SD1 India - The Story

The History

It is a well known fact that the Rover SD1 was sold in India as the ‘Standard 2000’ in the mid 80’s by Standard Motor Products of Madras (now called Chennai), India.
Towards the end of production in the UK, CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits were sold by Austin Rover to the Indian company for assembly overseas using their own variant of 4 cylinder (2 litre) petrol engine (part Vanguard/TR4/P6 Rover 2000) and gearbox (4 speed, based on Triumph).

Bodyshells were built using partially made up sub assemblys such as rear quarter panels, front inner flitches, rear floors (which included chassis legs), main floors and bulkheads which made final assembly relatively straightforward. These sub assemblys and all other bodywork (including front wings, doors, bonnets, tailgates, sills, roof panels and A/B/C/D pillars were carefully packed in huge wooden crates (designed to fit snugly width and height wise into containers) with greased paper to preserve them.

Mechanical components such as brakes, suspension and body fittings were packed in large steel bins, each individual carton being carefully numbered and logged and ready to build the Standard 2000. It is unclear as to exactly how many cars were built between 1985 & 1988 in India, but they struggled to sell. This was a factor that eventually sealed the fate of SMPI who also made other cars and mini buses from their large 50 acre factory site on the outskirts of Madras. The whole site has been closed and under guard for over 15 years with no-one allowed in or anything allowed out - a unique ‘time warp’ situation.

The plan was for Austin Rover to eventually ship over all the SD1 tooling so that SMPI could manufacture the car from scratch - but this never happened - it got as far as the docks in the UK - as SMPI went bust and the whole project stopped. These facts were backed up by David Bishop (ex MD of British Motor Heritage) who at the time was involved with product procurement for the CKD SD1.

The Rimmer Bros Deal

This left approximately 600 unused kits at the SMPI site where they have remained ever since, stored in 5 warehouses. Such is the protracted legal process in India,
the site and stock were not disposed of until 2005. (what a shame this didn’t happen 10 years ago!). Rimmer Bros got to hear about the stock during the summer of 2005
although at first there was disbelief that all this stock existed after all this time. It wasn’t until late 2005 that some photo’s arrived of some of the stock - still in its
original packaging - and the enormity of what there was became real.
The stock was originally offered for sale at a price that would not have been commercially viable for anyone to take on - let alone support an enthusiastic following for SD1’s both in the UK and overseas.
A visit to India in February 2006 to view the stock and negotiate price resulted in a deal being struck to repatriate almost all the stock back to the UK.
Tough decisions had to be made about what to leave behind and scrap. Obviously some stock had suffered due to damp, high heat and humidity (the annual monsoon seasons didn’t help either). Other stock was worthless (who wants 1000 x 5J x 14 steel wheels?) or didn’t warrant the container and shipping costs.
We had to estimate what would be in demand for the foreseeable future - and leave some of it behind. Of the vast amount of stock returned to the UK, some of it will sell very quickly.

The Stock

When we visited India, we saw crates and crates full of brand new perfectly preserved genuine parts just as they had left Austin Rover all those years ago. There were even original packing slips inside the boxes!
Remarkably, the stock is preserved extremely well and has not suffered in storage at all. Notable exceptions are strut leg bump stops (crumbled to dust!) and door weather strips (hard & brittle). Some other parts are simply dusty and a quick clean will reveal a brand new part (eg door seals, plastic underbelly panels and bonnet sound insulation pads). Body panels, doors, bonnets, tailgates etc are supplied in a ‘body in white’ production wax coating which can easily removed before priming. We
should also warn customers to expect handling marks, small dings/dents on body panels - they have travelled a long way - although the prices we have set for these items make full allowance for this possibility. Please do not purchase these panels if you expect 100% perfection at these prices.
Due to the fact SMPI used their own engine and gearbox, there are no such components in the consignment (apart from some mountings, 2 litre carbs, PAS components and other ancillaries). Additionally, seats, door panels, carpets, headlining etc were all supplied locally as were bumpers (which we are currently looking at remanufacturing). We do not foresee this as a problem to an SD1 owner, due to the plentiful supply of secondhand parts generally being available in the market. It should be noted that all the stock is for 1982 onwards model year (RHD) vehicles however, many parts are non year specific and are therefore suitable for any model. Please ask if unsure.

The Prices

We have incurred significant costs in not only shipping the parts back to the UK, but also additional warehousing and storage, handling and sorting. Since the initial arrival of the stock, we have consolidated and re-warehoused the majority of the bulk stocks, offering long-term availability and affordability. However, such is the volume of product, we are still in a position to offer remarkable value for money.