My Ride - 1958 Rover 105S

Iain Macdonald is a product of St. Ignatius High School and practices bankruptcy law in San Francisco. He lives with his wife, Therese, and two boys, Edward (SI class of '23) and William (SI class of '27) near West Portal.

I bought my Rover in 1970, when it was 12 and I was 23. The plaque on the engine recites that it was manufactured by "Rover Company Ltd. of Solihull, England," the same company that made the Land Rover, Range Rover and even tank engines during World War II. It is often called the "poor man's Rolls Royce" because of its striking similarity to the Silver Cloud. Its workmanship includes wooden dashboard and trim, cantilevered gear stick, shepherd's crook brake lever, slide-out tool drawer and a hand crank that is inserted below the grill to start the engine (a feature I have used many times over the years when the battery dies).

As a post-war immigrant from the UK who swore he would never own a German car, my dad drove only English cars. I was familiar with Rovers, and therefore couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted a Sunday Chronicle ad which simply read "1958 Rover $200." I learned over the phone that the car was in Palo Alto and that the young owner of the car had passed away; his family had spent $200 for an arc weld to the engine. The mechanic told them that it would either break down in a week or run forever.

Someone in the East Bay could not believe his eyes either and was frantically trying to get to Palo Alto, but couldn't because of an AC Transit strike. The family had promised to hold the car for him until 5 p.m. on Sunday. He could not make his way down there and at 5:01 p.m., the car was mine. My dad went down the Peninsula the next morning to pick the car up and stopped at a pay phone to call me at work to say, "This car runs beautifully." It still does.

Although there are many Range Rovers on the road today, many people don't make the connection between those vehicles and my car. One police officer who stopped me in Larkspur insisted that it was an old Volvo! But I do not feel forsaken, however, because, as a member of the Rover P4 Drivers Guild in England, I receive a glossy magazine every few months that is full of stories, maintenance tips (e.g., radial tires improve performance but put a strain on the steering box), and contacts for spare parts. There is also a lot of historical information. For example, I learned that the Range Rover's prototype was developed in 1953 as the "Road Rover" and was based on the Land Rover's body styling.

I drive the car frequently. It has an unusual electronic overdrive which makes highway driving a breeze. The engine is a "Slant 6" with an aluminum head and twin SUV carbs. Much of the body is aluminum, so rust is non-existent. It has its original California black license plate on the rear and the same number on the front plate. I had it made in England, where drivers buy their own license plates from local auto parts stores, rather than have them issued by the government.

The Rover is a lot of fun to own and drive.I will keep it forever because of the connection to my dad, who I often think wished he had spotted the car first, so that he could have had it for himself.

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