Sterling 825 SL
1988 Sterling 825SL
Engine 2494cc/6-cyl/ohc Power 151bhp@5800rpm Gearbox 4-speed auto
Work done
New dampers, MOT and UK registration with DVLA.
It’s home! No sooner had the Sterling hit the dockside in Liverpool, I’d hired Clive Jefferson to bring it back to the
PC workshop on a trailer. ‘It took a while to start’ he explained. ‘And some bloke working at the docks was raving about it. He recognised it from the last issue of PC!
The starting issue was traced to elderly ignition leads. The car – rescued from a dusty town in Idaho by some US pals – had lived in temperatures of 100 degrees for three decades. Now, here we were, expecting it not to protest at the chill of a British autumn.
As for fame, this was assured. Thought to be the only Us-spec Sterling to have made it home to Britain in one piece, this one was whisked straight to the workshop for dampers, a full service and an MOT, which it passed. Days later, we were off to the NEC Classic Motor Show, where it starred on the Classic Modern Executive Car club stand, and then onwards to Cowley (see p6). It marked the end of a 6500-mile journey – half of that by land – to the place where Austin Rover’s dream of conquering the USA ended. The car is now alive and well and enjoying a relaxing retirement, where it belongs, in the English countryside. Thanks so much to Brian Dubois, Jim Magill, Chris Mercon and Tim Wade Jr for helping to make it all happen. Great road trips are nothing without friends.