April fool!

[steve28]

So who's going to buy an sd1 and make an AF1

[Jonathan Lewis]

So who's going to buy an sd1 and make an AF1

Mr Lirpaloof?

[CAR]

So who's going to buy an sd1 and make an AF1

Mr Lirpaloof?

It was a very nice piece though Jonathan, well done.

[Jonathan Lewis]

It was a very nice piece though Jonathan, well done.

Thank you, Colin - 'twas a good spot of fun to while away a few cold dark evenings in the run-up to Christmas. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Rob B]

As with all the best hoaxes it has a crumb of truth in it.

BL did indeed consider building a 4 door version of the SD1 to be sold as a Triumph - the one and only running prototype was later converted in to an estate and still resides in the Gaydon museum, albeit with a standard SD1 front end and a V8 engine.

[Jonathan Lewis]

Interesting – do you have any further details? I’m aware of the stillborn SD1 estate programme and of the subsequent ‘Bravo’ project which was supposed to have combined SD1 and TR7 elements to create a range of Rover saloons and estates, but not of a real-life four-door SD1 derivative per se. The only four-door prototype I’m aware of was a very early car (L-registration?) which had the basic SD1 profile but with external panels shaped much more like those of a P6. Instead of the rear fastback and hatch, however, the roof was terminated immediately behind the C-pillar with a very upright and fairly flattish rear screen installed (not unlike that of the Volvo 740/760 saloon) and a rather crudely modified Mk2 Triumph bootlid and rear light panel let into the SD1 rear structure. I did not think that this vehicle had any significance beyond providing a usable ‘mule’ to permit testing whilst keeping secret the 5-door format chosen for SD1, but perhaps I’m wrong... I believe the car in question survived into BL Heritage ownership but was later scrapped, perhaps due to having been vandalised whilst in storage; I was shown a couple of snapshots of the car in the late 1980s or early 1990s and was given to understand that it had already ceased to exist.

[Rob B]

Yes I have a file of information on various still born BL projects. Dad rescued it from Canley before they bulldozed it. There is all sorts in there. Ill dig out the relevant bits and post up the details.

[Jonathan Lewis]

Thanks, Rob - if you could, that would be much appreciated.