My abandoned first car has been fully restored! | Rover 25 restoration 

We can't believe it guys and girls, the car has sold for a massive £7,700! That's an amazing amount for a Rover 25, so thank you to everyone that put in a big, the money is going to an amazing cause!

I'm an American Army veteran who worked alongside some outstanding British soldiers. Thanks for supporting this charity, Mike.

Cars are just lumps of metal and plastic, what makes them special is the memories they create and the stories they play a part in. You've given this car a much better story than most cars could ask for, and it's new owner will have something better than it came from the factory to create new memories with for years to come. Great work for an awesome cause, top work to everyone involved.

Awesome work on restoring and supporting this very worthwhile charity. Great job on the pipes too Mike 👏

Arguably the best Rover 25 ever built, even Rover didn't put this effort into building cars. Working on my mums MG TF Anniversary showed me just how little they cared when making their cars... Amazing work chaps.

Mike - get Clarkson Hammond and May to drive it - it WILL increase it's value.

Ngl a little disappointed you didn't keep the sportier MG grille, alloys, front lip and boot spoiler, but still an absolutely fantastic job! Really enjoyed this series!

Great job on the bagpipes, was not expecting that.

When the pipes began to swirl I lost it, with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. Coming from a military family charities like this deserve the best we can afford. Ultimate respect to all concerned . Merry Christmas and a peaceful new year to everyone......

What a video to make you proud to be British. So much respect for service men and women and their families 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿NI ❤️❤️❤️

i got my rover 25 2 years ago it was destined for the scrapyard after the 6 months mot it had 46000 miles on the clock cost me £400 for the car and £200 to rebuild the engine and its now on 80000 miles with another fresh mot until december 2022 its been an absolute blast i love it and would recommend anyone who just enjoys driving to grab one before the shoot up in price

What an amazing turn-around. Still hard to believe it was such crazy coincidence that Mike even found it!

That bagpipe got me emotional for those who lost their lives saving others. I sincerely hope the bids will get high enough for this cause. Thanks Drivetribe.

That tribute was moving. Salute, our fallen allies.

Superb charity choice. People often assume the military exist purely for combat in far off places, but the last few years have shown how they also keep things moving here at home.

Such a lovely story behind the car and yourself. Your an excellent car review presenter so keep doing what you do. 😀

Thing is an utter beauty. Hope it goes to someone who values it and will keep it in great nick for years to come.

Ever just have one of those days where lots of emotional things seem to happen. I DID NOT expect drivetribe to absolutely finish me off!! Interesting video and a touching tribute

Glad LiquiMoly has been supporting you. Best brand for car fluids and oils out there. Been keeping my fleet running for years

Great video, well done everyone who was involved in this project. My grandpa major John Handley will be smiling ear to ear looking down on this. He was an MG Rover fanatic.

2:18 As a German, I'm always delighted to see simply unpronouncable German words in an English series. Would love to hear Mike butcher _'Hochleistungsgetriebeöl'_ or _'Kühlerfrostschutz'_ 😂

Thank you for this series! Your tribute at the end with the bagpipes was stunning!

Awesome restoration. I had one of those while living in England. Surprisingly I had no problems with it. Hearing the bagpipes reminds of my Grandpas home in the mountains of Virginia. They used to play the bagpipes there as well.

Mike, I love the fact you Piped the end. I'm watching this well after the end of the sale. My family hails from Scotland, not too far from Edinburgh. I will be making a donation to Scotty's Little Soldiers. Thank you for all you and the Drivetribe team do...

I hope a large company buys it for a million, then immediately donates it to a kid from one of those families who needs a car for work or a parent. Nice job on the restoration - great job on your donation.

Awesome to see the finished result, not going to lie but the pipes and the Scotty's little Soldiers got me.

It’s ULEZ compliant which is unusual for a car that was produced before 2006.

