EARL MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA’S ROVER 3500S

Many readers of a certain age will recall the police P6, whether it was chasing miscreants in a 1970s television crime drama or looming ominously in your rear-view mirror. This 3500S offered for sale by Classic Car Auctions not only brought law and order to the roads around Winchester, but also served as the Earl of Mountbatten’s staff car. And, in the late 1990s, this same Rover was discovered in a piggery somewhere near Eastleigh with a tree growing through it.

The original Rover “Three Thousand Five” of 1968 was a favourite of the London Metropolitan Police. From October of that year onwards, blue P6 Area Cars and white Traffic Cars replaced Jaguar S-Types and the last of the Wolseley 6/110s. By the end of 1969, the Met had commissioned a further 145 Rovers.

Other forces followed London’s example, and the 125-mph 1971 manual-gearbox 3500S (for “Synchromesh”) especially appealed to traffic divisions. The latest P6 highly impressed Autocar: “We can best sum it up by saying that we cannot think of a single car we would prefer at the price.”

In May 1975, Wadham Stringer of Southsea supplied this 3500S to the Hampshire Constabulary headquarters in Winchester, where it was prepared for its role as a traffic patrol car. This writer grew up in the south of the county at that time, so he must have seen the Rover on duty, although he would like to point out it did not “gong” either of his parents.

Three years later, Earl Mountbatten of Burma requisitioned the P6 as his official staff car for his duties as the Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight. For security reasons, the authorities registered the 3500S with the local fire chief, and Mountbatten requested it be repainted black, which he felt was more fitting for the Rover’s new role.

As the world knows, Mountbatten was assassinated on the 27th of August 1979, and the Rover became part of Hampshire County Council’s fleet. The Chairman used it until 1982, when the Council sold it. It then passed through several owners, and by the 1990s the P6 languished in a piggery.

A Rover with a tree growing through it presented a daunting challenge to the most ardent of car collectors, but the 3500S was returned to its Hampshire Police specification. The restoration process included a new engine, the replacement of the body panels, and sourcing the correct livery and police equipment from the triangular roof book to the stripes.

The P6 is one of the most important cars to wear the Rover badge and one of Britain’s finest motor vehicles. And whoever buys this 3500S will became the custodian of a fascinating artefact of social history.

With thanks to: https://www.classiccarauctions.co.uk/1975-rover-p6-recc31974-1-nec-0324