Rover P4 90

Incredibly strong, smooth and comfortable, the Rover P4 is one of the best-made cars ever to be mass produced on these shores. In production from 1949 until 1964, it came in a bewildering number of versions but all were excellent cars, furnished to a very high standard with plenty of wood and leather, that were enormously popular with the middle class motorist.

Introduced alongside the four-cylinder Rover P4 60 in 1953, the P4 90 had a more-powerful 2.6-litre six-cylinder engine that produced a respectable 90bhp and drove through a four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on the top three gears. The doors, boot and bonnet were in aluminium with the rest of the body in steel. The cars had a separate chassis with independent suspension by coil springs at the front and a live axle with half-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. Brakes were fully hydraulic drums all round.

Testing the 90 in 1954, The Motor magazine recorded a top speed of 90mph and acceleration from 0-60mph in 18.9 seconds. When it was replaced by the P4 100 in 1959, 35,903 had been produced.

This particular 90 was first registered in August 1956 and has been in the hands of one registered keeper since 1999 (now deceased). For the last 10 years at least the car has been kept in storage but when a local garage was recently sent to retrieve the car, it fired up remarkably easily with a splash of fresh petrol and was driven on and off a trailer with everything functioning more or less as it should, including clutch, brakes, steering, lights, horn and indicators.

The black coachwork appears to be mainly sound and straight although a repaint would no doubt transform the car. The original red leather interior is in generally good order and should clean up beautifully. The original cloth headlining is also in very good shape. Due to have a fresh MOT before the sale, it comes with an original owner’s handbook plus a V5 registration document.

AMENDMENT: This car failed the MOT on a few small points.