page_title: Rover P6
section_title: Estates
hierarchical_section_title: Rover P6 / Estates
caption_attribution_description: English: Rover 3500 Series II Estate. Estate conversions were made after cars were sold, usually on V8 cars. F.L.M. Panelcraft did the work, and the bodies were finished by Crayford, HR Owen or Hurst Park.
context_page_description: The Rover P6 series was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, West Midlands, England, UK.
  The P6 was the first winner of the European Car of the Year award.
context_section_description: While Triumph enjoyed considerable success with the estate version of their 2000 saloon, Rover seemed happy to leave that sector of the market entirely open to their old rival. However, Battersea-based coachbuilders FLM Panelcraft picked up Rover's dropped ball and produced their own estate conversion of the P6, called the Estoura. The name is presumably a contraction of the words 'estate' and 'tourer'. Although no actual figure for the production of the estate are known, due to a fire that destroyed the company records, amateur investigations by several Rover enthusiasts show a little over 200 cars were known to have been produced. The first estate was not an approved conversion, but from 1970 onwards the car was marketed (with the factory's blessing) by BL dealers HR Owen Limited and therefore factory warranties were carried forward.
  The conversions were completed by H.R. Owen and Crayford Engineering, with bodywork executed by FLM Panelcraft. Crayford's involvement in the project was limited to the interior of the car, and the company had no bearing on the external design of the estate conversion. Nonetheless Crayford badged them as Crayfords for a while (implying that they built them) and only stopped after FLM threatened legal action. Conversions could be carried out at any time in the car's life. Most conversions appear to have been carried out when the cars were 12 months old or older because if a car was converted when new, the conversion would be liable for Purchase Tax like the car itself.
  Due to the cost of the conversion (about GB£800) it would appear that most were carried out on the 3500 rather than on the 2000, with even fewer 2200s made. In comparison with the Triumph 2000 estate, the Rover Estoura was of limited practicality. The quality of the conversion also left a great deal to be desired, with the estate conversion being pop-riveted on to the back end of the modified vehicle, with little rust-proofing or paint applied. As a result, the back end of the vehicles often rusted out, and several estate "pods" were subsequently transferred from one car to another.
caption: Estate conversion on 3500 V8
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