Fabulous Dorchester with Aubergine, loaded - 2.5 Conn SE auto. Stunning!

Post Number:**#16** by **KDA4G** » August 28th, 2015, 9:11

Are you thinking of the Frankfurt Motor Show, 20th September 1999? The Countess of Wessex had a PR firm, which was given a £250,000 contract by Rover the week before the show, and there was a commotion in the press at the time when BMW/Rover used the picture of her turning up at the show. She used to have a Morris Minor in the same colour, apparently, so they gave her a 'complimentary Rover 75' after the show... or maybe Rover just loaned it to the PR firm until March 2000, when it was sold off, due to BMW pulling out?

Post Number:**#17** by **Jake** » August 28th, 2015, 9:46

I don't believe Dorchester made it to Longbridge, which would rule ZTs out.

Should have followed them and asked! Can't even remember where I saw it now, although having said that, it must have been somewhere around Sleaford, as we seldom venture more than 5 miles away at the moment!

Just been told I should have this.

It is me birthday.

Gary M.

Post Number:**#20** by **Paul** » August 28th, 2015, 3:50

Borg Warner (view post) wrote:Just been told I should have this.

It is me birthday.

Gary M.

The Go, Go, Go

Ah, the only problem is, if it is the other half telling you this what do they want for their birthday????

Post Number:**#21** by **Bolin** » August 29th, 2015, 1:53

KDA4G (view post) wrote:Are you thinking of the Frankfurt Motor Show, 20th September 1999? The Countess of Wessex had a PR firm, which was given a £250,000 contract by Rover the week before the show, and there was a commotion in the press at the time when BMW/Rover used the picture of her turning up at the show. She used to have a Morris Minor in the same colour, apparently, so they gave her a 'complimentary Rover 75' after the show... or maybe Rover just loaned it to the PR firm until March 2000, when it was sold off, due to BMW pulling out?

Something like that is what I remember - but after a closer look at the service book photo, I agree that it isn't a preproduction car, VIN serial starts with a '1'.

Also, it doesn't appear to have the lower door seals which were deleted very early on, so again not preproduction - so the Bordmonitor must have been swapped over.

Saw the one I'd recently spotted again today, and managed to get all bar one of the characters from the number plate in my head. After going through the alphabet on AskMid, it would appear that it's actually a Rover 75 Contemporary SE CDTi, in "purple", although I could have sworn it had an MG grille :think:

Post Number:**#23** by **129c** » November 6th, 2015, 1:18

We went to view this car when it was on ebay.
It really wasn't as good as it looked in the pictures.
There were quite a few bits of bodywork that let it down and it needed a new back bumper. The passenger footwell was wet and the climate control blew warm all the time even with the setting on min and the headlamp washers did not work.
We did a check for codes using my OBD2 reader with torque pro and it threw up three fault codes. (Cant remember what they were now)
I made a reasonable offer based on everything that needed doing which as expected was declined with thanks.
The seller was a really nice guy even though he chose to meet us in a supermarket car park. He wanted a min of £1500.

That's a pity - if this car was in mint condition it would be an absolute show-stopper given the colour combination and spec. Hopefully someone will have taken it on with a view to getting it up to show standard.

Post Number:**#25** by **129c** » November 6th, 2015, 7:43

Indeed. It was a long way to travel and I took the full asking price with me in cash hoping it was going to be as good as it looked.

Post Number:**#26** by **Mr Hyde** » June 7th, 2016, 11:26

Mr Hyde(view post) wrote:Should have followed them and asked! Can't even remember where I saw it now, although having said that, it must have been somewhere around Sleaford, as we seldom venture more than 5 miles away at the moment!

Mr Hyde (view post) wrote:Saw the one I'd recently spotted again today, and managed to get all bar one of the characters from the number plate in my head. After going through the alphabet on AskMid, it would appear that it's actually a Rover 75 Contemporary SE CDTi, in "purple", although I could have sworn it had an MG grille

Think I've come across this tonight!

We had a pizza delivered from Domino's and I was watching out of the window, waiting for it to turn up (so I could get to the door before the dogs started to bark!) and spotted a maroony ZT (or possibly 75) and was very surprised when it pulled up and turned out to be the delivery driver!

I had a quick chat with the young bloke who was driving and told him about here, so possibly he might join up later!