We’re Invited to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Rover V8 with the Rover Owners’ Club

The Rover Owners’ Club (NSW & ACT) have invited us to participate in their celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Rover V8, which will take place over the 30th of September and 1st of October, 2017. Read on for the official invitation.

50th Anniversary of the Rover V8

The Rover Owners’ Club (NSW & ACT) is proud to announce pre-event information about the 50th  anniversary of the Rover V8.

The event will be based at the Motorlife Museum Annual Motor Expo on Sunday 1 October. The museum has codially invited the ROC to be the featured club.

The museum is south-west of Wollongong, about an hour and a half drive from Sydney, on Darkes Rd, Kembla Grange. If you’ve not visited before, it’s a fascinating display of motoring in Australia going back to the earliest years; a befitting place to honour 50 years of our beloved V8.

The event is not limited to the Rover Mark. We wish to invite all car clubs in NSW and ACT whose cars were powered by the Rover V8.

The engine that came to Rover was an iteration of the early 1960s General Motors Oldsmobile/Buick 215 design, staying on for some four decades. It is linked intrinsically with what is arguably Rover’s greatest period of vehicle manufacture from the 1960s to the 1990s.

This engine powered three generations of Rover’ sedans: P5B, P6B, SD1, the Land Rover and Range Rover, the MGB GTV8, MG RV8, Morgan Plus 8m Triumph TR8, TVR S Series, Griffith, Chimaera and Leyland Australia’s P76, amongst others. Just imagine if Rover had been given the green light for the P8 saloon and P9 (mid-mounted V8 three-seater), the latter arguably one of British Leyland’s greatest mistakes.

This anniversary over the weekend of 30 September and 1 October at the Motorlife Museum celebrates the life of this engine through various classic vehicles in which it was used.

We anticipate the schedule being:

Sunday the 30th September (Optional)

1. An Optional run will be held from the southern outskirts of Sydney to the Wollongong/Port Kembla area. Details are to be confirmed.
2. In the evening we will arrange a dinner for these participants. The venue and overnight accommodation details are still to be confirmed.

Sunday 1 October

1. On Sunday morning, participants staying overnight from the optional Saturday run will travel in convoy to the Motorlife Museum to arrive by 9:30AM
2. Those who will be coming from home will make their way directly to the museum, arriving by 9:30AM
3. All cars will be parked in the museum surrounds
4. We will disperse whenever convenient. The nominal closing time is 2:30PM

There will be a barbeque, sandwiches and drinks available. There will also be double-decker bus rides and a band.

The ROC is hoping that this anniversary will be well supported not only by our fellow club members, but also members from other clubs whose cars used the Rover V8. In this early planning stage the club is seeking expressions of interest from members of other clubs who would like to attend.

Please contact ROC Club Capt. Andrew Holland for further information on:

[email protected] or 0414 625 236

Motorlife Museum: https://motorlifemuseum.com/

Download the PDF invitation including the detailed proposed itinerary here:

Rover V8 50th Anniversary Weekend 2017 Invitation [PDF]