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Rover SD1
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===Design=== The new car was designed with simplicity of manufacture in mind in contrast to the P6, the design of which was rather complicated in areas such as the [[DeDion axle|De Dion-type rear suspension]]. The SD1 used a simple [[Live axle|live rear axle]] instead. This different approach was chosen because surveys showed that although the automotive press was impressed by sophisticated and revolutionary designs the general buying public was not unless the results were good. However, with the live rear axle came another retrograde step – the car was fitted with drum brakes at the rear. Rover's plans to use a new 2.2-litre DOHC 16-valve Slant-Four engine<ref>{{cite web |last1=York |first1=Chris |title=Opinion : An engine for the Rover P10 |url=https://www.aronline.co.uk/engines/an-engine-for-the-rover-p10/ |website=AROnline |language=en-gb |date=28 May 2019}}</ref> with Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection were soon abandoned as BL management ruled that substantially redesigned versions of Triumph's six-cylinder engine were to power the car instead. The [[Rover V8 engine]] was fitted in the engine bay. The three-speed [[automatic gearbox]] was the [[BorgWarner]] 65 model. [[File:Rover_SD1_3500_V8_interior.jpg|thumb|left|LHD Rover SD1 NOS series 1 interior]] The dashboard of the SD1 features an air vent, unusually, directly facing the passenger. The display binnacle sits on top of the dashboard in front of the driver to aid production in left-hand drive markets, since it avoided the expense of producing two different dashboard mouldings for LHD and RHD versions. The air vent doubles as a passage for the steering-wheel column, and the "podular" display binnacle can be easily fitted on top of the dashboard on either the left or right-hand side of the car.<ref>[[Top Gear (2002 TV series)|''Top Gear'']], Series 4 Episode 8 18 July 2004</ref><ref name=RT3500>{{cite journal | ref = RnT | journal = Road & Track's Road Test Annual & Buyer's Guide 1981 | issue = January–February 1981 | title = Rover 3500: Rover, Rover, now you can come over | editor-first = Tony | editor-last = Hogg | page = 160 }}</ref> This concept was not entirely new; it had also been used on the Range Rover and was used again on the Mk.1 [[Austin Metro]], both of which were also designed by David Bache. The interior of the Series 1 was notable for its lack of wood embellishment in comparison to previous Rover saloons, with an extensive use instead of modern soft-feel plastics, and a new "skeletal" version of the Rover badge would appear on the bonnet - Bache was keen that the SD1 should make use of the latest industrial design trends and be a clean break from the past. An estate body had been envisaged, but it did not get beyond the prototype stage. Two similarly specified estates have survived, and are exhibited at the [[Heritage Motor Centre]] and the [[Haynes International Motor Museum]] respectively. One was used by BL chairman [[Sir Michael Edwardes]] as personal transport in the late 1970s. The two cars as befit prototypes differ in the detail of and around the tailgate. One car has a recessed tailgate, while the other has a clamshell arrangement, where the whole tailgate is visible when closed. The SD1 was intended to be produced in a state-of-the-art extension to Rover's historic [[Solihull plant|Solihull factory]] alongside the TR7. It was largely funded by the British government, who had bailed BL out from bankruptcy in 1975. Unfortunately, this did nothing to improve the patchy build quality that then plagued all of British Leyland. That, along with quick-wearing interior materials and poor detailing ensured that initial enthusiasm soon turned to disappointment.
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