The Rover Sixty and Rover Seventy-Five or Rover P3 series were 1.6 and 2.0-litre

executive car Executive car is a British term for a large car, and is considered equivalent to the European E-segment and American full-size classifications. Executive cars are larger than compact executive cars (and the non-luxury equivalent mid-size cars ...

s announced in the middle of February 1948 and produced by the

Rover Company The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company originally founded in 1878, beginning car manufacturing in 1904. It primarily operated from its base in Solihull, Warwickshire. Rover also manufactured the Land Rover series from ...

until the summer of 1949. Two months after the announcement of the new cars "a new vehicle for agriculture" was announced, the

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

, with the engine of the new Sixty.

Overview

For the post-war market Rover had a new engine that had been in preparation since the late 1930s with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves. It was made in two versions for the car, the Rover 60 had a four-cylinder unit of 1595 cc and the Rover 75 had a six-cylinder version of 2103 cc. The gearbox and traditional Rover

freewheel image:Freewheel en.svg, Freewheel mechanism In mechanical engineering, mechanical or automotive engineering, a freewheel or overrunning clutch is a device in a transmission (mechanics), transmission that disengages the driveshaft from the driv ...

were kept unchanged from the previous model. To go with the engine a new car was prepared. Although the body was similar in styling to the Rover 12 and 16, many of the body panels were in fact new but the wings and

bonnet A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap. Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Native American *War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians United King ...

from the 12 were carried over. The car was 0.5 inch (12 mm) wider outside than the 16 but by making better use of space this translated to 2.5 inches (60 mm) inside. It was 4.5 inches (115 mm) shorter in the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. Also new, and a first for a Rover, was independent front suspension but the brakes remained a hydraulic/mechanical hybrid system. Rather than having a complete

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

, the new frame, which was a box section, was stopped short of the rear axle and the rear semi-elliptic springs were attached to the body. This allowed the rear axle travel to be increased and an improved ride resulted. Two body styles were available, a 6-light saloon and 4-light

sports saloon A sports sedan (also known as a super saloon or sports saloon in British English) is a subjective term for a sedan (automobile), sedan car that is designed to have sporting performance or Automobile handling, handling characteristics. Hist ...

. The 6-light saloon had a rear quarter window (sometimes referred to a 6-window saloon) while the 4-light sports saloon had no rear quarter window (sometimes referred to a 4-window saloon). The cars were expensive at £1080 for the Rover 60 and £1106 for the Rover 75, and because of early post-war production problems and material shortages it was never intended that the cars would be produced in large numbers. Eventually, 1274 60 and 7837 75 models were made before the car was replaced by the all-new Rover 75 (P4) at the end of September 1949; this was produced until 1959. (The '75' name was later used for Rover's 1999–2005 75 flagship).

Powertrain

The

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

and gearbox from the car were also used as the basis for those in the original Land Rover Series. About six "75" models were produced with triple SU carburettors – a throw back to Rover's pre-war 'Speed' performance models; one survivor has an over-bored 2,400 cc engine; the basis of the Marauder 100 engine. Rover's new 75 was announced on 23 September 1949,New Rover Car. ''The Times'', Friday, Sep 23, 1949; pg. 2; Issue 51494. it replaced this car. Rover 60 aka Rover P3 1595cc September 1948.JPG, 1948 60 6-light saloon Splendid classic car awaiting the start of the 2009 Havant Mayor's Rally (3) - geograph.org.uk - 1259832.jpg, 1949 75 6-light saloon Rover P3-75 (1948) (8051354387).jpg, 1948 75 sports saloon Rover P3-75 (1948) (8051360804).jpg, 1948 75 sports saloon

Overview

Powertrain

References

Further reading