In the beginning Rover had an idea for a new car, then known as 'Project 6' or P6. The grand unveiling of the Rover P6 then called the Rover 2000 was at the 1963 Earls Court Motor Show. Rover had two Rover 2000 painted Gold especially for the display one was chassis no 100 and the other was chassis no 101. Both were believed to be lost over time, but in 2003 The Rover P6 Club were called into to identify a bit of an unusal beast, yes it was chassis no 100. 

Seen here in the later green livery and also in black and white picture on the show stand, the gold Rover 2000 was one of the official launch cars for Rover. The car wasn't registered for the road until 1965 and it has moved through several hands and has at some time been used for rallying or historic rallying judging by all of the kit which had been fitted to the car over the years. Unfortunately most of the panels had been replaced over the years but one was still present, the boot lid. This car was fitted with a spare wheel kit in 1963 and the boot lid badge is quite clear in the black and white picture of the show stand. The Rover 2000 was an instant success as can be seen by the number of people who surrounded it at the show.

The all important chassis plate was still intact and can be seen here

The car was running and reasonably good condition when we identified it in 2003 however the carburetter was leaking fuel something that needed sorting, so we took it under our wing and we had the car on our club stand at the NEC in Januray 2004 (The Great British Autojumble) along with one of the Practical Classics staff cars for a bit of TLC.

Now in 2007 we have just uncovered some  colour pictures which were taken at the 1963 show and  chassis no 100 is in the middle of them, in its original gold, so watch out, we will be publishing these in our club magazine, soon. Here is a taster of what is to come when we have all of the pictures reprinted properly.

Note the standard early type wheel trims and the biege coloured interior is very clear. Other aspects of the car are also visible in our other pictures and these will be published shortly when Nick writes the next part of the story of chassis no 100

regards

Mark Gray,  Editor, Driving Force