NOTTINGHAM, England — In the course of the ultimate days of British Leyland, the sprawling company that when owned hallowed British marques together with Jaguar, Austin, MG, Rover, Triumph, Wolseley and Daimler, the corporate entered into partnership to develop automobiles with the Honda Motor Firm. The one merchandise of that relationship that we had been capable of purchase new in the USA had been the first-generation Acura Legend and the Sterling, however issues obtained much more fascinating in the UK. As we speak’s Junkyard Scrapyard Gem (that is what the Brits name them) is a Rover 600 Collection, a machine that is each a Honda Accord sibling and a genuinely British saloon, present in one of many oldest breaker’s yards in England.
Albert Loom’s is situated close to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, and I dropped by the place on the drive between Heathrow Airport and the scrapyards of Yorkshire. A lot of the automobiles of their stock are from our present century (The U.Ok. is a rust-prone place with strict security inspections), however I did discover a couple of fascinating older machines there.
That features in the present day’s automobile, which bears the badges of a beloved British marque with ancestry stretching again to its origins as a Solihull bicycle producer in 1878. Rover started constructing cars in 1904 and went by way of many possession adjustments and mergers throughout the next century. Since 2006, the one automobiles constructed bearing the Rover identify have been Land Rovers and Vary Rovers; sadly, the Rover Viking emblems are now not used.
The primary automobile to come back out of the collaboration between British Leyland (later the Austin Rover Group after which simply the Rover Group) and Honda was the 1981-1984 Triumph Acclaim. That automobile, which was the final to bear the Triumph identify, was basically an England-built Honda Ballade (aka high-trim-level JDM Civic sedan) with some minor beauty adjustments. Then got here the Rover 800 plus the Rover 400 and its derivatives.
The Rover 600 Collection was constructed for the 1993 by way of 1999 mannequin years, after which it was changed by the BMW-related Rover 75/MG ZT.
The chassis, inside and powertrain had been all designed in Japan by Honda and are shared with the European-market fifth-generation Accord, however many of the physique was designed by Rover. Solely the entrance doorways, decrease rear door panels, windshield and roof are the identical because the Accord’s.
The 600’s grille was very distinctive and in no way Honda-ish.
Open the bonnet and it is all pure Honda beneath. That is an F20 2.0-liter SOHC straight-four. Suspension, brakes, the works — all Accord stuff. That meant that Rover 600 patrons obtained automobiles that drove like Accords and lasted like Accords. Later in 600 Collection manufacturing, the 620ti was fitted with a turbocharged Rover engine, and Rover- and Honda-built diesel engines had been accessible as nicely.
This one made it simply shy of 140,000 miles (sure, that speedometer is sort of an identical to those in U.S.-market fifth-generation Accords), however a test of its MOT inspection historical past exhibits that its registration expired in 2007. That is higher than 10,000 miles per 12 months throughout its profession on the street.
The inside seems to have been fairly good when it obtained parked for good.
Transmission decisions had been between a five-speed guide and a four-speed computerized. This automobile has the guide.
This coaching video for Rover sellers explains the options of the 600 Collection.
Simply the automobile for a prisoner change in a former outpost of the British Empire.
The gentleman’s car.
The color does not match your new soccer crew’s jerseys? No downside, Rover affords a 30-day return coverage!