Final Parking Space: 1967 Rover 2000 TC
Every so often, a collection of single-model project or parts cars must leave its abode and ends up by default in a nearby car graveyard. I’ve seen this many times over my decades of junkyard crawling, and the latest is an unexpected grouping of Rover P6s in Colorado.
Yes, the U-Pull-&-Pay in Aurora, Colorado has five vintage Rover sedans in stock, four P6s and a lone SD1. Three of the P6s are V-8-powered 3500S models from the 1970 model year, all built in a three-month period at the end of 1969, with this four-cylinder 2000 TC mixed in for good measure.
The P6 was a radical departure for The Rover Company, which had spent the previous decades building stolid machinery for conservative people shopping for older cars. The P6 boasted cutting-edge styling and engineering innovations seemingly borrowed from the Citroën playbook, including a unibody structure with unstressed, removable body panels, four-wheel disc brakes (with the rear ones inboard), a wild front suspension design with bellcranks actuating coil springs mounted mounted horizontally, and body lines that looked nothing like those seen on your aged aunty’s Rover.
The first P6s were 1963 models, and they featured a 2.0-liter SOHC four-cylinder engine with a Heron cylinder head design (in which the combustion chambers are located in the tops of the pistons). The 2000 TC version got a dual-carburetor setup and was rated at 124 horsepower and 132 lb-ft of torque in U.S.-spec versions.
The head is long gone from this engine, but the funky exhaust manifold is still present.
The compression ratio in this engine was a somewhat hairy 10:1, so premium gasoline was mandatory.
UP&P placed a 1988 Subaru GL wagon between the ’67 2000 TC and one of the ’70 3500s. Another of the ’70s is in a nearby row, while the third can be found in the Domestics section.
The Rover P6 was available in the United States for the 1966 through 1971 model years. Its successor, the SD1, showed up for the 1980 and 1981 model years; other than that car, all the Rovers sold here since 1972 have been trucks.
This discovery of five rare vehicles from what must have been the same collection comes on the heels of other similar junkyard discoveries in recent years. There were eight Chevrolet Corvairs in a Colorado Springs yard earlier this year, three Renault Dauphines in Northern California about a year ago, and six Chevrolet Vegas (including a Millionth Edition Vega GT) earlier in 2023.
It’s possible that this car is a 1968 model, but I can’t be sure due to the lack of a build tag.
Like the other four Rover sedans now residing in the same facility, this one shows signs of having been parked outdoors for many years and has spare parts inside.
The MSRP for a 1967 2000 TC was $4198, or about $40,232 in 2024 dollars. That was cheaper than a new Citroën DS21 Pallas Grande Route sedan, which listed at $3884 ($37,223 after inflation). However, the DS didn’t come with an Icelert freeze-warning system as standard equipment.
I remember that Car and Driver was wild about the 2000 TC. I only saw one once at the new car show in Memphis, TN when I was in high school. Wonder how dependable they were and if they took a lot of maintenance.
Oh yeah, they were gaga over the Rover about 1970.
Oh – I was thinking of Road Test, which was simply crazy about the Rover. I did not read C&D back then, but they may well have loved it, too – especially if Davis was editor then.
Most of the mags were gaga over the 2000 TC because they tested new ones and didn’t have to maintain them. The car WAS pretty brilliant with its ahead-of-its-time safety features and driving dynamics.
I vividly remember Road & Track published one of their owner’s reports of the Rover where the byline to the article was “You think YOU have problems…” which turned out to be a litany of grousing from its owners with complaints. Electrical problems were most common but they did not handle emission controls very well.
Please replace “cheaper” with “pricier” in your sentence “That was cheaper than a new Citroën DS21 Pallas Grande Route sedan, which listed at $3884 ($37,223 after inflation).
I had one of these, a 1968 2000TC. I bought it new from Palotti & Poole on Wethersfield Ave in Hartford, CT, in large part, because of the C&D Road Test. Over the next two years I put 60 plus thousand mostly highway miles on the car with few problems (there was a gearbox recall – problem getting it into gear). It was a very nice car – very comfortable, quick, and fun to drive. Late one night I entered a sharp right hand turn going much faster than I should have been and I rolled the car over several times – it ended up sitting in the middle of the road on it’s top. The only injury that I sustained was a few minor cuts from crawling out through the windshield opening and the car, once righted, could probably have been driven away – but, the insurance company (Liberty Mutual) chose to total it – then the fun began. They rented me a VW Beetle and stalled me for about a month, finally I went to the office and waited until the manager would see me and he told me that they couldn’t establish a value for the car and asked if I would take the asking price for a used one that Palotti had on their showroom floor. I knew that car was one that was purchased for the owners wife (it had A/C, an automatic, and every other option available and he was asking top dollar for it) – I said YES. Bottom line, it cost me about $400 to own the Rover for two years and 60 thousand miles – best automotive deal I ever got! ( I then bought a Fiat 124 Coupe – whole different story!)
I had one of these as a daily driver for years in So AZ. Very robust mechanically, except for the weird shifter bushing which became unobtainium long ago. A lot of fun to drive! I still miss it!
A friend who deals in classics, mainly old Porsches and BMWs, found a one owner, low mile 2000TC in a widows garage.
He let me drive it and it was pretty much a UK ’60s sports car with four doors. Oddly delicate, an impression not helped by the PetMeds being so close together I hit the accelerator instead of the brake when coming to a stop.
Everything felt fragile…like the turn signal stalk was about to snap off in my hand.
Nice handling, steering and brakes.
A fun car but not very useful today (or even in the pre motorway days of the ’60s).
Rust In Peace Rover. We hardly new you existed.
The Rover P6 was a very innovative car for its time, with extensive safety features including a powertrain that was designed to “submarine” under the passenger compartment in a frontal collision. The ride and handling was not unlike that of the far more expensive Jaguar XJ6, but the 2000TC’s 4-cylinder (while more than adequate) suffered in comparison to the larger car’s inline six. A good friend had one for a couple of years. It was an excellent highway car with very comfortable seats and good fuel economy. As the car aged, typical British reliability concerns began to crop up, and I remember that he kept a combination wrench in the right-hand glovebox (the car had two!) for roadside brake bleeding when the rear calipers occasionally required it!
In the summer of 1967 I debated whether to buy a Rover 2000 TC or a Volvo 123 for European delivery and shipping back to Canada. I chose the Volvo, starting an unbroken string of Volvos. I’m now on my fifth one, 2007 V50 three-pedal. A friend bought the Rover about the same time. It turned out to be a short-term love-hate relationship.
It’s a pity those 3500s ended up in the junk yard. They have the aluminum Rover/Buick V-8 (Rover bought the 215 dies and all from Buick, still make a much improved version of it). Would be easy to drop an LS in and have quite an interesting street rod, but no one wants to do that to a four door, especially one you can’t find parts for. I’d have to have two, one for parts just in case I had a fender bender…
A high compression four-banger that needed 100 octane gas? 😵
From 73-77 my best friend’s dad drove a black 71. I was just a kid but I remember his dad LOVED the car. There was a BL dealer in New London CT or near to it. He drove out there for service. I often rode in the back seat for team practice pickups and it smelled great in that car. Slid on black ice and the insurance totaled it.