Rover P6 Estoura

The Rover Estate P6 or Estoura as it was known, was a conversion of a Rover P6 Saloon to an estate carried out by H.R. Owen and Crayford using panels by FLM Panelcraft.

While Triumph enjoyed considerable success with the estate version of the 2000 saloon, Rover seemed happy to leave that sector of the market entirely open to their old rival. However, Battersea-based coachbuilders FLM Panelcraft picked up Rover's dropped ball and produced their own estate conversion of the highly successful P6. Around 160 examples were built, and from 1970 onwards the car was marketed (with the factory's blessing) by BL dealers HR Owen Limited.

According to P6 archivist John Windwood, Crayford's involvement in the project was limited to the interior of the car, and the company had no bearing on the external design of the estate conversion:

The name of the P6 estate has been quoted in various sources as, "Estourer", "Estoura" and even "Estaura". According to a published work by James Taylor, this confusion seemed to be prevalent even in the weeks following its 1969 launch:

However, according to P6 Estate owner Mark Gray, there are no real grounds for confusion:

In comparison with the Triumph 2000 estate, the Rover Estoura was of limited practicality. The quality of the conversion also left a great deal to be desired. According to John Windwood:

cquote|Due to the sloping roofline, the rear door is very low and very small; I am 6'2" tall, and the tailgate is open fully at about the level of my chest! Loadspace is also compromised for the same reason. And they were even more rot-prone than the standard P6 because the conversion was, quite frankly, a bit of a lash-up! The rear pod unit is basically held onto the base unit with pop rivets, and when the cars were cut for conversion, no paint or other rustproofing was applied to the bare edges. The rear pod was also fitted on top of the boot drain channels, effectively blocking them and redirecting the water to places it was never intended to go.

Despite these fundamental flaws, The number of P6s still in operation today is very high percentage-wise.

Numbers converted

Total between 160 to 170, mostly 3500 V8s only a small percentage were 2000 and fewer were 2200.

External links

*http://www.p6estate.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
*http://www.p6club.com