Ron Armstrong, the V8 Register’s RV8 representative, has taken time out from auditioning for the V8 Full Monty video (or from the state of him it could be Rocky Horror’s Riff Raff), to look at the story of his favourite car and tries to assess its place in M.G. history.
When Rover announced in 1992 the RV8 as a 2000-off, limited edition "celebration" model, the world really did not know what to make of it. Was it a high-performance sports car in the TVR mould (no), a hunky sports tourer designed to enhance Rover’s image and reinstate the M.G. marque in the public eye (well, yes) or could it be the modern factory version of the V8 roadster conversion which M.G. enthusiasts had been praying for (it all depends...)?
Press reaction in 1992/93 was mixed. Some pundits insisted on road testing it as a serious sports car - Autocar thought it was fun but no competition for the TVR Chimera, would you believe - but the M.G. world reacted warmly and the early production cars attracted admiring crowds at the motoring events of 1993. Many people saw their first RV8s at the May Silverstone International that year.
Sales were steady and a three-month waiting list usual - the £25,000 price saw to that. Production reached 20 or so cars per week, put together by a team of about 20 in a special building at Cowley - visited by many UK purchasers over the following couple of years. People liked the RV8 colours; 10 were available of which four (Old English White, Oxford Blue, Woodcote Green and Le Mans Green) cost £750 extra! The most popular UK colour was metallic British Racing Green, which I thought perfectly matched the standard Stone Beige leather interior - so that was the chosen scheme in which 00755 came off the transporter at my local Rover dealer at the end of May 1994, the cataclysmic financial decision having been taken following a storming demonstration drive in L33 MGR back in February. I was delighted that mine (the 505th production car, the first, of course being 00251, now in the Gaydon museum) was one of the first to have the revised gearbox. My dealer kindly donated the appropriate registration number, so L200 MGR became mine on 6 June and joined my much-loved GTV8 in the garage.
But enough of me - how was the RV8 doing in the marketplace?
Export sales were fairly low-key. Rover announced that there would be no sales to the USA and, indeed, that the car would only be made in right-hand drive. Despite this, a dribble of sales to M.G. enthusiasts in continental Europe got under way. Although a few went via the used car market most were sold new through Rover dealers in Holland, Germany etc. The only factory changes of substance seem to have been kph speedometers. At least one Dutch RV8 has been converted to left-hand drive, and, incidentally, in the UK cars have also been fitted with power steering and automatic transmission; but most owners seem happy with the factory product.
Little did we know that the decision to show the RV8 at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show would result in a major sales success. The sole Woodcote Green car was one of the stars of the show - so much so that most Japanese sales seem to have been in that colour, although Nightfire Red and Oxford Blue also went down well.
In the event, the final figures from Rover showed that, of the 2000 cars sold, the vast majority went to that distant market.
| Japan | 1579 |
| UK | 330 |
| Holland | 21 |
| Germany | 59 |
| Belgium | 5 |
| Austria | 4 |
| France | 2 |
The first production car being 00251 (the final digits of a very long VIN), and the last on 22 November 1995 being 02233, we therefore had a production total of 1983 cars; this means that if Rover’s figures are correct, 17 pre-production cars were also sold off. Going on the number of these cars seen at events, and also those logged on the V8 Register, that seems about right.
Of course, that huge Japanese figure has fallen somewhat as RV8s have been re-exported to New Zealand, the UK and elsewhere. A number of UK cars went overseas in the early days - we know of Switzerland, Australia, Holland and Denmark as being among the destinations.
So, with some Japanese cars "home" for resale, the market has settled down well, with the RV8 holding its value magnificently in the UK. Some early glitches (water leaks, transmission problems, wheel corrosion etc) seem to have been overcome, with Rover playing its part in warranty repair and replacement.
From the telephone calls I get, there is a huge demand for pristine, low-mileage RV8s; people seem to prefer UK-market cars and prices substantially over £20,000 can easily be got for the best examples. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with ex-Japanese cars but a few people seem to be put off by the lack of ownership/service background, possible questionmarks about the true mileage, the lack of English language documents with the cars and the need to have a few minor modifications such as: mph speedo, radio and petrol filler changes; and one or two have removed the "ROVER" script from the front wings and even the air conditioning systems. Most of the ones I have seen have looked fine, so any price differences should be small.
The RV8 is already a real classic and owners love it for its powerful, torquey character and distinctive style, not to mention the attention it attracts wherever you go. With more RV8s finding their way into the hands of M.G. enthusiasts, we in the V8 Register now think the car has a strong position on the classic sports car scene. By the way, if you haven’t already got our V8 book a substantial part of which is devoted to the RV8, get your copy from Adrian Hand on 0115-9746468.
