MEET THE OWNER - BRI BARKER AND HIS ROVER 3500 VIP

We have previously featured a few limited edition models in our blogs, but Bri Barker's 1976 Rover 3500 VIP has to be one of the most magnificent. Of course, any member of the P6 family is a splendid machine, but MPF 291 P has a metallic 'Platinum' paint finish, a radio-cassette player and even air conditioning.

Some manufacturers build limited-edition cars to celebrate the end of a long-running model, but the VIP was not quite the last chapter of the P6 story. Production of the 3500S may have ended in the summer of 1976, and BL did not display any of the line-up at that year's Earls Court Motor Show. However, Solihull continued to make the 2200 SC, the 2200 TC and the 3500 into early 1977. A handful of unsold examples lingered in dealerships for so long that they gained a 'T' registration suffix.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to suggest the VIP raised the profile of the late-model automatic 3500s before the debut of the SD1 on the 30^th June 1976. It also allowed BL to use surplus compression struts in the doors from the earlier US-specification 'NADA' models. In addition, the VIP featured many P6 options as standard, namely rear seat belts, a boot lid-mounted spare wheel and a laminated windscreen.

The VIP was also the sole production P6 with metallic paint, while Rover also used it as a testbed for several aspects of the SD1. The nylon headlining and the upholstery in 'Nutmeg' brown velour was to be featured on the 'New 3500', as was air-conditioning for the US export models. This last-named item was highly unusual for a car in the P6's class and came into its own during the 'Big Summer' of 1976.

Some 46 cars left the factory between February and May of that year, with another 29 between October and January 1977. Rover sold all bar one Irish-market vehicles in the UK, and no showroom apparently had more than one VIP. Nor did British Leyland produce any sales literature.

Bri found his example in Launceston, and as he remembers:

I had been searching for a while for one, and a friend of mine came up trumps with this one. It is Leon Vanstone's old car; he used to be a Rover dealer, but he sadly died, so the car was laid up in 2005.

And today, MPF looks fit to grace any car show. Plus, that Platinum paintwork gives the VIP a definite air of Peter Bowles-style suavity…

With Thanks To: Bri Barker