Base Toys arrived on the scene around 2007/2008. They were "OO" scale (1:76) models of British vehicles, manufactured in China for a UK importer. An extensive list of models produced can be found HERE. Please note that the list is copyright to its author, Peter Harrison. Do not simply copy it without the author's written approval.
The Rover P4 series was a group of saloon automobiles, produced from 1949 to 1964, designed by Gordon Bashford. The P4 designation is the factory's terminology and was not in day-to-day use by P4 owners who would simply have said they had a "Rover 90" and so on. As a former owner of a 1959 P4 90 I have a soft spot for these Rovers and I will go out of my way just to look at one!
The cars used a Rover engine in 4 or 6-cylinder form which came from the 1948 P3 and had overhead valves for inlet and side valves for exhaust. A four-speed manual transmission was used with a column-mounted gear shifter at first and then a floor-mounted unit from 1954. The cars had a separate chassis with independent suspension by coil springs at the front and a live axle with half-elliptical leaf springs at the rear. The brakes on early cars were operated by a hybrid hydro-mechanical system but became fully hydraulic in 1950. Girling disc brakes replaced drums at the front from 1959.
The complete body shells were made by the Pressed Steel company and featured aluminium/magnesium alloy doors, boot lid and bonnets until the final 95/110 models, which were all steel to reduce costs. The P4 was one of the last UK cars to incorporate rear-hinged "suicide" doors.
The P4 90 was replaced in 1960 by the more-powerful P4 100. Its 2.6L straight-6 engine meant the car could now reach 100 mph (161 km/h). The interior was luxurious, with wood and leather accents on traditional English car elements like a curved "Shepherds Crook" handbrake lever. Either a bench or individual front seats could be ordered, a heater was a standard fitting and like the smaller P4 80 version, the 100 was fitted with servo-assisted Girling disc brakes at the front, keeping drum brakes at the rear. Overdrive, on top gear only, was a standard fitting.
Production ended in 1962, by which time 16,521 had been produced.
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