the old Ordnance factory was Rover
Yes Keith, I noticed that on their aerial reconnaissance photo. Bizarre, any kid living in the general area could have told them what the factory really made! ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
K Somewhere All posts by this member | 9 of 27 Tue 24th Jan 2012 3:55pm Member: Joined Nov 2011 Total posts:560 Hi d! ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
dutchman Spon End All posts by this member | 10 of 27 Tue 24th Jan 2012 4:23pm Member: Joined Mar 2010 Total posts:2975 It was a naval stores depot until very recently, the admiralty's logic being that Coventry was equally far from the sea in all directions! ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
K Somewhere All posts by this member | 11 of 27 Wed 25th Jan 2012 12:05pm Member: Joined Nov 2011 Total posts:560 So "Rover" on the German map could be taken to mean buccaneer ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member Thread starter | 12 of 27 Wed 25th Jan 2012 6:49pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4235 Hello again Dutchman
Please let me compliment you again on your resourcefulness. There are so many points of interest on those maps that I could go on for days! So I will just keep looking at them. The last time I was walking past the 'Ord' works in Red Lane, I was told that it was being used as a grain store. Hope I have not picked up on the wrong building. Thank you ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
dutchman Spon End All posts by this member | 13 of 27 Wed 25th Jan 2012 7:21pm Member: Joined Mar 2010 Total posts:2975 Thanks Philip ![]() ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member Thread starter | 14 of 27 Wed 25th Jan 2012 7:40pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4235 I believe anything that you say, Dutchman, because you are so reliable & if there was ever an issue, you would be he first to correct anything anyway. I can see the old speedway / dog track off Lythalls Lane on the maps. The lie of the voiding line too, so much to look at. Thank you so much. If ever I have a specific query, without mentioning you, it's your reply that is guaranteed in my mind. ![]() |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles | |
Osmiroid UK All posts by this member | 15 of 27 Wed 27th Jan 2016 11:44pm Member: Joined Aug 2013 Total posts:383 Worth a mention, Rover motorcycles, as surprisingly using the search facility showed no results. |
Industry, Business and Work - Rover Cars and Motorcycles |