Tim fights for first, but gets the hang of it in the end…
While most folks know me for the multitude of Hillman Imps that have followed me home over the past 30-odd years, I’ve always had a bit of a passion for the other car of significance launched in 1963, the Rover P6.
In a previous life, I occasionally got to drive a lovely red V8 that was owned by the magazine I worked for – and as a junior writer at the time, the cost of the fuel nearly made me homeless, but the burble was worth it. Fast forward the clock and I had a brief flirtation with a 2200TC that had to go due to other life inconveniences.
I had a feeling of unfinished business with the P6, so when editor Danny mentioned that his Rover could be available (with certain caveats and conditions), I jumped up and down with my hand in the air like a small child.
Meeting in the car park at PC Towers, I got my chance to drive this fine example for the first time… or rather I couldn’t. With the engine started, I went to select first gear… and despite frantic pushing, pulling and tugging at the stubby little gear lever, there appeared to be no H-gate discernible. ‘Ah, yes… it does that. Gently feel around and you’ll get first,’ was the editor’s encouragement. Eventually, I found first and managed a successful test drive, despite the gearchange. Undeterred, paperwork and keys changed hands, and with my nine-year-old son in the passenger seat, we boldly headed off towards Northamptonshire.
Every junction was approached with trepidation, with stress levels through the roof and sweat on my fevered brow – but each time my son would warmly and calmly tell me to slow down my frantic gear shifting. ‘Don’t worry daddy, you’ll find first!’ As a result, it has become the major focus in improving the car, which incidentally my son has named EDnaR based on the reg number. The name has stuck.
A bit remote
The early P6 manual gearbox has a bit of a reputation for a notchy change. The later car gained a completely different remote selector that improved the change, with its own challenges and foibles. The early car relies on a remote that bolts to the transmission tunnel, with the lever actuating in the gap between the tunnel and the box, directly into the selectors. Because of this, if the gearbox and drivetrain shift a bit and become out of alignment with that hole in the transmission tunnel and the lever dangling through it, finding the right gear
