Well, it's always interesting to hear comments about this, that, and the other and whilst some of it may be true, a lot of it comes from the unknowing and uninitiated. Now, I am not interested in picking a fight with anyone, I am not interested in rubbishing anyone's opinion (some of it may be based on facts as they know them) but I have had heaps of experience with both Mercedes ranging from 1959 - 190, 220 and 300 Finnies and 6.9's of course, and P4, P5 and P6 Rovers over the last forty years.
The car in question that was on ebay - two things that I could pick readily were the incorrect Steering Wheel for the Rover 3500S, and the fact that the handbrake on this car would have been either inoperative or, at least, marginal in its operating efficiency. Simply a case of a non-operating serrated adjustment wheel for the inboard caliper piston.
Rovers are not known for rust except the venerable P5B Coupe which unfortunately were manufactured by British Leyland, the purveyor of just about anything detrimental one could hang on the British car industry. Those Coupes can be rust buckets, but worse still, were poorly developed from a suspension point of view as no allowance was made in design and specification of the front torsion bars to account for the difference in weight between the six cylinder Mark 2a, b and c, and the Mark 3 and the much lighter all alloy V8 engine. As a consequence, front suspension ride was quite bouncy. That is why I much prefer the 6 cylinder Coupes, of which I still have 2 - both 4 speed manual with Lay#### overdrive. Magnificent cars. Restoration not quite complete at this stage.
The Rover V8 engine - extremely reliable, and simple to work on. I still have several rebuilt engines. Being essentially a Buick designed engine, with subsequent improvements applied by the Rover Company, parts are cheap and were readily attainable. At one stage, you could buy a set of Taiwanese piston assembly (all eight) for $A 200.00 - try that with Mercedes parts. In all my years of V8 involvement, I had one engine with a broken crank, one with a moving steel liner in the alloy block and several with worn rocker shaft assemblies, primarily on account of maintenance neglect - the engine oil should be changed frequently. I still own a 1974 3500S that will be retro fitted with en engine plus 5 speed manual box that used to be in the last 3500S that got written off some 5 years ago. It was just about the very best 3500S that you would have found anywhere.
If one has the knowledge, both the P5 and P6 models can be utterly reliable, even as everyday transport. Rust is not a problem - in fact, I have never, ever seen rust in any interior floor area - unlike our 116"s I have to say. In due course, I will scan some pics to illustrate the condition of the 3500S I used to have, plus some P5 pics. I think that's about all I will say at the moment, but I certainly have no qualms with any of my Rovers. Regards Styria