1986 Rover SD1 3500SE Police Car

Absolutely love this car.  It reminds me of the bronze one my dad had from new in the late 70's.  He did over 176,000 miles in it; we went to sweden, germany, bottom of spain, bottom of italy, south of france in it. 

The Swedish trip was mesmerising - I don't remember anything of the 10 days we were there but the journey there (and back) was unbelievable - even now I am dumbstruck that my Dad got away with it - we drove to the swedish archipelligo in just under 30 hours from anglesey.  He's got the trip details, today, hung up on his wall in the hall with all the timings and the detail.  He treated it like a series of rally stages and he talks about it now - He rested on the ferry - think there were two but I was only 8 or so when we went and tbh it was all a bit of blur once we got to Belgium - he hit some big numbers  - with my mum giving him daggers from the passenger seat and I think she lost her sense of humour when we didn't stop from calais to bremen or somewhere deep in Germany.  We had a pitstop there and then that was it  - we didn't stop again until the next boat trip or something.  Anyway, we started 3am  Monday morning having packed the night before and we  were there before lunch on the tuesday.

To this  day I can remember my mum threatening him at 1 in the morning in Sweden to find  us a hotel to sleep in - he hadn't booked anywhere; he was just going to push on through.....we ended up sleeping in a hotel manager's house (because mum basically wouldn't let go of the handbrake when we had to stow for something.  he had to give in.)  We were only there for a short sleep anyway before we were back in the car.  she didn't speak to him for what felt like days afterwards and tbh it was the beginning of the end of the marriage.... and he didn't learn his lesson on the way back.....it wasn't a laid back journey on the way back - if anything it was quicker.  I remember we did Chirk to Anglesey in about 90 mins along the old a5 (it's on the wall and it's something that I still look at and wonder at; it was actually alot quicker than 90 mins but I'm not putting the real time up)..........with mum either white with fright or with a deep, deep anger that even now I sort of cringe at. 


There were times we'd spend so much time on the other side of the road overtaking things that sometimes I thought Dad had forgotten which side of the road we were driving on - anything straight with good visiblity and he was gone.  There are long, long stretches of straight road around cerrigydrudion and we absolutely flew through there.  He knew the road like the back of his hand.  He worked in London but we lived in Anglesey and that was the road he used - there wasn't an A55 as we know it now or the quick A483  giving you different options - all that stuff came later.  


Anyway - I'm boring you now - but suffice to say - your car gives me great pleasure in the memories it stirs. 

He bought a saab 900 turbo next (really good memories of that too) and then in 1987 bought a new rs sapphire cosworth.  He went up to Dundee to pick it up then promptly drove it to Hungary to run it in.  He had to go to a client in Hungary so that was his excuse.  

He then had BBR do some work to it once it was run in and as an overtaking weapon I've not been in anything as brutally quick as that; it felt like you were pulling the horizon towards you than accelerating towards it, if that makes any sense.