Would that be an A,B or C?

[dollysprint]

First of all this could be a long explanation, and secondly whoever coined the words Mk 1 A,B or C?
To my knowledge Rover never made this definition officially, so did it spring from the trade/parts suppliers to make life easier for them? Who knows, either way this language has entered 800 folklore and we now recognise there is an A,B and C Mk1 800 model. We have extended this to Mk2 models too, with pre 96 models being known as MK2A and post 96 being known as MK2B.
Of course with the MK2 its so easy, a colour coded facelift incorporating the launch of the new KV6 2.5 engine. Rover themselves, whilst never using the letters A or B did make this definition in their parts manual. With the Mk1 no such luck, their definition here was models upto chassis number 200604 Oct 1988, and Oct 1988-Oct 1991 chassis numbers 200605 to 297485.
Why they chose this change point is a mystery to me, there was no engine change, or body change or anything apparently significant, but this is Rover we are talking about. So ignoring the fact that basically in the middle of nowhere Rover chose to split their parts manual, we have common grounds to believe there are clear change points and thus the A,B and C.
If we take note of all the changes made during Mk1 production we could easily go way past Mk1 Z to the square root of 3, so lets stick to what generally defines the changes.
My opinion is that Mk1A cars are those from production start to chassis number 177121, or July 1986 to Feb/Mar 1988. So these are the 2.5 litre V6's with manual or non electronic 4 speed autos and of course the M series 4 pot. So a producton run of some 77,000 cars(less pre-production/test cars) Of course there were changes during this run, inner door handles for example have been mentioned before in other threads (only the first 20,000 cars got the square design). All cars were saloon only and there were no diesel variants.
Mk1B production ran from chassis number 177122 til 276671 Mar 1988 til Oct 1990, so just shy of 100,000 cars. The change over point here is defined by the introduction of the 2.7 V6 and the electronic auto box with sport mode. This group had a multitude of changes during the run including, Fastback intro( may 1988), Diesel intro(aug 1990), large bumpers(ch no 244246), instrument dial deletion(ch no 231721), and considerable revisions to the M series 4 pot motor and even a short live O series 8v base Fastback to name but a few.
Chassis number 276672 til 297485, Oct 1990 til Oct 1991 are the MK1C cars, some 20,000 in number. By far the easiest to define as these are the CCU cars, an attempt to eliminate the wierd electrical gremlins that plagued the early cars(not wholly successful was it!!) 10 years later manufacturers would face the problem again with Body Control Units and Can-bus and K-line wiring systems as more and more cars became reliant on fast and reliable electronic signals flying around the car just to keep them running.
The range was also somewhat tidied up, 8 valve and single point M series was gone. The diesel and 820 cars both moved upmarket with SL variants.The large, and in my experience, reliable in car computer was replaced with the wholly not reliable slimline version. Some functions of which had disappeared, shortly too be followed by the display itself!!
Catalysts could now be specified (why?) except diesel models, and sadly some of the interior hues had gone along with the electric rear seats.
Thats my take on it anyway.

Dave


Dave

[mercedade]

If you can find a way of stringing it all together, might be worth compiling this info with Mo's post here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4548

Be good to have it all under one roof!

[dollysprint]

If you can find a way of stringing it all together, might be worth compiling this info with Mo's post here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4548

Be good to have it all under one roof!

Agreed but my computer skills dont extend to such technicalities as moving a post, and Mo's take is slightly different to mine.What I call a MK1B, Mo has split that category into A and B with the original 2.5 cars just being a MK1, which is my MK1A. In no way does that make Mo's wrong and mine right or vice versa. I suppose we are the Club we can define it where we want or what we feel makes sense to us.
What do you think?

Dave