![Rover-Lightsix-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Rover-Lightsix-2.jpg)
The Rover Light Six was a narrower lightweight short wheelbase variant of their
Two-litre sports
saloon produced from 1929 to 1930 by the
Rover Company
The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by '' Road & Track'' i ...
of
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
. The following season it was sold with a 2½-litre 20 hp engine under the name Rover Light Twenty.
Overview
Announced in October 1929
[ the Rover Light Six was one of the Rover cars manufactured when Spencer and ]Maurice Wilks
Maurice Fernand Cary Wilks (19 August 19048 September 1963) was a British automotive and aeronautical engineer, and by the time of his death in 1963, was the chairman of the Rover Company, a British car manufacturer. He was the founder of the ...
, who joined Rover's team in 1929 and 1930, introduced new management practices and engineering techniques to Rover.
Engine
The Light Six was powered by a watercooled
Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant
Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...
2 L straight-6
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...
OHV
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located bel ...
engine with an output of 45 bhp at 3600 rpm designed by Peter Poppe, which provided the Two-litre saloon a maximum speed of 60 mph (97 km/h). The bore of 65 mm put the engine into the 16 hp taxation class.[
The car was supplied with a three-speed gearbox controlled by a lever in the centre of the car. The lever was flexible, operated in a gate and had a stop to avoid engaging reverse.][
The engine clutch and gearbox assembly was mounted and supported at three points, the single one in front, the rear pair by horizontally U-shaped leaf spring attachments.][The Motor Show. The Times, Tuesday, 18 Oct 1927; pg. 10; Issue 44715]
Brakes suspension steering
The suspension was conventional for the time with half elliptic leaf springs all round mounted above the axles.[ The pedal brakes worked shoes in enclosed drums on all four wheels by rods but the handbrake used those on the back wheels and operated them by chain. There are shock absorbers fore and aft.]
Body
The body was very light weight rattle free fabric bodywork built by Rover under licence from Weymann. For the driver's comfort the clutch pedal is adjustable for travel and the front seat can be adjusted over a range of six inches using wing nuts in the cushion.
Publicity
The Rover Light Six won attention when it was the first successful participant in the Blue Train Races
The Blue Train Races were a series of record-breaking attempts between automobiles and trains in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the ''Le Train Bleu'', a train that ra ...
, a series of record-breaking attempts between automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
s and train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
s in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It saw a number of motorists and their own or sponsored automobiles race against the ''Le Train Bleu
The ''Calais-Mediterranée Express'' was a French luxury night express train which operated from 1886 to 2003. It gained international fame as the preferred train of wealthy and famous passengers between Calais and the French Riviera during the ...
'', a train that ran between Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
and the French Riviera
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
.
Please note that TM6124, car/chassis number 430 pictured above is not the actual race car. The car used was an early press demonstrator that Rover retained for development purposes. On the 27 January 1930 the Rover's third and successful attempt started from St Raphael on the Riviera and ended at Calais 20 hours later, averaging 38 mph over 750 miles. The little Rover beat the Blue Train by 20 minutes.
Road test
Tested by ''Autocar'' in late 1929 the car seemed capable of a 70 mph top speed though weather conditions prohibited a formal measurement. The engine's smoothness was fine except under load at speeds below 20 mph in top gear. The car seemed geared for speed and not fuel economy. The single wiper was mounted at the foot of the windscreen to provide the widest possible view. The steering column was nearer horizontal than usual. Roadholding was fair but springing when with two persons aboard needs further adjustment of the shock absorbers. The style of the body is original and to many people attractive.[Light Six Rover sportsman's saloon, ''Autocar'', 27 December 1929]
External links
Light Six on the road
Light Six 21st century
interior of Gaydon's car
References
{{Commons category
Light Six
Cars introduced in 1927