Gary and Sharon Moreton’s
3500SE
Gary
told me he purchased this Rover on the 6th July 2003. The car left
the Solihull factory on the 18thseptember 1981, heading to a Rover
dealer, Rocar ltd of Huddersfield. Here it spent 10 months unregistered
before being sent to Longbridge central administration company
vehicles sales block where it was registered on the 13th July 1982.
It was used by Longbridge for approx 16 months before being transferred
to Warners, a Rover dealer in Surrey. The car was then sold to
the previous owner who owned it for 20 years before Gary bought
it. The car was totally original. The body shell and all the doors,
tailgate and bonnet were very solid and the interior trim was
in very good condition. The main problem areas were rotten inner
and outer wheel arches and parts of the sills so the car was stripped
down to nearly a bare shell and all four wings were removed.
sandblasting was done on all rusty areas and the inner wheel arches
were repaired with new metal.
New panels were fitted and all mechanical
parts were stripped down, cleaned and painted etc with all nuts
and bolts being re -electroplated.
The engine had done only 82000 miles from new and was still running
fine but Gary decided to strip it down, mainly for cleaning
purposes, and was rebuilt with new gaskets and seals, bearing
shells, camshaft and followers etc.
He did the work with the
help of a friend who is good with the bodywork side of things.
The car then went to the paint shop (Cambridge Metallics) in
Southport for painting in Monza Red, which was done in the following
stages - first inside the engine bay etc then the outer shell and
last of all the doors, tailgate and bonnet.
On arrival back from
the paint shop the under body painting and anti corrosion treatment
was done.
Then it was on with the rebuild, paying particular attention
to detail and originality.
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