Rover Meteor
The Rover Meteor was a short-lived 2½-litre or 2-litre medium-sized car made by The Rover Company Limited of Meteor Works Coventry. The new 2½-litre model was announced in mid-February 1930 to supplement Rover's Light Twenty which used the same engine and essentially the same chassis.
| Rover Meteor | |
|---|---|
Corsica drophead coupé body on a Meteor chassis | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Rover |
| Model years | 1931 to 1934 |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | medium-size |
| Body style |
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| Layout | front engine rear wheel drive |
| Related | Rover Two-litre |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | straight-six pushrod ohv 2,565 cc (156.5 cu in) |
| Transmission | 1. two-plate cork insert clutch, 4-speed gearbox silent third, enclosed propellor shaft with central bearing, spiral bevel drive to half-floating back axle 2. automatic clutch, freewheel, automatic engine starting 1933—> |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase |
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| Length |
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| Width |
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| Height | depends on body |
| Kerb weight | depends on body |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | |
| Successor | Rover 16 |
| Rover Meteor | |
|---|---|
| Layout | |
| Configuration | straight-six pushrod ohv |
| Displacement |
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| Cylinder bore |
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| Piston stroke |
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| Cylinder block material | cast iron |
| Cylinder head material | cast iron detachable |
| Valvetrain | overhead valves, pushrods, double springs |
| Combustion | |
| Fuel system | carburettor with acceleration pump, petrol pump driven from camshaft, 12-gallon tank at back |
| Management | distributor driven from camshaft |
| Fuel type | petrol |
| Cooling system | honeycomb radiator in a shell with stone-guard, fan and water impeller driven from crankshaft, thermostat |
| Output | |
| Power output |
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| Chronology | |
| Successor | Rover 16 |
A 2-litre car, a further variant of Rover's Light Twenty was announced in July 1932. Under fiscal rating it was a 16-horsepower car and it was renamed Rover Speed Sixteen in mid-1934 but under either name was out of production before April 1935.
The first Meteor was announced a few months into the depression. It is difficult to establish whether models remained in the catalogue from continuing production or they were unsold stock. However it should be remembered it was in this period Rover returned to profit.
The name Meteor was abandoned during 1934, the products remaining in Rover's catalogue as Rover Sixteen (a four-door saloon) and Rover Speed Twenty (a four-seater sports tourer), and in due course they were replaced in the summer of 1936 by the new designs now referred to as P2.