Client story: 44 years with a Rover P5B
Paul Bailey has had a love affair with cars for as long as he can remember. Starting when he was just a little one, it was a passion of the family. His Dad owned a two-pump garage that offered servicing and repairs.
“I spent almost all of my free time in the garage as a child, served petrol and oil and generally tried to help. Though I’m sure I got in the way too! There were some good pre-war cars around then and I have fond memories of the Morris 10/4, there seemed to be a lot of those at the time.”
Jumping forward some years, Paul is now a teenager and passes his test in 1962. His Dad helped him to find a car that he went on to own for 3 years. But his Dad didn't know then, this was only the beginning of Paul's love affair with Rovers. “Dad fairly quickly found me a 1940 Rover 10 that was somewhat knackered but became my pride and joy for three years. I went everywhere in that car, it became my sidekick! I had to have the solid white-metal big ends repaired twice in that time as I drove with my foot flat to the floor!”
Over the next few years, Paul bought another second-hand Rover, this time a 95 which he had for some time before he made a “mad” decision and bought a very used XK140. “It cost me £350 and for a while, it was great fun. However, life got in the way and I had to sell it in the end. However, I did make nice aluminum panels for its battery boxes! These were still on it in the late eighties when I went to see it at a high-end dealer who had advertised it as low mileage, with only two previous owners!”
“Looking back, one big mistake I made was buying a fairly new Marina TC in 1976. It was awful. It had clutch shudder and I knew pretty quickly it was a bad purchase. There was nothing good about it! Luckily, I had been left some money and was able to go back to buy what I love. Rovers! I bought a Rover P5B which I still have to this day.”
