My girlfriend is amazing - and so is my car!

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:16 pm

Sick of seeing me trying to kill myself with exploding Polish van tyres or just sitting around with a Saab that's never been road-legal while in my ownership, my girlfriend gave me a loan and told me to bugger off, buy myself something decent, and turn up in it to visit her over Christmas. We live about 90 miles apart so decent wheels are a must!

One quick visit to Tim Leech later and sure enough I did. Tim, I can't thank you enough - we both love the car and that diesel means that I can afford to get to Brighton a lot more often than I used to.

I've put about 600 miles on it since I picked it up on the 23rd, what with all that Christmas visiting and so on, and it hasn't missed a beat. I felt like I was living in it as I didn't actually get home until yesterday! Now I won't be driving it again until the snow clears but that will be another long run.

It's a brilliant car - best BX I've ever been in. I hope I can carry on looking after it as well as the previous owners did.

Cheers again Tim, you've made a couple very happy! Kudos to my GF again too - I can't believe she's actively encouraging my car fetish!

The Saab will be on ebay as soon as I can take some non-snowed-in pictures of it.

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:20 pm

Forgot to say - the BX does of course have its own page on my website.

http://www.geocities.com/stuart_hedges/cars

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:41 pm

Ah-ha, another P6 lover!

Still regret selling my 1970 P6 V8 earlier this year although I seem to have much more money now...

Ian

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:36 pm

Mine were 2-litres but I have driven a V8. Loved every minute of it, but thank god it wasn't me paying for the petrol.

tom · Post by **tom** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:45 pm

Yes, enjoyed mine, too. Anorak's note, the V8 cars were P6Bs for "Buick"
Amazing girlfriends? Yes, have one of them, too. Once bought me a CX for Christmas

st gilles · Post by **st gilles** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 3:07 pm

Used to drive an auto V8 'at work' back in the early80's: the autos had no power steering.......and didn't need it. No prizes for guessing my former occupation. They had almost phased them out and we were using the 'new' SD1 which although a good car with aftermarket minilite wheels it also had that 'funny' square steering wheel. At the drop of a hat I was always putting the SD1 'sick' as the 'spare' cars were all old P6's. Wonderful car for powersliding everwhere and ours were all still that old petrol blue with the old 'mickey mouse' lights on the roof. That colour was great for 'hiding' in the shadows and then popping up and surprising people.......must have been deaf though as the exhaust was really deep and throbbing! It was a proper drivers car! My mate had his own V8S (manual) which did have power steering.......if anything it was too light.

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:02 pm

My girlfriend is better than yours because, well she's mine

I wont deny, its sooooooooooo nice to be 'driving' the BX again. I might only have had it round the block once and that was without brakes, but its just soooo easy to drive and comfortable, and powerful, and smells nice!

It was less than 1 minute of bliss, but worth every second

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:53 pm

Welcome stuart! Glad it got u around no probs! U must get that heater sorted tho mate!

AlanS · Post by **AlanS** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:58 pm

tom wrote:Yes, enjoyed mine, too. Anorak's note, the V8 cars were P6Bs for "Buick"

Sold heaps out here, more than CXs actually.
Possibly the cleverest thing Rover ever did snavelling that V8 from Buick and it came back in many forms.
I read recently that they supposedly sold more of that V8 than any other in motoring history which must be a hard pill for both GM and Fraud to swallow, all because they could figure out thin wall castings and the yanks couldn't!!

Not too many engines that have grown and developed over the years from 3.5 litres to 4.7 (did I hear at one stage it had gone to 5.2 litres?) and lived to tell the tale.

Alan S

tom · Post by **tom** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:58 am

If what you say is true, I am very much surprised Alan. I would have thought that the small block Chevy would beat it out of sight for production numbers.
As for proportional stretch, XK went from 2.4 to 4.2.

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:29 am

U must get that heater sorted tho mate!

Erm... you did see the photo right?

I haven't got anywhere undercover to work and it's too cold outside so it'll be going into a garage to get that done asap. The heater's good though so it's not tooo much of a problem. You really do need a fan in these conditions though!

Those fat tyres and the characteristics of a diesel engine have made it brilliant on the slippery roads. It hasn't been gritted at all where I live but I've had no problems - unlike the Mazda MX5 I saw getting seriously stuck last night!

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:05 pm

TVR had the Rover V8 up to 5 litres I think in the end.

I think my dream P6 would have an Efi engine linked to a later auto box.

As it is a dream car, it'll come with free petrol from a never ending supply.

If only...

Ian

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:56 pm

the Buick V8 (which had another GM cousin) was an excercise by GM who were anxious to make an alloy engine without liners. The American engines in fact ended up with cast in liners and the British with pushed in dry liners.

The engine was a commercial failure in USA as it was offered as an alternative on medium sized saloons. When faced with the choice of 3.5 and 5 litre few customers are that bothered by niceties of construction.

the story goes that a Rover executive was trying to sell the Land Rover diesel to one of the American marine engine manufacturers when he saw a Buick engine sitting on the floor and was told the story.

In reality its generally proved an extremely difficult engine to get any significant power out of in production and its output in its original form was no more than Jaguar had been getting out of their 3.4 for years. The 4.2 engine introduced in the 90's produces exactly the same power as the 4.2 fuel injected Jaguar engine of 1979.

If you're really interetsed in its history it can be traced back to a BMW engine of the late 40's purchased by GM (I think)

jeremy

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:39 pm

Well when you consider the specific power, it is pretty bad. Think it's 24bhp per litre or something compared to 48bhp per litre in my 2CV or a PSA 1.9 Turbo Diesel.

Still, my Rover used to shift (thanks to the huge wall of torque) and sounded sublime. Problem was, it's difficult to fill up with fuel with modern petrol pumps and has a 68 litre tank which empties far too quickly!

Ian

Stinkwheel · Post by **Stinkwheel** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:48 pm

Well this is my first post here (hi people

And i shall make it one thats starting an argument.

The rover/Buick V8 is horrid..................in comparison to a proper american all Iron V8.

Im not saying they are horrid full stop.

I've driven SD1's and range rovers, I like the engine, its pulls well and doesnt make to bad a job of being fuel efficient for a V8.

But I've driven and owned yank V8's from small 301ci (5litre) to 403Ci (6.6)
and they have the rover beaten on torque, all out power and most importantly noise.

Sorry to Hijak the thread, nice BX Stuart

Oh and in case you dont know the nickname here, you once bought a black GSA from me