1983 Rover - Austin SD1 Vitesse review from UK and Ireland

Typical 20 year old car stuff:

Suspension bushes

Clutch

A couple of minor oil leaks

Dirty injectors

Dicky fuel gauge

Interior trim loose / broken.

Bought this car for sixty quid 8 years ago. It had been sat in a garage for 4 years without even being started. The bodywork was fairly OK, but the sills and floor needed attacking with a welder. Tyres were flat, brakes were seized. The usual.

A like minded mate and I spent six months worth of weekends and evenings slowly putting it all right. We stripped and rebuilt the engine which needed very little work - it had clearly seen regular servicing and was quite clean with all bearing tolerances and bore clearances within spec. Valve seals, rings and oil pump were changed as a precautionary measure.

It was an anxious moment when we put a new battery on and fired her up for the first time, but the off beat bellow from the V8 as it fired up was enough to make us grin for days. This car can send any petrolhead into heaven on noise alone.

Once the bodywork was done, a full respray was the next job, in the original Moonraker Blue metallic. The car looked superb. Together with interior parts begged and borrowed from various sources, we got the car looking almost as new.

To drive, the Vitesse is still a wonderful bit of kit. The twin plenum injected V8 is a peach, thumping out a solid 190 bhp to the rear wheels, and the kind of torque that only a big V8 can muster. Even though this is a big car, it was built before crash regs were even thought of meaning it's as light as an average modern hatch. 0-60 comes up in around 7 seconds, with the V8 torque sending the rear tyres up in smoke in the lower gears if you're careless with the throttle. It handles too staying remarkably flat, and giving good feel through the steering.

I love this car because it is such a bruiser, and because it still looks fantastic. The car has been restored to original spec, without any bolt on mods.

It's a feelgood car. The noise turns heads, the performance makes hot hatch boys gawp, and you waft along on a wave of V8 torque, feeling happy and not stressing about the 18 mpg fuel consumption and the interior which seems to degrade by the day.

I love it and will never sell it.