Secret Rovers

In the late 1960s, the old Rover Company put everything it knew into a complex luxury saloon codenamed P8. At the same time, it planned to branch out into a new sector of the market with a stunningly advanced mid-engined sports car prototype that became a formal project with the codename of P9. However, with the forced merger into British Leyland in 1968, Rover found itself squeezed between Triumph and Jaguar: neither marque welcomed the new sports car, and Jaguar particularly did not welcome the new luxury saloon. Little by little, Rover's plans were undermined, and in 1970 the sports car was killed off, followed by the luxury saloon, which was axed in 1971, a mere six months before production was due to start. Just a year later, Rover itself ceased to exist as a separate business after a forced merger with Triumph.



Marvellous book - a read that proves as frustrating as revelatory - shows how rivalries with Rover, Jaguar and Triumph proved to be as toxic as those between MG and Triumph



What Douiglas and James have written is something that is rarely seen; a glimpse into a decade's worth of development of a company that no longer exists from a time where cars were designed on drawing boards, and paerts were fitted to cars for test purposes, rather than designed on computers with accouintants holding the reigns



This book is superbly illustrated, with many pictures being published here for the first time. For Rover enthusiasts hungry for detail, both text and pictures will satisfy even the most demanding. Looking at the front cover with a colourised image of what would have been an amazing Rover flagship saloon, imagined here in Oporto Red, who wouldn't want to drive that car!



If you're a Rover enthusiast or just fascinated by the politics, intrigue and engineering ambition of British Leyland, you absolutely need this book on your shelf. It's nothing less than remarkable.