SECRET ROVERS

THE MISSING HISTORY OF THE P8 AND P9

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British Leyland is often lambasted for its lack of product planning during the 1970s, but it did make some tough calls, and two very promising casualties were Rovers.

Anyone who has been to the British Motor Museum will be familiar with the white, mid-engined P6BS sports-car prototype, which later became the P9. Slightly more obscure, but no less important, was the successor to the big P5/P5B saloon, the P8. Both models were canned despite extensive development, suffering as Rover found itself wedged between Jaguar and Triumph in the new British Leyland conglomerate. Prolific author on all things Rover James Taylor has teamed up with retired engineer Douglas Cooke to set the record straight in this first book to focus solely on the two forgotten Rover models.