The Cars that MGRover never made...but should have.

[Pete]

Mine was that age, what an utter beast too.

[Tom Collins]

The thing I remember most about the SD1, was the steering wheel that wasn't quite round.

[EXMSRalph]

Not as bad as the Allegro, though. Mine had a rectangular steering wheel, known as the Quartic.

Some cars that MG Rover (or its predecessors) should have made:

P6BS 2 seater rear engined sports car powered by a transverse 3.5L Rover V8 engine.

Rover 200 bubble rag top.

Rover 400/ZS estate.

KV6 powered TF.

[baxlin]

Don't know why they didn't produce a road version of the P4-shape open top with the gas turbine engine............

[AURORA MG]

The Rover 75 Coupe from around the time of the Tourer launch rather than previewing it when it was too late!

[DJO]

Originally Posted by EXMSRalph

....
KV6 powered TF.

Someone has done that, it just fits. It would be quite a fun car to drive, found this link:

http://www.mgenthusiast.com/pdfs/MGF.pdf

David

[EnEnGee]

Originally Posted by baxlin

Don't know why they didn't produce a road version of the P4-shape open top with the gas turbine engine............

Rover researched the use of gas turbines in automotive applications for years having been in at the start of the units when working with Frank Whittle. I don't think that they ever got around the fact that to run efficiently, a gas turbine has to be running at almost full tilt all the time, and the fact that road vehicles by and large are stop start made the thing a non starter, finally killed off by the early 70s oil crisis.

The Rover gas turbines were used in an experimental Leyland truck earmarked for long distance use in markets like Australia but never made the production lines (probably due to the above reasons) and were used to power the experimental Advanced Passenger Train in the early 70s (badged as Leyland), where they were very successful technically but very high fuel costs per mile did not stack up against diesel engines or electric traction.

Fortunately for Rover, the P6 was sized to take the gas turbine plant which meant that a certain light weight V8 would also fit some years later.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by DJO

Someone has done that, it just fits. It would be quite a fun car to drive, found this link:

http://www.mgenthusiast.com/pdfs/MGF.pdf

David

Now That....is a missed oportunity...big time....genuine supercar stuff....back in 1989.... I bought an early fiat X19 and squeezed a 2.0 twin cam into it from a fiat 131 sport... its was absolutely wild, handling was sublime and the accelaration was as quick as my pals porsche 911 up to 90 mph thanks to the 1.3 gearbox...it gave lots of supercar drivers the shock of there lives but it ate clutches in 300 miles and I ripped apart 3 gearboxes...but worth every adrenalin filled moment. I had to scrap it in the end but not before it appeared in two car magazines....actually it was adeath trap...but hey...I was having fun.

[Tootall]

A couple of thoughts from an ex-worker at Longbridge,

ZS/45 estate only one was built at the factory it would have been a great seller IMHO but Honda would not allow us to use the chassis but two cars where converted by a guy in Brum, one is now sporting the MK2 frontend painted Red and owned by the old chaplain of Longbridge.

Rumours where that a Rover coupe (Tomcat) was converted into a two seater rearwheel drive car. One myth at Longbridge was that this prototype was pulled over by West Mids Police while on test and the top brass sent a letter to Longbridge asking for this car to never go into production due to the attention it would have got from all the local boy racers.

Thought that the original Freelander test mules based on a Maestro van (they both have the same wheelbase) was a mean looking machine.

[Tim_Burgess]

How about Rover 600 expanded in to a full range with estate & coupe versions?

A replacement for the Tomcat based on R3 200 but with VVC and KV6 engine options.

It's a shame that Rover / BMW / Honda politics killed off HHR 400/45 Tourer.