I'm an Englishman living out near Limerick in the West of the Republic of Ireland, and a big classic car nut... I have a 1979 Range Rover Classic (2 door), 1966 MGB roadster (not a V8 but would change!!) and the missus owns another non-V8, a 1969 Jaguar 420... there's one "modern" car in the fleet that legitimizes our classic car insurance!
I've just joined this forum having come across it by chance while looking for advice around my V8 1980 Range Rover Classic (2 door version). I'm also looking to put another car (not a Range Rover) on the fleet to split the mileage with the Rangie, most likely a Rover P6 3500 or even another pre-1980 Rover SD1 V8 if I can find another one.
I used to own a 1979 Rover SD1 which I still regret parting with... and I was delighted to come a cross an old "acquaintance" while browsing the V8 owners forum this morning... Hello to Ramon, with whom I chatted and got superb advice and support from when I was a Rover SD1 Owners Club member 2 years ago...
Ireland is an interesting place on the classic scene, where any 30-year old (or older) car attracts a much lower rate of road tax here, and being a fan of the big engines (and a self-employed consultant) means I can "justify" having a thirsty beast like the Rangie... the road tax is EUR52.00, if the Rangie were 1982 or newer, the tax would be EUR1,683... and the difference goes in the petrol tank!!
This is why I'm looking for a pre-1980 V8...The Rangie was a factory demonstrator and was modified many times after by it's previous owner to me, who'd been one of the factory's technicians and owned the car for 27 years before I bought it 3 years ago. It has a 1970's Rover 3.5 block with 1990's anciliaries including EFI, so I am in regular fear of hiccups, as fixing them isn't always straightforward, there's far fewer experienced mechanics for this kind of stuff out here in Ireland and I am no mechanic... hence joining this forum, it"s time I learnt!!
Hope to chat with some of you sometime...
