Canadian assembled car??

[roverdriver]

This has just appeared on E-bay for sale in Queensland Australia. The seller says it was built in Canada. Is his story likely?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/rare-CANADIAN-bu ... 240%3A1318

[lakesrally]

Hi Dane,

Not sure about Canadian built cars but it might be possible, I have not got access to my books at the moment. But I think he is pushing his luck describing it as original when it is missing the rear bumper, heater pipes, ignition carrier, fresh air duct for the heater, original air filter, horns, fog lamp, tool tray, radio hole blank panel, Rover badge from the dash, carpets and clock, has a transmission tunnel that looks like a rabbit hutch, Jaguar rear axle, independent suspension all round and Jaguar gauges. The door trims have been replaced, the door pockets are missing. The instrument panel should be painted black. Is that a patch of white filler just below the rear window? The front sidelights are in a very strange place and the rear lights are certainly not right for a home market car and I suspect they are not original for Canada either. The rocker breather appears to be connected to the carb port for the ignition advance vacuum by a bit of yellow plastic pipe; it might not need a tune up if it was not sucking rocker fumes in after the carb. The proper vacuum advance pipe is missing. Electric fuel pump is correct but it does not appear to be in the right location. Fan driven heater was standard, not rare, though it is being optimistic to call it forced air, it's a bit of a fug-stirrer. If there are 4 litres of paint left over it's a shame they did not paint the wheels and the front apron to match the body, the stone guard should not be black either. It might be solid and it would be a shame to turn into a hot rod but it would need quite a bit doing to put it back to anything like original condition, I would not want to pay top money for it.

[lakesrally]

....and, unless he has got a V8 hidden in the boot, it has not got a 6 litre engine either.

[andrewmcg]

re Post War Rovers for export
As I understand it all post war P2 and P3 models were all built in UK, with the 'Export models' being shipped as either as completed cars, with left or right hand drive and incorporating any other legal requirements of the country of import, or in CKD (cars knocked down) form for shipment and assembly in country of import. Whereas prewar Rover often exported running chassis's with the bodywork being built in the country of import, particularly Australia and India.
Out of interest I notice on the RSR archive database we have details of around 50 or so 1948 P3 75 models with the R prefix (ie export models), that have been owned over the years by members in Australia, New Zealand and even a few in Canada.
Could this have been as a result of a more successful Rover export push in 1948, than that of the 200 1947 P2 12 tourers made for export but in the end most lay around and were sold in the home market during 1948.
Such post war export production was encouraged by the government of the time, who were prepared to release scarce raw materials for the manufacture of export goods rather than for the home market ?? seems plausible to me but who knows.

Regards to all
Andrew

[patrick hiron]

Hi
I have not heard of a Rover assembly operation in Canada . I doubt that Rover could have obtained dollars from the UK govt to set up a plant just after WW2. No Canadian company would have invested in such an operation , there were much easier ways of making profits from North American cars at his time
IKB was " assembled from CKD parts" at Dewar's Motor Works in Calcutta. Although, when I was last in India I heard dark tales that Dewars simply screwed their namplates onto completely assembled cars shipped from Birmingham .
Cheers
Patrick .

[Dirkco]

Not a Chance!

It was all Rover could do just to get the car to market and then for only about 18 months. I have never heard of any manufacturing of signifigance in North America let alone a P3!

Dirk

[achandler]

Rovers were assembled from CKD in New Zealand, but the earliest, large scale, were P6's and the last, SD1 models. Most P6Bs imported into Australia were actually assembled in New Zealand, some remaining on sale in the Show Rooms until 1978.
I was interested in the comment about the "R" (or "L") in front of the Chassis Numbers of P3's built for export. My P3 does not have this additional letter, but the Rover factory records show it was a CKD car assigned for exporting to New Zealand, and it was probably assembed at the Austin assembly plant in Wellington. In my (admittedly incomplete) data base of known P3 Rovers in New Zealand (and some Australian cars) show less than half have the "R" - I guess the person responsible at the Rover Factory punched it on the plate whenever he remembered!

[Dkenner]

This has just appeared on E-bay for sale in Queensland Australia. The seller says it was built in Canada. Is his story likely?

No. rover had no Canadian presence until after the war. Rover initially attempted to build their own dealership network in the US and Canada. The first dealerships were Western Messenger & Transfer Service in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Ontario Rover Distributors in Toronto, Ontario. Both were listed in the Land-Rover Operation Manual TP/108/A which has print date of June 1948. The third revision of that manual, TP/108/C dated August 1949, added Wier’s Motor Services Ltd. (Montreal, Quebec) and Plimley Automotive Co. Ltd. (Vancouver, British Columbia) to the list. For USA sales, customers were directed to Plimley’s. The 4th edition of the Operation Manual, TP/108/D dated April 1950, added Yorktown Motors Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario) and deleted Ontario Rover Distributors and Western Messenger and Transport.

The British Automobile and Motor Cycle Show was held at the Grand Central Palace in New York from 15 to 23 April 1950. A Land-Rover and rolling chassis were featured at stand #11. During this show Rover announced that Rootes Motors, Inc. was granted the exclusive contract to sell Land-Rovers and Rover cars in Canada and the US. Hence forth all Land-Rovers were imported by Rootes. In the build books Rootes is referred to as “Rootes” (either as the bare word or with “Inc.”, “Ltd.” or “USA” afterwards) or Rootes Motors (either as the bare word or with “Inc.”, “Ltd.” or “USA” afterwards) and once as “The Rootes Motors”. Consistency in a hand written build book? Never! The first mention of Rootes was 17 April 1950. Interestingly Rootes 80” had Lucas 388 rear tail lights and non-Rootes 80” had D lights.