The story is about how a Rover P6 3500s was used in the BBC police series.
We had a call from the BBc asking if we could supply a white Rover from the 70s, we told them we could supply a rover P6 they ask to see one, so we went through our memeber list, for a white Rovers, we found good ones, but not mint.
We went back to the BBC and told them we could only find a yellow in the condition they wanted. W hen l asked why it had to be mint they told me they wanted to smash it up! I did'nt say a word, it felt like l was holding the phone for ages are you still there Mr. Mason, l heard them say
I told them l'm not your man, as l could not stand by and watch a P6 being smashed up. A few days later the BBC came back to me could they hire a mint Rover for filming only, and could l make a copy of that car, it does'nt have to be a runner, but only look as good as the mint one. l told them l could, then they said that I've only got four days before filming.
I took a yellow P6 3500s to the Pebble Mill BBC studios (in Birmingham England) so that they could take photos's to show the producer. The following day the BBC agreed on the yellow Rover being used, so l found a good 3500s which belonged to Charles Dandy.
I told him about the program and that the BBC was looking for a good 35s and l said would you like to have your car on the TV, he said he would come back to me.So l tried two other members , the first one had sold is car on, and the other person was out, just as l was going to ring someone else Charles had rang back and said he would love to have is car on BBC TV, so l rang the BBC back up (get it).
So l put some rusty panels on and filled them with filler, l had a old Rover l used and told the BBC they could smash this one up instead!
It took four days to have it looking great, in the meantime the producer and the art designer came to our house and had the contents of the garage and all of our Rover memorabilia from the house.
The BBC built a mock-up garage next to the house they were filming in (see the photos). The filming with the car took four days, the BBC asked me if l would like to be a extra, acting as a Villain, which I did.
This program was filmed in August 1996, and was shown in march 1997.....and is now on Sky UK Gold.