Rover P5B Coupé 1970 - World Of Classic Cars -

Rover P5B Coupé 1970

In 1965, Rover's Managing Director, William Martin-Hurst, secured the tooling and production rights to the '215' V8 engine from Buick. Rover redeveloped the engineering and launched it at the end of 1967 which, along with some other modifications, transformed their already highly regarded and successful P5 flagship into the P5B. The new aluminium V8 was significantly lighter and considerably more powerful than its predecessor, delivering 160bhp and a massive leap in torque to 210lb per ft. at 2600rpm, vastly improving pace, comfort, balance, handling, economy and reliability. Rover's only gearbox capable of handling such power was the Borg Warner Typre-35 automatic. Rover now possessed a formidable sporting saloon to take on the finest from Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar. Solihull production soon doubled to keep up with orders.