Rover 3500 SE SD1 Oporto Red 1:43

The Rover SD1 V8 automatic was completed at the Rover factory in Cowley on 14 July 1982 and shipped to BL dealers in Caffyns, Brighton. It was then transferred to Henlys Central London branch in Golders Green, who sold it to Hitachi Denshi Limited as a company car. Hitachi kept it for 4 years before it passed into private hands. The current owner, Gareth Hopkins, bought it in March 1996 for £425 when it had already covered 142,000 miles. His father, a former RAF aeronautical engineer known as 'Hoppy', had owned a 2,300cc manual in-line six SD1 for many years and Gareth grew up travelling in it, which gave him a lifelong affection for SD1s.