£1000 Challenge
Our hard-worked Rover ‘Tomcat’ notches up its 100,000th mile – rather aptly while meeting a automotive centenarian of a somewhat different kind
Rover 216 Tomcat
Our 216 continued to prove what a useful hack it is while putting together this week’s guide to the London to Brighton Veteran car run, taking me up to Northamptonshire to have a look at Renault UK’s 1900 Type C. I’d love to say that despite the 93-year gap between these two cars, there were parallels to be drawn, but in reality, the Renault is a world apart from the Rover. The Type C pioneered with its running gear layout, which is essentially that of a modern rearwheel drive car – longitudinal engine, gearbox, solid propshaft and then a differential on the rear axle. Nothing like the Rover, then. In fact, it’s nothing like most Renaults either, which was actually one of the first manufacturers to abandon the FR layout that was first introduced, having almost solely produced engine-over driven wheel designs since the Frégate of the 1950s.
Like the Renault, however, the Rover is proving that it’s got plenty left to give despite its advancing age – it ticked over exactly 100,000 miles on the return trip from Northamptonshire. Of course, this isn’t as much of an achievement as it used to be, though I imagine more than a few 216s wound up at the big scrapyard in the sky long before reaching this particular milestone. The revvy engine and short gearing don’t lend themselves to relaxed long-distance cruising, though as long as you can put up with the noise of the T-top panels, we’ve proven that the car is more than capable of it.
And what sort of health is the car in for this milestone? Well, the nebulous problem we’ve had with the car’s erratic idle – which features ed Chris told me had gone away – does seem to have indeed fixed itself for now. So too, the hesitation that I’d experienced twice before on the motorway didn’t appear either, so mechanically at least, the Rover seems to be in rude health. As anyone who has owned old cars for a while will know, however, any problem that unexpectedly fixes itself is just as likely to unfix itself.
Of course, it didn’t matter what condition the car was in to the guys looking after Renault’s collection. ‘You paid a grand for that?’ is the basic summary of their viewpoint, though one member of the team did seem more interested in the car after learning that it was Honda- and not K-series- powered. To be fair, our Rover does drive a lot better than it looks, its body wears scrapes, scratches, patches and fades, which got me thinking whether the car will ever see another 100,000 miles, or anything close to that. Compare the 216 to most of its contemporaries and you’ll see that it’s by far the cheapest of the lot, yet to gain much appreciation as it emerges from the banger period of its life. The Rover marque, at least in its post-BL form, doesn’t seem to inspire mass enthusiasm like Volkswagens, Fords (or Hondas) to name a few. Good cars will of course be worth more as time goes on, both from inflation and increasing rarity,
‘A problem that fixes itself is just as likely to unfix itself’ ‘It got me thinking whether the car will ever see another 100k miles’
but I wonder whether, in another twenty-four years, a Rover 216 Coupé will be appreciated in the manner that an MGB is now. If it isn’t, falling victim to the sort of collective indifference as say, a Sixties Vauxhall or Rootes vehicle is today, I doubt our car will survive, as it needs to gain in value to be worth giving it the respray it’s crying out for.
That’s a shame, but I’m happy to report that the Rover has – for now, at least – plenty left to give.