RON ARMSTRONG
The man at leisure |
Ron's treasures |
I was talking with Bruce about his car during the latter part of 1998 and he has very kindly written the following history of his stunning car. Bruce writes - It was 1985 and I was just nineteen years old when I was offered a 1974 glacier white and rust-stained 1800 MGB roadster fitted with wire wheels and overdrive for just £100. It had been standing on my neighbour’s drive for nearly a year and they had to get rid of it as they were moving away.
| Needless to say I leapt at the opportunity and with the help of one or two friends pushed it on to my parents’ drive. (What no garage!) After a few days I got it to start but it did not sound right so I took the engine out and stripped it down. Inside I found one of the pistons and some of the rings damaged. Once rebuilt I put the B in for its MOT and it eventually passed ready for a summer of roofless motoring. |
 TAA 611M on a day out |
In the Autumn I joined one of the M.G. clubs. In the magazine I read an article "To V or not to V". I was hooked so I requested further information from Dave Vale of the V8 Conversion Co. It took me eight months to do the original conversion and replace the inner and outer sills. It had a Rover P6 V8 engine fitted with twin SU mounted on L shaped adaptor manifolds so the carbs ended up as per the original BGT V8 by the heater box. Tubular exhaust manifolds, twin cooling fans, V8 radiator plus remote oil filter and oil cooler. On the back of the engine I fitted an engine to B gearbox adaptor plate and a crank adaptor and modified B flywheel to take a V8 clutch plate and cover. I had a V8 crown wheel and pinion fitted into the back axle. I also fitted BGT V8 brake discs and a combination of Triumph 2000 inner half and B outer half callipers bolted together to form hybrid BGT V8 callipers fitted with BGT V8 pads. I found that the twin cooling fans would blow their fuse as they are both fed from the same fuse. After some thought I rewired the cooling fan circuit so only one operates from the thermostatic switch and the other one operates from a switch on the centre consul and each has its own fuse and power supply.
After several years of hard driving I noticed a problem with the rear axle while I was servicing the rear brakes. With the rear of the car jacked up, I found the rear wheel rocked. On draining the rear axle and removing the rear cover plate I found that the drive shaft and the planet gears could move up, down and around by over ¼". The diff carrier was beyond repair so in went a Quaff limited slip diff to replace the diff carrier.
The following year the B overdrive gearbox started to sound like a machine gun so out came the engine and box to be replaced by a complete SDI engine and five speed box. This requires the top of the transmission tunnel raising by about an inch. I managed to get it to sit on the standard B gearbox cross member on modified B gearbox mounts. The propshaft came from a Mk 3 Triumph Spitfire and bolted straight in after re-drilling the hole centres on the gearbox propshaft flange. To top the engine off I fitted a 390 cfm four barrel Holley carb and dual plane Offenhauser inlet manifold. With the increase in power output that this gave, the old wire wheels started to complain. Fortunately the centre lock Minilight replica wheels had just come on the market so I bought a set of four 5 ½" J x 15" and fitted them with a set of Goodyear 195/60 x 15 VR NCTs. All seemed fine until I loaded the V8 up and took it over to France for a two week touring holiday with several friends. Oh the smell and sound of burning rubber! I pulled into a petrol station and found the side wall of the passenger side rear tyre had been rubbing away on the rear arch lip. Out came a large mallet and a pair of pliers and I folded the lip on itself to give some clearance. I later learned that all but the last year of production MGBs had been built with the body offset to the axle so please be careful when you fit wider tyres.
| On my return from France I modified the rear arches to University Motor spec. round rear wheel arch. End of problem and no flairs! While I was at it I moved the petrol tank into the centre of the boot floor and fitted new exhaust mounting brackets to allow me to install a twin pipe exhaust system one under each side of the car. At the front end I installed a balance pipe between the two systems. The exhaust pipes are actually Peco MGB systems with the back box removed and replaced by cherry bombs. The centre box is just turned over to fit the driver’s side. Note re-route all electric’s, brake pipes and fuel lines down the transmission tunnel. |
 The meaty bit - a very neat converstion |
In 1991 I got myself a job out in Saudi Arabia. During one of my Christmas holidays I bought and fitted a Moss coil over shock front suspension kit to the V8. This I found transformed the road holding with no front end lift at speed.
On my return from Saudi I dismantled the V8 and had all the paint and underseal removed from the shell by Dry Stripping Facilities Network down in Loxwood, Sussex. They use a thermoset resin blasting media on the whole shell. The shell was then transported to a body shop and had complete new rear wings fitted but reprofiled as before to round rear wheel arch. It was then re-sprayed in glacier white before returning to my parents’ drive where I had now built a car port. I gave the engine to Oselli engineering and got them to build it to 3.9 fastroad spec. To improve the brakes I fitted cross drilled V8 discs and a Sebring front valance with brake cooling ducts piped to the back of the discs.
