Due to a change in attitudes in the US, General Motors decided to stick with cast iron for its cheap and plentiful V8 motors. The result was the small-for-the-US capacity aluminium unit was shelved until Rover came along. Desperate for a replacement for its ageing 3.0-litre straight-six, which originated in the late 1930s, Rover pulled off a deal to buy all of the tooling and rights to the engine.

That was in 1964 and Rover’s engineers quickly set about developing their new V8 for use in the previously rather staid P5 saloon and coupe models.  With the compact 3.5-litre V8, suddenly Rover had a car to take on Jaguar, and the engine would find itself into a variety of (usually) fine cars, by no means all made by Rover – here’s a selection of them: