S392DEH, 1998 2.0 V6 Connie
 

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/q...atman/S392.jpg

Feeling both excited and somewhat apprehensive to have just become the new owner of this 1998 2.0 Connie. She was heavily featured on the forum some years back and was, at that point, the second oldest car in the Club (date of birth 16th November 1998).

She has fallen on hard times though, I have no history with the car, the belts appear to be original and I have no idea even when she had an oil change, so there will be plenty to do and get done in the near future, let alone dealing with the problems with doors and windows and a missing nearside wheelarch liner..

There will be much more to follow I suspect.

Cheers
Nick

Well done Nick. You seem to have a passion for the early pre production types!! :bowdown:
Still got the P6? :}

Good morning Nick, congratulations on becoming an S reg DEH owner driver. I gave up on the oldest merit award. LJW was built on 02.10.1998 and OVP on 03.10.1998. There is one other, which has gone abroad but the owner of that S reg has not released the vin number. I suspect there is another early Rover 75 waiting to be discovered to beat all of us, maturing in an old barn, just with delivery mileage :)

Running and keeping a pre-launch Rover 75 is a labour of love. I wish you the very best :) :bowdown::bowdown:

Thankyou :}

The car is my 50th birthday present to myself (I'd been looking for something like this for a long time) and will be here for the long term.

I am fairly apprehensive about the car at the moment as the chap who had it (for four years) appears to have not known what it was and has done little to it apart from add some spurious badges. It has 11 months MOT. First job (barring getting the spurious badges off it) will be a complete service including the belts.

First thing we expected to see when we went to see the car was the driver's side cupholder - and it doesn't have one :).

Cheers
Nick

Yes Tam, very much so. 12 years and counting. My 2000 isn't actually that early. September 1st 1964. Sort of equivalent of a 'V' reg 75.

My better half also has a Wedgwood Blue 1965 2000 which should be finally on the road in the next few weeks.

So we now have three Wedgwood Blue Rovers between us (I also have a much loved 45 V6 Connie in Wedgwood/Neptune). :}

Cheers
Nick

I have done quite a bit of research on the S reg 75's. During the early years of this club, there was a lot of interest and much was written about them. All those posts are in the club archives. The DEH group and what happened to each one is catalogued. Cup holders, the springs do wear out and can be replaced via the clubs wanted section or via a scrappy. Out of interest, will you be replacing the belts yourself?

ps the drivers side cup holder was not an original feature, hence the fake wood blank, however they can be sourced. I bought one from a left hand drive 75 which came from Portugal via club member Trimani RIP

I have been combing the (excellent) archives on the forum. The DEH group appear to have been registered in the UK in 2001? - someone suggested this was as some early cars went to Japan and then were bought back and sold at heavy discount in the UK. The MOT records on mine seem to indicate it may not have been on the road anywhere before the UK registration as it only had 6k on the clock in 2006, so it may have just been at Rover.

When I get the V5 for the car I'll apply to DVLA for the history, which should show who registered it and whether it was technically an import in 2001 (or not!).

The cupholder saga is not as clear cut as I'd led myself to believe!

Cheers
Nick

No. I'm no-one's mechanic.

I have a couple of recommendations for the job, I'd like the car to go to a 75 expert as I really need a decent opinion on the car in due course.

Cheers
Nick

There are other sources you can try. If you send Reebs a pm, giving the full vin number, he will be able to supply with a wealth of information from the MG Rover data base, assembly details. One should bear in mind that when MG Rover went into administration, some of the records could not be updated and are incomplete. Another useful source, is to have your car connected to a T4 by one of the T4 gurus. A few years ago, MarinaBrian ascertained that MG Rover, changed the ECU in my car in Feb 1999. I suspect they did this to allow for future updates/upgrades. I could be wrong about that.

Other sources include posting up on all of the Rover 75 and MG ZT forums, asking about your car's history. There is a lot of helpfulness and information out there :)

If you can, stick with the club guru mechanics. You will save thousands of pounds.