Rover in the late 80’s was entering crisis mode for the billionth time and needed a new car to set the record straight and pull buyers from Ford and Vauxhall. The R8 was that car, and in all fairness to Rover, they did a brilliant job.
The R8 looked modern, drove well, handled well and felt like a well packaged slice of good old fashioned British luxury.
Of course the R8 had its problems, what Rover doesn’t, and the infamous K-series (if uncared for) was its Achilles heel! This 214 SEi has precisely that engine, the 1.4l K-series, however, it also has documented evidence of a head gasket upgrade to solve the well known headgasket issue!
This ‘L’ plate car came toward the end of the R8s production and is a facelift model with the chrome (effect) grille up front.
Outside, this particular 214SEi looks the way you want it to look, Nightfire Red (almost entirely resprayed recently) with body coloured bumpers and the SEi spec alloy wheels, very nice.
Inside you’ve got all the Roveryness you’d expect, wood trim, velour, chrome bits and the Rover emblem everywhere you look. It’s also got electric front windows, a radio/cassette, power steering and manual mirrors and rear windows.
The 214 SEi was a nicely specced version of the R8, the modern hatchback styling, with five doors for a bit more practicality and alloys for a more sporty profile.
Do you want to daily any 90’s Rover? … probably not, it’s a 30 year old Rover, it’ll probably break. But she makes for a pretty, useable little retro motor with plenty of charm to bang around in on the weekend and tinker with when you’re bored.
Tickets will launch on Nov 6th 2025 and the LIVE draw will be on Sunday 11th January 2026 at 8:30pm
36 TICKETS SOLD
TICKETS
Jonathan Crook 01
Ian Badley 02
Peter Morgan 03
martin clark 04
Steven Biggs 05
Stephen Gregory 06
Michael Plane 07
Cal NOVAK-CLARK 08
simon vallis-ridler 09
Adam Grainger 10
Michael Hargreaves-Butler 11
Michael Hargreaves-Butler 12
Robert Cook 13
Derek Dutson 14
Robert Cook 15
Matthew Spooner 16
Antony Pollard 17
Matt Godfrey 18
Ricky upson 19
Alastair Wilson 20
Alastair Wilson 21
jason williams 22
jason williams 23
Geoffrey Lamb 24
Ian Harbour 25
Adam Middleton 26
Glenn Payne 27
Darren Martin 28
James Middleton 29
Rhys Thomas 30
Rhys Thomas 31
Colin Martin 32
Neil Williams 33
Neil Williams 34
Sam Strawbridge 35
Darren Ward 36
