Rover P6 Club

The Rover P6 Club gets behind the project of 'Practical Classics' Sam Glover. Sam's aim was to drive a P6 to Iran and back in aid of charity and we thought it was such a good idea that we aided by supplying parts and technical assistance. What foolows is various extracts from our club magazine Driving Force, which help cronicle Sam's exploits 

Printed in Driving Force September 2008 

 We have put the spares together that Sam needed to get the car up to scratch which included a steering remote amongst other bits and a box of items to take on the epic journey and also the stickers for the doors with the club logo had arrived and were now ready to be attached to the car. Our regalia suppliers got these done for us in record time, in the form of a 300mm square sticker (1 foot x 1 foot for those of you who work in old money!). I have lent my own P6 roof rack to the Sam, with a request that he made sure it came back with the car still attached underneath . Other spares had been supplied directly from Ian Wilson at Rover-Classics, which included suspension bushes and hoses, and finally Colin Gould at Kingsdown had supplied labour to put the car together in preparation for the run. So we now find ourselves at the weekend when the journey is due to start.

19th July:  Myself and Maria went down to the home of the car at Swindon and delivered the bits, pieces and stickers. As per usual, I couldn’t resist the chance to get my hands dirty and helped Richard (part of the support crew) with a few little jobs. ‘Daisy’ is modified with an electric fuel pump, electric fan to help the engine fan, electronic ignition, an expansion tank for the radiator (which came from a Volvo) and a secret switch to immobilise the car, when its not moving.

21st July: Departs Swindon on the epic journey.

30th July: We have a phone from Richard in the support crew to say the car has suffered an engine failure, it looks like it could be the head gasket but also there’s a strange noise which is traced to no 4 piston. (Ian Wilson dispatches a new head gasket set). The news comes as the car enters Romania after already passing through France, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

18th August:  In Sam’s own words    “Despite a conspiracy of breakdowns, bureaucracy and Russian bombing, we have managed to drag our bedraggled Rover P6 (aka The Brown Laser, Daisy) to Esfahan, the mother-ship of ancient Persia. Following engine reassembly in Romania, we barnstormed Bulgaria and Turkey in four days, arriving at the Georgian border just as Russian bombs began to fall in Gori and Tbilisi.

Crossing the country without passing through Gori required a long day of challenging off-roading which, despite our best efforts, caused much percussive resculpting of the Brown Laser's underside. As we departed into Azerbaijan, we vowed to return to the pretty and unbelievably hospitable country as soon as it is less fighty.

Azerbaijan was transversed without major difficulties and we eventually crossed the Iranian border after a paper-chase that lasted for 19 hours. Beurocracy 1, us 0.

The Brown Laser has continued to provide resistance throughout, with ongoing cooling issues, various carburettor blockages, grumpy rear brakes and a gear linkage that requires re-bodging every few hundred miles.

Failure of a minor oil seal above the sump turned our first evening of Iranian recuperation into an filthy bodgework extravaganza. Also, with an engine designed to run on 5-star rocket fuel, we have found no state of tune that results in satisfactory running on local 'I can't believe it's not petrol', a strange substance that, in Iran's alcohol-free social climate, I am beginning to consider mixing with orange juice.

Esfahan was described by Byron as 'among those rarer places which are the common refreshment of humanity', and we are inclined to agree, feeling wholly refreshed and significantly more human than we did in dusty transit. From here, we hope to potter along the silk road to Tabriz, Turkey and Istanbul.

The saga of Clive continues...
We're hoping that our 10000-mile Rover fight will raise some money for Jole Rider's excellent 'Bikes 4 Africa' program. To make a donation, point your browser towards www.justgiving.com/slightlyclive ... we'll buy you an Iranian beer.”Words: Sam Glover Images: Slightly Clive Racing 

Update printed in Driving Force November 2008 

 After a Transylvanian engine rebuild, tyre-screeching across Turkey and avoiding Russian bombs in Georgia, Sam Glover picks up his Middle Eastern P6 jaunt at the Iranian border. Gaining the paperwork necessary to get our P6 into Iran was a character-building exercise. For nineteen-and-a-half hours we bounced between a bewildering array of seedy offices, which appeared to open and close at random and shared a fearsome disinclination to liase with one another.The problem appeared to be that the bureaucratic procedure involved in gaining a UK-registered classic access to the country was not one that was practiced often. Confused officials tended to have a hack at organising the paperwork, give up after an hour, then refer us to another department, which was more-often-than-not closed. We eventually entered dazed, confused, $200 dollars lighter of pocket and in dire need of medicinal beers.

