Sixty Years On: The Rover V-8 Still Turns Over

To say J. Bruce McWilliams had an interesting and influential career is something of an understatement. Together with his wife Gertrude (nicknamed “Jimmy”), he toured Europe in an MG TC before setting to work as the vice president of sales for Saab. From there, he went on to work for Mercedes-Benz during the 1950s before becoming president of Rover North America in 1960. Later, toward the end of his career, he went to work for the DeLorean Motor Company and was president there when that stainless steel gullwing wowed the world. He died in 2006 at the age of eighty-five, and among the many gifts he left the automotive world, one has a particularly authoritative growl: the Rover V-8.

McWilliams was a gearhead through and through, so there’s little chance he wasn’t aware of the all-aluminum V-8 that Buick and Oldsmobile were producing in the early 1960s. Displacing 215 cubic inches (or 3.5 liters), this little eight was designed to provide premium power for GM’s compact car range, fending off competition from imported marques trying to gain their footing in America. It was compact, weighed just 318 lbs, and produced a healthy 200 hp in Buick trim.

Unfortunately, building motors out of aluminum wasn’t yet GM’s strong suit. The process was expensive, and casting issues meant that the engine had a higher scrappage rate than usual. The coolant used was better suited for iron, and when it reacted to the aluminum, it clogged up the radiator. GM was still a giant in manufacturing and slow to change course, so between Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac, about a million of these V-8s were built over three years. By the mid-1960s, however, the aluminum Buick 215 was on the way out.

Here’s where McWilliams comes in. Along with Rover’s U.K. managing director, William Martin-Hurst, he was working with Mercury Marine to license turbine and diesel engines in marine applications. A deal was struck and Mercury used a version of the 2.3-liter diesel engine used in the Series II and III Land Rover, calling it the Mercruiser 165. More importantly, however, it was at this visit to the Mercury works in 1964 where McWilliams and Martin-Hurst got their first good look at the Buick V-8.

Both men immediately clocked that this little V-8 would provide an ideal heartbeat for much of Rover’s lineup. For example, in 1964, the 1.8-liter engine in an MGB weighed about 340 lbs without any ancillaries, and produced around 95 hp. The factory racing gurus could get as much as 150 hp out of these motors, but this V-8 had the potential to double the power while also slightly dropping weight off the nose of the car. And then there was the potential of what it could do in a sedan application, like Rover’s then-new P6.

It took a full year of McWilliams and Martin-Hurst badgering GM’s execs to allow Rover to buy the tooling, but in January of 1965, an agreement was done. Rover got full rights to the engine, thirty-nine assembled V-8s that were just sitting around on GM’s shelves, and even Buick’s chief engine designer. This last, Joe Turley, had planned to retire, but Rover was able to talk him into coming over to Solihull until the V-8 was under production.

An English V-8

While cars like the Sunbeam Tiger or Jensen Interceptor took American V-8 power and simply shoehorned it in, Rover’s plans for its ex-Buick engine were quite different. Instead of GM’s production methods, Rover used sand-casting. Cooling and lubrication were also upgraded—both had been issues in the Buick application, on top of the coolant problems—and the ancillaries were changed over for parts from U.K. suppliers.

The bones were still American, but the comprehensive reworking had allowed Rover to turn this V-8 into more of its own product. As a technical footnote, an imported Buick 215ci V-8 was used by a company called Warwick for a limited-run sporting sedan, but the first proper production Rover V-8 went into the P5 sedan, and just months later, the P6. Both these sedans had four-cylinder engines as the base option, but with the P6B (B for Buick, also just called the P6 3500), Rover had a proper V-8-powered sedan.

Initially automatic-only, the P6 3500 was quick, roomy, and rode very well. By 1971, there was a 3500S version with a manual transmission, and these cars are seriously overlooked. McWilliams and Martin-Hurst chose the 3.5-liter for its compact size and light weight, but it also just happens to be a fantastic sounding motor, with a surprisingly deep bark for its relatively modest displacement. A P6 3500S downshifting for a corner has the glowering charm of Roy Kent ripping off one of his signature F-bombs. Can an engine swear? A well-tuned Rover V-8 sure sounds like it’s trying to.

Run fast, run long

Much like the Chevrolet LS, the Rover V-8 got put in nearly everything. Land Rover started using it in 1970 and proceeded to build Rover V-8-powered SUVs (with increasing displacements) all the way to 2002. Morgan, a marque that has recently announced a return to the U.S. market, built Rover V-8-powered cars for thirty-six years.

There’s a flavor for everyone, whether it’s the MGB GT V8’s classy understatement or the glorious derangement of a TVR Chimera. Further, and again just like the LS, the fact that you could source a Rover V-8 out of a wrecked automatic Rover sedan or Range Rover made it a go-to choice for U.K. hot-rodders. Tuners soon figured out how to unlock more power, even as factory displacement grew to 5.0 liters.

It has found fans around the world, whether that’s Anglophiles in the U.S. or the unusual Japanese fervor for the MG RV8. At sixty years old, the Rover V-8 lived long enough to far outgrow its Buick roots and become a defining part of some of the best of British collector cars. Like they sing about Roy Kent, it’s here, it’s there, it’s every-****ing-where. And the automotive world’s the better place with a bit of English V-8 thunder in it.