End of an era

[47p2]

Said goodbye to the old girl on Sunday, she was driven by her new owner up to Aberdeenshire, a 180 mile journey. Not bad for a 69 year old. Spoke to the new owner yesterday and he was delighted with the way she handled herself on the journey.

[Adrian E]

Good lord! That's a drive and a half in a car of that vintage - much kudos to the new owner for deciding to make that trip for a first drive

What made you decide to part with the old girl? Can't be many around given how few were built even when they were new.

A

[47p2]

Not a drive I would have undertaken myself on the assumption of a chat with a previous owner. Saying that in almost 12 years of owning the car she has never let me down, never missed a beat and has always behaved impeccably. My only concern of her being driven all that way up north was if the weather deteriorated as I would not normally take her out in November as that's her hibernation period

I've attended most of the classic shows in Scotland where Tilly has won many awards, sometimes year after year at the same shows, so I have been blackballed from entering some of the judging, I'm allowed to take the car but cannot enter into the competition which for me defeats the true spirit of the show. Then there is the responsibility of owning such a rare piece of British motoring history, she is one of only 25 known to have survived and of that 25 only 10 are known to be roadworthy, so the pressure was on me to make sure she came to no harm...and that's where things get tougher than you could imagine.
A few years ago whilst attending the annual Moffat classic rally Tilly was seriously damaged to the point that my insurance company wanted to do a full respray. This however would have removed almost 30 years of patina and taken away that 'something special' she had. I managed to find a couple of car detailers who worked on her and with their skills and determination managed to save her from a repaint and from that day on I have never felt safe entering rallies and she was sitting in the garage doing less and less miles every year.

Damage and my plea for help here

The massive undertaking to sort it all out here



A number of years ago when attending rallies I was always being asked how much to buy her, mostly from assholes who just wanted to own something old and shiny so I placed an advert on an upmarket American website and priced it at a figure I would happily accept but truly thought nobody would ever think of paying, a price that no Rover P2 has ever sold for, a price that went beyond the point of reality, so whenever anyone asked the question I gave them the web address and that was the last I heard from them. Low and behold about 3 years ago a nugget from London wanted the car and after lots of emails back and forth he sent me a deposit, then after a few weeks wanted his deposit back which was not going to happen so I had a good few tanksful of free petrol for his efforts Then about 5 months ago the chap from up north emailed me to ask if the car was for sale and how much would I accept for it, so I directed him to the advert. I heard nothing for 15 weeks then he sent me his offer which I refused and told him exactly where he needed to be to buy the car and a couple of days later he emailed me to say yes to the deal. He came down a couple of weeks ago and had a test drive, we shook hands and the deal was sealed. I know she is in good hands and will be cherished as the new owner has another vintage car, I've done my bit to preserve her and bring smiles to the thousands who saw her at shows, I don't need or want the pressure of owning such a rare car so am happy that she has found someone to care for her

For those who have not seen the website you can read more about her here


That lot should keep you reading until next week

[David's8]

Sorry to hear you have sold Tilly and it was great to have seen it but can understand the pressure of keeping such a car. You're going to have to change your signature now John!

[The_Laird]

A little web search shows the asking price which, IMHO, doesn't seem an awful lot for such a beautiful example of a very rare car.

Like David, I'm glad to have seen it - and even photographed it outside my house!

But I suspect the real reason you had to let her go was because you'd bought too many bikes!