Went thru 7 metros in my youth absolutely loved them. These where still quite abit of money at the time. Didn't think I'd see the day that one got restored. Nice work

excellent,never liked the bagpipes,but when i buried one of my best mates 3 years ago i stood in the rain listening to amazing grace being played on the pipes,now i"m a changed man..

Beautiful story.

Mike can play the pipes? Awesome! And an awesome job on the car.

My dad had a Rover 200 Vi club sport with the 1.8vvt from a Lotus Elise, it was a serious factory sleeper, my mum also drove it and knows nothing about cars, I remember her dropping me off in town in the pouring rain and wheel spinning all the way up the street by accident, I really miss that car!

my brother had a rover 25 "05 final year edition. 2.0 diesel, paid 400 quid for it. many memories with him in that car. the injectors and diesel fuel pump went on it and he had to sell it (summer 2019), as he needed a car for work. i wanna find it again one day, apparently its still in my hometown but it's got no mot or tax on it and hasn't since 2019. keeping my eye on it to see if it goes back on road.

This show is so on point with what the people need.

My first car was also a Rover 25 though mine was trying its best to be an MG ZR. It had the MG spoiler, Wheels, Grill etc. I payed £600 for it then had it MOT'd and serviced 2 weeks later which cost another £400 because the timing belt was due. The guy doing the service said I'd be better off scrapping it but passed it through anyway. 2 years later it was still running solid until I traded it in for a much more modern Fiesta. Wish I kept it to be honest, I only got £100 for it in part ex. I've put a bid in for this one for the lols but I'm tempted to go serious and and actually try to buy it.

Nice man. My first car was a 95 Rover 214, wasn’t pretty but it was awesome, fun to drive, reliable. Had 2 ZR 160s too, they were fun to drive but so many problems. I’d love to be in a position to own another one, rebuild it with new/rebuilt components

Nice little cars, I had a blue 1.4L a few years back, It was bought as a stop gap but I fell in love with it, sadly I wrote it off in a classic "But you pulled away" type accident

Should of gone full mg zr on it

Fantastic, I had a Y reg Rover 25 IS for 12 years and it only failed one MOT with worn tyres. I used to hammer it up and down to London and was quite happy keeping up with most things on the motorway, regularly gave about 40mpg and that K series was a thing of beauty when you got it between 4 and 6,000 rpm. Still miss it!

aaahh i liked the MG bumper and spoiler that it had on bit a shame as it looked nice with them sort of looks a bit mundane without that extra flare now

Wow it looks stunning now. So sad with all the lost life for people there just gave up there country..

I had the earlier 1998 one of these with the civic style front lights, first car, it came with a 1.1 k series metro engine, insured for £1300 lol, weighed under a ton, put a 1.6 vtech in it and it was a savage little car handled great down country lanes, no abs but the quickest braking car ive ever owned, theyre sprung surprisingly well because theyre so light.

Great job for a great cause 👏 best of luck mate!

Great rebuild, and great story Mike. I have the utmost respect for all nation’s military, my dad served and later as a reservist, though I’d never be able to serve. So thank you for doing this and making a difference for your country’s military families.

While watching this I’m reminded of rich hall appearing on old Topgear with his funny poem about a rover during an interview with Clarkson, it’s a classic if you haven’t seen it yet

You restored entire car and left worn out steering wheel. Congrats 5:55

Awesome project Mike, and for an amazing cause. I'm so proud of you and of the channel.

If you do a Capri, I’m in!

ive seen this car in person and its is the cleanest one i have ever seen . a credit to you mike and all the lads at mad ford . all the best with the auction from all at peaky recovery

I can relate to that. My first was an Uno45 in black, I drove the heck out of that. Having your first car back is like having your very own time machine.

Looked better with the body colored grill, trim, and the front lip. I think the old wheels were probably better as well. It looked very tired and worn out before, but it feels very sterile and grandad spec now. Great charity work though and I'm sure the money goes to a very worthy case. Just can't say I like the direction the car went.

