When Rover’s SD1 speared its way into the executive class of 1976, it flaunted bold new style and engineering. Time to celebrate 50 years of this British ground-breaker

An A-road transport cafe circa 1958, the atmosphere thick with intrigue and cheap-cigar fumes. The waitress, a twin for comedy starlet Liz Fraser, scowls at the attempts of four businessmen at the win

Once they headed the company car parks of Eighties Britain, now these executive icons offer prestige, nostalgia and pure driving pleasure from £5k. But which of these trading-floor titans best rewards the shrewd classic motorist?

(1998-2005)

BRENT, NORTH LONDON

You hear it long before you see it: the tranquil of this bucolic Hampshire village has been shattered by some hooligan flouting its urban speed limit. Heads turn. The demonic roar and ring-a-ding-ding