Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Morning all ,

My 45 is currently sat idle as it has been for 3 years. Quite a bit of welding needs doing to the sills but a brake failure also needs investigating and repairing along with a few other jobs to get it roadworthy again. The car is currently at my in-laws , so working on it isn't easy at the moment. The car still starts on the first attempt and does move. Although I do fear 3 years of doing nothing will have taken its toll on the car being sat outside unused. Has anyone had experience of bringing car back from such situations?

... see original post for more details https://www.rover200.org.uk/forums/vie ... 24#p80524

Externally the paint work is pretty much unmarked with no dings, dents or scrapes to speak of. Door card fabric and headlining need attending to though . It really was a lovely example of a pre-project drive top spec 45.

I do wonder whether buying a lower mileage car with and MOT would be better . The problem is waiting for one of a similar spec to pop up that isn't cosmetically flawed or mechanically abused.

There is a Connoisseur currently on Ebay with just over 60,000 miles , but has a scrape on the rear panel and some rather unsightly rear parking sensors that I would need to get rid of. I guess that sort of work doesn't come cheap?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-45-1-8 ... SwsaZf7gf~

Doesn't this really depend upon what you want the car for? If you are looking to use it as a daily driver then you might as well look for something that is lower mileage and good condition. The one on Ebay meets that brief but, I think, is rather over-priced. I'm sure you could get something similar at a lower price. Your current 45 sounds as if it's beyond economic repair to use as a daily. Most of us do not apply economics to our expenditure on our Rovers - they're never going to be worth what we spend on them. (On the other hand, there's little or no depreciation loss - which is always worth building into your calculations). We love the cars and want to keep them on the road. If you want to 'save' your existing car and keep it as an occasionally used, cherished car, you are going to have to spend more than it will be 'financially' worth on it - it depends whether you want to do that and are in a position to do that. I've got our old family R8 sitting on the driveway; it's a wreck, only fit for scrap but I'm attached to it and I'm determined to return it to the road. It's never going to be worth anything near what I need to spend on it but that's what it needs to 'save' it. I think you need to have a serious think about where you want to go with this and whether you feel spending this sort of money on a hobby is going to reward you with enough pleasure and interest to justify it. Personally, I'd like to see you save it because I think that should be one of the objectives of our club members - but there's no reason to if you would be equally happy with buying a better example and continuing to use that as a cherished car in future instead, which may well be a more viable way forward in your case.

Well the easy part will be to get rid of the parking sensors! Just swap the rear bumper from your existing 45, as it is the same colour

Regarding the scrape on the wheelarch of the 'new' car, we have used our local 'Chips Away' (smart body repairs company) with great success on my wife's 25GTi to rectify some minor damage that would not polish out and it cost around £250. The repairs are truly 'invisible'.

So that puts you into a different 45 for around £2000 although a few other expenses may come along afterwards depending on the exact service history (e.g. when were belts, coolant, head gasket, brake fluid last changed?)

You could probably get your existing 45 back on the road for less money, but it will definitely depend on whether you have any 'attachment' to it.

I certainly endorse what has been said above. I had to make the same decision 3 years ago as to whether I kept the car that had been stored all over the place for the previous 11 years or scrap it.
I chose to keep the car and have spent 10 times the amount on the car in the last year than I had over the previous 10 years and I’ve still got a long way to go.
Do I regret it? Sometimes when things go wrong , but overall the process of bringing it back to life, looking for parts and talking about it to people brings as much enjoyment as taking it for a drive.
I’m fortunate to be able to allocate a budget to carry out this work but what hobby comes at no cost.
But as per the previous post you have to make that decision before you can decide whats best for you.
There’s no wrong decision
Good luck

any pics of the welding needed?

recommission - Belts (£100) plugs, dizzy, rotor, oil & filter, coolant ( £100) brakes (£100) Brake pipes (£150-200) maybe tyres(£250-400)

Then the welding, maybe exhaust, bushes.

Without seeing the car its hard to guess