At this point I moved up to Norfolk where I joined the Lincs Centre M.G.C.C.. This is where I became more involved with autotesting. Every winter I would install yet more modifications to improve the V8, fly-off handbrake, Rover SDI Vitesse fuel injection system, MGR V8 bonnet with louvres pressed into it to allow all that hot air escape from under the bonnet and reduce any chance of fuel vaporisation.
| The latest mods have been to the brakes. I found that series’ 3 Jaguar brake discs could be adapted to fit using redrilled MGC splined front hubs fitted with MGB bearings. The mounting hole centres on the Jag front callipers are further apart than on the B so I tapped the holes in the callipers out to M14 and then installed M14 bolts to blank off the holes. Once ground flush the new hole centres were marked out and drilled. The callipers were then overhauled with new pistons and seals and connected up. With the original single circuit master cylinder system I had found there was a slightly longer pedal travel before anything happened, but when it did it was very dramatic. |
 What's stopping it! |
What is next? My 1960 MGA roadster!
| John Bolt is another lucky chap with a nice pair to play with!. John purchased his GT in May 1984 and has covered 40,000 miles over the last 15 years without any major problems or hitches. The car (number 952), in the very attractive Damask Red, was originally delivered to Wadham Stringer in Southampton and registered in May 1974. Twenty-four years later John could not resist the RV8 and he acquired his Nightfire Red car (number 001228) after it too had passed through Southampton having been re-patriated from Japan. John took the RV8 on the 1998 Scottish tour and was delighted with the car’s performance while turning in a very respectable 24.5mpg for the 1,600 mile trip. John also has a 1932 Oxford and Cambridge Blue J2 which he has owned for over 34 years. |
 Now which one shall I take? |
As a number of cars come out of hibernation from the winter we may be tempted to concern ourselves only with the interesting bits - polish up the bodywork, buff up the chrome, check the fluids, grease up the suspension, check the conditions of the brakes and hoses and of course the fuel lines but what of the tyres, bar a quick kick to check the pressure and then off for a blat! This is perhaps an often-neglected area but you need good tyres to drive safely as they are your only contact with the ground and affect the steering, braking and acceleration of your V8. Each tyre has a contact patch on the road about the size of a large footprint. As you are pressing on on the cold, damp April roads spare a thought that this footprint is providing ALL the grip. Tyres need looking after and if you do so they will last longer and keep you on the black stuff - ignoring them could significantly affect your pocket and perhaps worse. This is especially important in a V8 with the power it puts down through relatively skinny 175 tyres. Do therefore check:
There have been a number of queries on the subject of unleaded petrol and specifically will our V8 engines run on the stuff without valve seat recession. Our technical guru assures me that for the factory-produced cars running on unleaded will be fine. There may be a need to alter the ignition timing a bit but see how it goes. Some owners have reported that their cars run a little hotter on unleaded and that petrol consumption has increased. Therefore it is worth checking that your cars cooling equipment is in good shape. One or two V8 conversions have reported significant heat problems although I think this is more to do with having over 4,000cc under the hood - louvering the bonnet is probably the cheapest way of getting the heat out while providing a good defrosting mechanism in the winter!
The older RV8s are now over five years old and settling in to the hands of the enthusiasts. Given their advancing years, it will become increasingly important to share maintenance and spares tips on these cars and therefore we would like to start gathering together and publishing interesting notes. Please post any notes to me and I will liase with Ron Armstrong re publication.
Having organised a fantastic Tour of Somerset in 1997, Sue and Pete Beadle have planned a Tour of Kent for 1999. Kent makes an ideal base as it is a county often passed through to reach the rest of Europe but rarely visited.
Sue and Pete have found a 17th century coaching inn, now a Shepherd & Neame Invicta country hotel to accommodate us (this should arouse one’s taste buds if you enjoy a good pint). The 24 bedroom ETB three crown hotel is situated in the square of Lenham, a picturesque village not far from Maidstone and has secure parking for all our cars. Needless to say Sue and Pete will arrange some places of interest for us to visit during the weekend - more details later.
Dinner, bed and breakfast will cost £38.25 per person per night for three nights, prices of the trips to be advised. To secure your place on the Kent Tour please send a deposit of £10 per person (payable to M.G.C.C. V8 Register), enclosing a SAE, to Sue and Pete at 2 Oak Cottages, London Road Handcross, W Sussex RH17 6HD.
The V8 Register Tours really do come highly recommended. I have been on the last three that have taken in Wales, Somerset and Scotland and they have all been excellent. So don’t delay send your deposit and SAE off today!
My phone has been red hot during the evenings for the past few months with owners asking technical queries, registering their vehicles or finding out more about a potential acquisition. It has been a pleasure talking to you all but in some cases I have had to direct members to those with more grey hairs than I have. To facilitate answering your queries the following are you key contacts:
Articles: David Brown, contact address as above or 0118-9481503Technical: Clive Wheatley 01902-330489 (daytime) Registrar: Victor Smith, contact address as above, but preferably by e-mail
It would be appreciated if you would restrict calls to me within the hours of 7pm to 9pm during weekdays. So far I have had a number of heart failures as I answer the phone from my bed to receive a query on unleaded petrol or should my car make this noise and what could it be? I am rarely in bed before 10.45pm! I could do with the uninterrupted sleep and you will benefit with a more coherent answer!