Tests and Reports

The German ADAC - Motorwelt  reports 1931 in three articles about ROVER, in particular the ROVER SCARAB

Letter from England 13th Märch 1931, Issue 11

The Coventry Rover Works will be putting a four-seater on the market within the next few weeks at a price of RM 1,700, considerably cheaper than any model known here, although one was on display at the Berlin Motor Show at the same price, much to the astonishment of the English guests. The company has been working in secrecy for a year and a half on the completion of its new make, of which half a dozen have now been finished. Nothing else is known, except that the horsepower tax will be low and that the engine will be capable of a good 40 miles an hour. Rovers are not yet conclusive about the engine, og two- or four-cylinder. Shortly after the war they manufactured an air-cooled two-cylinder which did well at the time, but whose manufacture they later dropped.

Letter from England 24th April 1931, Issue 17

While in 1930 the number of newly registered cars fell from 166,503 to 153,655 compared with 1929, the number of "baby cars" (8 horsepower) newly put into use rose from 39,000 to 40,300. These small cars are being advertised more and more, and this is accompanied by a considerable reduction in price, especially by the largest English car company, Morris, and by its fiercest domestic competitors, Austin Ltd. and Rover Ltd. Last year the average price of a baby car was about 130 English pounds; today the aim is to produce a car at a price of 100 pounds, and the Rover company even has plans to market a car for only 85 English pounds. In addition to the preference for small cars, there has also been a considerable increase in the use of 12-horsepower cars. Their number even increased from 10,127 to 12,972 last year.

England's Motor Show 6th November 1931, Issue 44/45

The cheapest car in the show - the small Rover, model 1932, for 89 pounds (about 1,500 marks). © Sport & General phot.

Excerpts from the article

.... It is all the more commendable when a factory, which has been quite conservative, undertakes to break away from the traditional. It is doubly gratifying that the product largely adapts to today's economic conditions. It is about Rover, which in the type "Scarab" brings out a small car of quite modern conception. The small Rover has an 840 cc air-cooled two-cylinder V-engine, which is combined with the three-speed transmission and the bevel gear drive into one block. The engine power unit is mounted directly on the oscillating rear axle half-shafts in the frame. The rear wheels are cushioned by rubber cylinders inserted between a crossmember attached to the frame and extended over the longitudinal members and supports mounted on the brake drum covers. TGrapezoidal struts support the wheels against the engine drive block. The front wheels are suspended shaftless by two coil springs each, guided in the vertical by telescopes. The car, which is built only as an open four-seater, costs completely equipped 89 Pounds (approx. 1,500 Marks).
Still one year ago one could have prophesied this model a very large future. Now arises to it however in a particularly inexpensive type of the Morris "Minor" (840 ccm four-cylinder) a very weighty competitor. This car costs as a very comfortable two-seater (while the Rover is a little comfortable four-seater), only 1,700 marks (smooth 100 pounds). The four-cylinder engine, as well as the far more complete and more dignified equipment of this Morris will certainly be able to captivate the main part of the aspirants to a small car, the more so as both vehicles differ only quite insignificantly in taxation and consumption.
....
Rover has not stopped at the "Scarab", but places this smallest car still another 1.4-liter six-cylinder, the type "Pilot" to the side, a very well-designed light car, which is also not too tight with 2.64 m wheelbase. The sedan price is 225 pounds (3,800 marks).
....

© ADAC Motorwelt