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This Rover is part of the family
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ARover enthusiast has reunited the major players in his P5B’S life, at the place its first owner first saw it, the factory where it was built. Martin Robins was joined at the Jaguar Land-rover factory in Solihull by Sandy Yates; son-inlaw of its first owner David Fairweather. Also present was Brian Clark, the man who looked after the car for its first 37 years.
When David passed away in 1994, care passed to son-in-law Sandy. Sandy was only too aware of how treasured David’s car had been and kept an equally careful watch over its condition. ‘My father-in-law had a 3-litre saloon and this car, which he collected from here, at the factory, rather than our local dealer Rossleigh of Dundee.’ says Sandy. ‘He only ever drove the Coupé on Fridays, otherwise it lived in a heated garage! When I had it, though, I did enter it in a couple of Royal Scottish Automobile Club rallies.’
Mechanic Brian looked after the car from new, completing its pre-delivery inspection for
Rossleigh and continuing to care for it once he became self-employed. ‘They were all right, these cars,’ he says, ‘even in the Leyland era. But the people who bought them often
didn’t use them much. This one never did more than 3000 miles a year.’
The car left Dundee for the first time in 2009, when its third and present owner Martin bought it from Sandy. ‘Jaguar Land- Rover were very helpful in allowing us to reunite car and its place of birth for us. It’s quite emotional really.’
Turn to p70 for our celebration of the P5B’S 50th and its place in the history of Solihull.