Restoring your first car, a dream come true. I still miss mine. ('99 Legacy II)

We not going to talk about the fact that you've gone full grandad spec with the trim and wheels?.. 🤔💔

Best rover 25 probably anywhere 😂😂 respect though great cause

Beautiful. I hope it sells well it's on about £7000 so far. My brother is in the forces so it means a lot that the charity is for those who have lost loved ones. Brilliant series and hope to see a video of the person who buys the car!

Great job and what an amazing charity they do fantastic work for families of the fallen much respect

The car looks great. Best of luck with the auction for charity.

Wasn't this the originally the MG version of the Rover 25? I would have thought they put it back to that rather than the 25

It's a beauty. I've always loved the bubble Rovers. This car is wrong-hand drive, so it doesn't make sense for me to bid on it, but man.. Who ever ends up with it is a lucky human.

So it's now better put together than it was when it left Longbridge 😂

I love these videos.

Thank you for a very informative, emotional and POWERUL video series

looking at the beauty shots i am sort of worried about the panel gaps around the doors, the flappy boot lid and the massive gap between the bonnet and the grille. I'm sure it's because the production crew pushed Mic into letting it out before it was 100% finished but i hope they let him get to fixing it. I also noticed that body colour trim and bumpers went mssing. It kinda needed those.

ROVER 25 RED 🥰🥰🥰

never forget, top gear ssssshat on Rover with great delight when it was around.

I would love to hear how you missed the lack of power steering and the poor brakes when you first put it in for its MOT. Would also like to hear what the problem with both of these were.

Rover made some quite sorted cars .

Cable clutch, you don't want any fluid on or in that!

Hi Mike, if you would like any additional pictures taking of the car let me know, I’m a automotive photographer that lives local to MAD FORD - that’s if the car is still based here. Many thanks, Mitchell

The interior door handles were always up high on the door cards, the handle style changed but the location didn't.

Hang on, you missed that it failed its first MOT here lol. "Repair immediately (major defects): Power steering inoperative (2.1.5 (c) (i)) Service brake efficiency below requirements (1.2.2 (a) (i))" Just for clarity

Fun series , thanks guys!

Didn't know you could play the bagpipes!!

Love your work, Mike. 👍

I had one of these, 1.4l. Got it cheap, lost it to an accident in a blizzard. Was quite nice though, it is, in essence the same as a Civic EJ with a bit of an accent.

How many rover 25's would fly through an MOT, a rare beast.

oh yeah those were very popular beater first car, I had a friend who got hers to somehow catch fire while driving

A teenager in 2012!? Well someone's considerably younger than I thought. Impresseively professional presentation skills for such an age.

Remember you can also donate to Scotty's Little Soldiers directly... www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/

Why did you put the basic bumpers on it and the old man grill. Literally took off the only coolish looking things on the car.

Gonna miss this series! Can you keep restoring cars please?

Music giving life be like ooh aaah vibes F&F

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What a beautiful story

Love the Red Bull Racing toque ;)

Looked better as a mg clone

Really fun project, and some great camera work!

I love these restoration videos. More please!

That "sustainability" thing that governments and big corporations keep lecturing us about? This is it, right here! Bravo.

Great job guys. 👏

*Brave heart*

Nice drive around cannock chase 🙂

Mike/Drivetribe, brilliant work, i also am learning bagpipes, what is that piece you played

Great charity Mike 😁 you reckon its the only Rover 25 to be restored? 🤣

Why did you not put the mg parts back on as it used to be

Absolutely stunning build again but iv got a massive itch that needs scratching...... why turn an MGZR bk to an old 25 it just looks basic the zr had that sporty presences

Great job Mike!

The Rover 200 door cards are nothing like the Rover 25 ones, and certainly didn't have the door handle in that position.

I wish they made my own so beautifully 😭😭😭😭) but well done

Looks like ZR rear lights not rover 25 ?? Sold a few of these over the years 👍