Rover built the first true safety bicycle in conventional 6 hp appeared the next year, as 1888, but apart from an early electric tricycle and a De Dion-engined bathchair, did not venture into car production until 1904, when a neat 8 hp model designed by Edmund Lewis appeared, using a great deal of cast aluminium in its construction, particularly in its backbone chassis frame. A more did two four-cylinder models, the 10/12 and the 16/20, the latter a neat monobloc of 3199cc which won the 1907 Tourist Trophy Race. Sleeve-valve Rovers of 8 hp (single- cylinder 1042cc) and 12 hp (four-cylinder 3764cc) were announced for 1911, in the autumn of which year an excellent 2297cc 12 hp designed by Owen Clegg made its bow. It formed the basis of post-war production, joined by the Rover Eight, a 998cc flat-twin designed by J. Y. Sangster. These basic models were succeeded by the four-cylinder Nine and the P. A. Poppe-designed 14/45, a 3.4-litre six shown in 1923 having proved unsatisfactory. The ohc 14/45 (uprated to 16/50) did not sell well, and was replaced in 1928 by the 2-litre "Light Six", which formed the basis of 1930s production in capacities up to 2.7 litres. A rear-engined 839cc V-4, the Scarab, with an £85 price tag, failed to reach production in 1931, and thereafter Rover stuck to its solid middle-class image. In 1948 new ioe four- and six cylinder models, the P3 60 and 75, with ifs for the first time, appeared as did the 4wd Land-Rover. October 1949 saw the P4 75 with full-width styling and "Cyclops" central headlight: it sired a range which lasted until May 1964. In 1963 came the radically different Rover 2000, light-alloy,3·5-litre V-8 also found on its luxury P4 stablemate. The 4wd Range Rover, aimed at a more sybaritic market than the Land-Rover, appeared in 1970, and 1976 saw a new Rover 3500, with Ferrari-like styling: it subsequently became available with Rover's in-line sixes as well. ©VEA
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