The codename for this combined Rover/Triumph effort was SD1 (short for Specialist Division nr. 1) The team under supervision of Spen King (Well known for the brilliantly designed P6 suspension system) started with a clean sheet to design the new car. This Rover would be different from the previous ones.....

Rover had established itself with a good name for high quality well engineered automobiles aimed at the luxurious middle of the market. Although the build quality of the P6's could be better, there was nothing wrong with its engineering. The SD1 would have give the same solid feel but then with newest technology. Oh...and one more thing....it should be able to compete with lesser machinery....

Where the old Rovers like the P5 and P6 were placed against Jaguar, Mercedes and BMW the new SD1 would be pitched against Vauxhall, Ford, Citroen, Renault and Volvo. Rover wasn't planning to build a car for the higher market but one aimed at the high volume middle market.

Despite it's aerodramatic looks the SD1 only managed a Cd of 0,40

David Bache was already a well known designer at Rover and designed the P5/P6 as well as the Range Rover. For the SD1 he was inspired by some exotic machinery like the Maserati..... and the Ferrari Daytona. .... The nose design and placement of the indicators were clearly a hint towards the Daytona. British Leyland even arranged a setup to compare the new SD1 with such machinery in the design stage as the picture shows.

The sensational timeless sleek and handsome shape was quite revolutionary for Rover which was always known as a bit conservative in its styling. The SD1 would change that image drastically. And it even wasn't a saloon like a real Rover has always been. For the first time a fastback design was being developed. For such a big car like the SD1 would be this was quite a step. However other companies like Renault (model 20/30) and Citroen (CX) also worked on cars with the same overall design. There was a market for a big versatile hatchback and Rover,Citroen and Renault were early to jump on the bandwagon. Later Opel (Monza), Ford (Scorpio) would follow. The design surely contributed to the voting of the SD-1 as Car of the year in 1977.

The SD1 nose styling and the side line can be traced back to the Daytona

Selling a car in this difficult section of the market meant that costly exercises like the base unit construction and the complicated suspension setup of the P6 had to go. It just would be to expensive. So.....gone was the beautiful but complicated Dion rear suspension of the P6 and a simple but sturdy live axle setup was used ,although it was provided with a very good location system by watts linkage and trailing arms. Furthermore the live axle setup incorporated a torque tube to eliminate axle tramp under acceleration. The front suspension was also very basic in being a simple Mcpherson instead of the complicated P6 system. Regarding the simple suspension lay out, the engineers really did a very good job in creating a very safe and balanced ride

Early SD1 design (1971)

The only component used from the old P6 model was the old and reliable V-8 engine which was a further development of the 1961 aluminium Buick engine, also known in the States as the Aluminum Fireball V8. (Yes they named it Aluminum not Aluminium).

Buick discarded this engine in 1963 because the american customer just didn't give it the maintenance it needed (especially regarding the expensive coolant not generally available) and because a cast iron V-8 was more cost efficient to build. So in 1965 Rover acquired the license to produce this beauty in England. The Rover V-8 made its debut in Sept. 1965 in the P5. Later on GM regretted the sale and tried, unsuccesfully, to buy it back.

Because of the size of the V-8, the engine bay of the SD1 was designed around it. So it provided adequate room for the 2300 and 2600 six cilinders and the later 2 litre O-series four cilinder and 2.4 litre VM turbodiesel engine. The 2300 and 2600 engines were basically the same only the stroke being different. These engines were newly engineered by Triumph (not Rover). The design was originally based on the Triumph six cyl. engine but re-engineered and improved to such a degree that no parts were interchangeable. For instance the engine bores were offset and the block lengthened. Especially the 2600 became a popular option being a bit slower than the V-8 while using less fuel ( 24 mpg for the 2600 and 21 mpg for the V-8 under normal conditions). Reliability of the sixes was somewhat less than the V-8 with the main problem areas being the lubrication of the overhead camshaft and blowing head gaskets.

Originally the P6 could only be delivered with automatic transmission because Rover didn't have a transmission wich could handle the torque of the V-8 engine. The later available manual transmission in the P6 3500S wasn't really up for the job. For the SD1 and TR-7 a new manual transmission was developed by Triumph which could easily cope with the torque and the unit outperformed the competition in precision and feel.

To keep the lines clean the air supplied by the capacious ventilation system could escape through a grille in the rear hatch instead of the then widely used grilles in the side of the body work. The front shape was futuristic (certainly for Rover!) with no grille. The air inlet for the radiator taking place beneath the bumper. Still an additional air inlet was needed on top of the bonnet to provide enough fresh air for the interior.

For Rover it was the first hatchback model. At the premiere the SD1 was together with the Renault's 20 and 30 one of the first large fastbacks on the market as the Citroen CX wasn't a real hatchback.

The interior was all new.......no wood and no leather, a thing many people still expected from Rover. The wood and leather only returned to Rover with the series 2. A nice touch were the ventilated sills wich received warm air through the engine compartment. This prevented moisture built up in the sills. And as we know now this system works pretty good as you seldom see SD1's with a rotten inside sill structure.

The electrics were mainly supplied by Lucas also known as "the Prince of Darkness". That this nickname was not for nothing can still be noticed by the various SD1 horror stories and articles on the electrical system

Prototype of the SD1 estate (BMIHT museum at Gaydon)

During its production life from 1976 until 1986 the SD1 received many changes. The main change taking place with the series 1 to series 2 in january 1982.

There is even talk of a series 1 1/2 as some series 2 changes occurred gradually on the series one cars in 1981. Main changes on the series 2 could be noticed in the interior, dashboard, bumpers and headlamps. Rover considered an estate version, but sadly this never made it to production. A prototype SD1 estate however can be seen at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon. And it must be said that it looks very good indeed. Certainly a lot better than the contemporary estates from Volvo (the 240).

In October 1982 Rover introduced a beast....., the Vitesse, being an inch lower with fat 205/60 VR tyres and a big polyurethane rear spoiler it really looked mean!. The trusty V8 was uprated from it's lazy 155 bhp to a healthy 190 bhp. The twin carburetor set up was ready for the bin and replaced by a somewhat less reliable but better flowing electronic injection system. (Off course coming from Lucas but based on the Bosch L-jetronic system). For more information and some pictures of the Vitesse go to the Vitesse page or the Fuel injection page. Combining the power of the Vitesse with the luxury of the Vandenplas models. Rover introduced the Vandenplas EFI in May 1984. This model could only be bought in automatic form and is now, like the Vitesse, very sought after. However here in Holland this model was never sold

In 1986 the production of the SD1 ended after a production run of 10 years. It's successor was the Rover 800 wich was built in cooperation with Honda, making the SD1 the last real British Rover!!   (haven't we heard that more often?.......I think despite its BMW backgrounds the Rover 75 is again a real Rover!)