These articles detailing the history of the Rover Car Company have been provided by Kevin and Jan Phillips. Together they are the editors of the RCCA's club magazine "Roverdom", and the articles originally appeared as part of a serial entitled "Hindsight....Reflections of the past". Each new episode will be added to the page as they become available.

The Rover Group is also heir to the traditions of many other famous British car brands that have become entwined over a century of car manufacture. Each of these marques has contributed to the history of the British motor industry.

From the early days of the Rover Car Company in Coventry in the heart of England, the brand has been renowned for innovative design and high quality. The early Rover cars quickly built an excellent reputation offering affordable, small popular cars as well as the medium sized cars for which the company became more famous.

The motto 'One of Britain's Fine Cars' was used by Rover from the 1930's to the 1950's but is equally appropriate today. Careful design, elegant styling and quality manufacture brought the marque to the forefront of Britain's car market.

After the Second World war, when exports started in earnest, Rover cars became respected by an international audience, attracting favourable notice in European and North American markets as well as the far-flung outposts of the Commonwealth.

The famous P4 range, introduced in 1949, saw the introduction of the- Rover 75, although the designation '75' had also been used on the previous P3 model. The car cost £1106. The 'Cyclops' Rover (so called because of its centrally mounted foglamp) was the forerunner of one of the most successful of Rover's car ranges and it would be this 75 that, until now, was the best remembered. The P4 range went on to be produced with various modifications up to May 1964 with the 75 model surviving until 1959.

Press reports described the 1949 Rover 75 as ‘Altogether a car of superlative charm' and 'a car to which very great thought has been effectively applied, to details as well as the major objectives of excellent handling, unusual refinement, a notable turn of speed and prolonged trouble free life - the notable smoothness and mechanical silence of the car extended throughout the (speed) range'; words that could well be applied to the Rover 75 of 1999.

The P4 range was supplemented by the luxurious P5 model and then the revolutionary P6 - the very first Car Of The Year. A close look at the seating style and layout of the P6 will show how that design inspired the seating of today's Rover 75.

1976 saw the introduction of yet another Rover Car Of The Year, the SDI range of five door executive hatchback models.

1986 heralded yet another milestone for Rover with the introduction of the Rover 800. With it would come a new company name - Rover Group - introducing a decade of change and a return to Rover core values.

None would be more symbolic than the return of the classic grille in November 1991. Carefully designed in a contemporary style, the grille put an instant 'face' on all Rover products, reinforcing Rover Group's identity as a manufacturer of classic yet modem motor cars.

Today, Rover Group is Britain's largest motor manufacturer. Industry leading design, engineering and manufacturing techniques and major investment on new model. programmes has resulted in a world-class generation of vehicles.

The latest and greatest Rover 75 takes 'One of Britain's Fine Cars' into the new millennium.