Rover TCZ

The name of Rover, thanks to the last 20 or so years of its life, is now linked with outdated cars, poor sales and that buyout!!!! However go back 40 years and Rover was a proud marque, with the Rover P6 the ultimate status symbol for the aspiring middle classes. It was at this time the concept car below was produced, and what a departure from our thoughts of Rover it was.

Built in 1967 by Zagato it toured Europe showing at Geneva and the Turin Motor Shows, which just shows how much effort was put in to this to raise the profile of the Rover brand on the verge of the Common Market. Now normally I would provide some history to the car etc but to be honest the best place to read this is over on Carsyling’s website, not so much for the article but the discussion below from both previous owners and those who actually worked on this “show car” to actually put in on the road.

When I saw this car at the recent Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show I literally had to do a second take of the badge on the front to make me believe this was a Rover. It’s such a pretty thing to see and so different to where the Rover styling was going at that time however the overall lines have echoes in the 1977 Rover SD1.