The latter was an instant issue.We pottered across the country to Esfahan without any major hiccups, aside from the mystery disappearance of one of the two smaller aluminium caps in the front of the engine block - the ones that are held in place and sealed with a rubber 'O' ring. The problem occurred after a highly physical rush-hour hotel search in the town of Qazvin, manifesting as a massive oil leak as we pulled into the secure car park of our chosen establishment. With fan, water pump and various ancillaries removed, we were able to plug the gaping hole using a handily sized plastic bung and a generous quantity of Chemical Metal.

In Esfahan, we enjoyed a minor collision with a Peykan taxi and the disintegration of our bodged gear selector - which featured a bush at the base of the stick fashioned from insulation tape - at a very inopportune moment, necessitating manual recovery across two lanes of angry traffic.From here, we began heading southwest towards Ahvaz in the hope of visiting the impressive Zikkurat at Chogha Zanbil.

Unfortunately, the Brown Laser was deeply troubled by the combination of 45-degree heat, mountainous roads, heavy traffic and <80-octane petrol, running worryingly hot at times. The radiator cap continually lifted to vent pressure, lowering the water level and exacerbating the problem. The only way to keep coolant in the system was to bodge the cap closed - effective, but a cause for concern over potentially damaging pressure levels.It should be noted here that the BL was perfectly at home with temperatures the kind side of 35-degrees. It was only when they erred the savage side of this that problems began it arise.

When investigation of nasty braking noises revealed the front pads to be worn down to the metal on both sides, we decided that it was time to begin heading North to the relatively cool climes of Turkey, where we would be able to use beer to plot a solution. It seemed that we had munched through a new set of pads - supplied my Mark himself - in just 6000 miles!

 Before reaching Turkey, the BL's exhaust manifold fractured at the joint between cylinders 2 and 3, causing an appalling racket and fuel evaporation issues (the failure being directly below the carburettors and causing them to overheat). Fortunately, we were taken under the wing of a local who allowed us to sleep in his shack - alongside himself and an enthusiastic calf - and helped us to track down a welder the following morning. This, incidentally, is fully representative of the level of hospitality we experienced in Iran - it truly is one of the world's friendliest and most accommodating countries.

Upon arrival in Turkey, we headed for the first major town - Van. Here, we were amazed to find that front brake pads from a Ford Taunus - a Turkish-built Cortina clone - were carbon copies of the BL's. A set were swiftly procured and fitted, coming as a huge relief after almost 1000-miles with little in the way of braking. After suffering alternator failure in Greece, our return trip along the Balkan cost was blissfully trouble-free, allowing us to dedicate our time and resources to exploration. Tirana, Pristina and Sarajevo were major highlights - highly recommended. Progress across Western Europe was equally smooth. In the end, our trip had spanned a hefty 10,500 miles, at least 1000 of which were on unmetalled tracks. From tyre-screeching around sweeping hairpins in Turkey to rock-hopping and mud-crawling in Georgia and Albania, our Rover had conducted itself with superb grace. Many a modern car owner was surprised to be overtaken on an open road, and many a Lada Niva owner had cause to double-take at the sight of us slithering down a mountainside. Off-road performance was particularly impressive, the car's flexible suspension and fundamental solidity leading to excellent stability on dirt roads and surprisingly ability to transverse highly challenging terrain.

The Brown Laser is now in a rather tired state, but noting is irreparable. The steering has significant play, the suspension is saggy, the gearbox makes appalling noises, the differential leaks oil, the engine is in need of a rebuild, all four brake discs are ruined, the body is scarred and the interior smells funny. With these trifling issues rectified, I would not hesitate to leap back behind the wheel and cover the distance all over again. The car's fate is now uncertain - mechanical rebuild or complete restoration, a life of retirement or preparation for further international exploration? I am yet to decide. In the meantime, life without a daily 8-hours behind the wheel of a 2200TC seems strangely empty...

Read the full story in Practical Classics magazine.

Donate to the Slightly Clive cause: www.justgiving.com/slightlyclive

Words by Sam Glover of Practical Classics

To cap everything off Sam and the Brown Laser were in attendance at the NEC in 2008 on the RP6C club stand. The well battered brown P6 was a superb draw the whole weekend especially to all the youngsters who wrote their names in the dust.