21st Century Resto
On a roll after building his own 75 Coupé, Gerry Lloyd has taken things to the next level and created what he calls the ‘75c’
Gerry Lloyd’s amazing Rover 75c.
Gerry Lloyd has become something of a legend in the classic car world, for the most unexpected of reasons.
‘After completing the restoration of my TR6, all I did was wonder what could be done with an old Rover. Then, all of a sudden, my work is on display to 25,000 people at the NEC!’ Gerry is referring to the assortment of Rover 75s he has ‘refashioned’, including a pickup, a push-me-pullyou ‘double-ender’ and most famously, a 75 Coupé
– all of which he designed and built in his shed at home in
Pembrokeshire. ‘I was having a dinner party and after a few too many bottles of wine, a friend suggested it wouldn’t be possible for me to get such a thing road legal… and I disagreed.’
Having built his Coupé – modelled on MG Rover’s stillborn concept from 2004 – it subsequently appeared exclusively in Practical Classics and later, as an unexpected star of the show at the Practical
Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show in 2018.
But Gerry wasn’t done. ‘A lot of people came up to me at the show and we discussed all sorts of ideas. In the
‘I found an ideal car – a 2011 insurance write-off with front-end damage’
end, I figured a drop-top 75 was a natural follow-on from the Coupé.’
But why base his creations on the Rover 75 in the first place? ‘I chose the Rover partly because they’re so cheap, but also because they’re really well engineered and have lots of strength in the shell. I eventually got to know the 75 inside out!’
Gerry’s knowledge of the 75’s structure meant he could handle the pitfalls of convertible design – particularly the complexities of the hood and the rigidity implications of slicing off the roof in the first place. Gerry soon began to wonder if he’d made the right choice. ‘It was much more difficult, right from the outset. I had to sit down and plan, in great detail, how I was to build something with enough strength in the shell. This would be far more of a challenge than the Coupé’.
Instead of using a BMW 3 Series donor car, as he did with the Coupé, this time Gerry plumped for a Mercedes – a 2011 E-class A207 Convertible, which he bought as an insurance write-off. ‘It had the electric roof arrangement I wanted and the one I bought had suffered a front-end crunch, so it was cheap!’ Measurements were taken and Gerry dismantled the structure. Around the same time, the donor 75 – a 2003 2.5-litre V6 – was positioned in his workshop, ready for ‘the big chop’. He says it was vital to begin with the chassis first.
‘Before I took the top off the donor car, I set about strengthening the chassis. The sills came off and I ran steel beams from front to rear and
reconstructed the A-pillars, welding in new steel to provide that area with extra stiffness.’
There were design similarities with the Coupé, so certain procedures were carried out in similar fashion to what had taken place previously. Gerry chopped and moved the B-pillars backwards with extra strengthening applied, and the doors were extended by around ten inches. The hardest part was to come, though. ‘I knew that incorporating the hood into the car was going to be a huge challenge, so I began with an in-depth look at the Roof Control Unit (RCU) of the donor car’. What Gerry discovered was really disheartening. ‘As with most cars of this era, Mercedes has its own software and it’s specifically designed to keep the likes of us out. There was no way I could get the roof mechanism to work with the RCU I had removed from the Merc.’
The obvious thing to do would be to develop a manual hood. Not so, says Gerry. ‘That would defeat the point of the project. It had to be the kind of roof MG Rover would have fitted to the 75 Cabriolet, had such a thing been developed.’ So, instead, Gerry took the Mercedes RCU apart in a bid to understand it – and then set about making his own. ‘It took me three months to design and build it, using micro switches, relays and diodes, all mounted in a box located behind rear passenger seat. All the wiring and relays covered by various fuses took about six to eight weeks alone to get right. I certainly learnt a lot about electronics!’ The end result is outstanding
and even operates by the remote key. It’s somewhat sad that the fruits of Gerry’s genius are hidden deep beneath the bodywork of the finished car. ‘All that work on the RCU and you can’t even see it!’
The roof glides open and shut smoothly and precisely, the shut lines as perfect as any production Mercedes. However, Gerry says it took many days to get it all to activate properly. ‘I initially had to get the Mercedes mechanism to fit so there was a lot of jiggery pokery and extra fabrication involved. Everything depends on how the roof meets the top of the windscreen and I couldn’t get it to work straight away. But a slight reduction in the rake of the screen paid off, because after ten or so times of raising and lowering the roof, with plenty of careful adjustment, it finally slotted into place!’
The rear deck of the 75c is particularly handsome. Gerry managed to give it a harmonious look, with the Mercedes roof treatment tailing off and blending into a shortened boot lid. ‘The lid had to be cut lengthways approximately 6in from the hinge end – likewise with the Mercedes boot lid – and welded together to match up with the Mercedes roof cover.’ There was an unforeseen dilemma, though (which of course Gerry solved). ‘I had to lower the rear inner wheel arches to accommodate the roof when lowered. It meant the rear shock absorbers had to be shortened.’
The paint is MG Rover Metallic Pewter Grey, chosen by daughter Bethany, and works well with the grey Mercedes seats. Meanwhile, at the other end of the car, not much has changed. The donor Rover was a 2003 2.5 V6 Connoisseur, with the addition of a 75 V8 grille arrangement. ‘It is a good-looking car anyway, so I didn’t feel inclined to make any other changes to the design’.
Flood of appreciation
The finished car has undergone an Individual Vehicle Approval test and registration process and is on the road. Like his coupé, a modified vehicle isn’t allowed to have airbags, so Gerry had to remove all twelve of his before the car could be given a certificate of roadworthiness. Predictably, since Practical Classics exclusively revealed the fruits of Gerry’s labour
(PC, April 2020), the car has already attracted huge attention. ‘I’ve been staggered at the response to it – especially after all the favourable comments I got about the Coupé.’ For that, Gerry received a phone call from designer of the original stillborn MG Rover concept, Peter Stevens. ‘The compliments from fellow car enthusiasts are always great, but the biggest thrill is to stand back and look at the results of all the hard work. I’m really pleased with the 75c.’ Quite right, too. So, what next, for Gerry? A short discussion ensues about any number of ideas, including an electric 75 and a van. Given the wet weather and his proximity to the Welsh coast, Gerry laughs: ‘How about an amphibious Rover 75?’ I honestly don’t think he’s joking…