Unique Rover 90 cabriolet: a Mulliner P4 styled by Pinin Farina

By Martin Buckley

| 6 Nov 2025

Classic & Sports Car – Rover 90: Pinin Farina and Mulliner’s unique cabriolet

The post-war story of Rover provides one of the richest seams of intriguing might-have-beens and one-offs that you’ll find anywhere in the history of the automobile.

There was everything from Topolino-inspired austerity cars and gas-turbine endurance racers to a famous, abandoned project to build a mid-engined V8.

All were pursued to high levels of development by an inventive young team that, behind the scenes, was experimenting with base-unit construction, V6s and a hunch that there might just be a market for a dual-purpose ‘luxury’ off-roader.

(The 1952 Road Rover would go through various iterations to emerge 18 years later as the Range Rover.)

Pinin Farina styling and Mulliner build quality turned Rover’s P4 into a glamourous cabriolet

Although ultimately restrained by highly conservative boardroom management, the only real limits on the output of Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King, Gordon Bashford and others was a lack of human resources to keep the momentum going behind their myriad innovative ideas – and this in a company that, for most of the 1950s, did not even have an official styling department.

Preoccupied by an apparently insatiable demand for the Land-Rover in world markets, there was scarcely a commercial need for the Rover Company to build passenger cars in the ’50s.

Yet, aware that the booming Land-Rover market could flatline at any time, the firm was keen not only to retain its image as a purveyor of well-groomed and luxurious saloons for the professional middle classes (in the form of the P4), but also to expand its early ’50s product range in both directions.

Rover’s top brass realised that Pinin Farina’s P4 drophead coupé would be too expensive to put into production

Downwards there would be four-cylinder versions of the ‘Auntie’ P4 (the 60 and 80) and, upwards, variations on the six-cylinder Rover 75 theme.

Two 75 ‘Cyclops’ saloons were converted by Salmons-Tickford into two-door drophead coupé form in 1950 and ’51.

These cars were so visually effective that it now appears curious that they were not given the green light for production.

Whatever the reason, they gave Rover cause to pursue this notion further with a pair of Pinin Farina-styled and built P4s, the first of which made a surprise appearance at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1953.

The Rover 90 Mulliner’s ‘six’ majors on torque and refinement

The choice of Farina was a natural one. The Latin carrozzerie did styling like no other country, and the ‘Italian line’ was on the cutting edge of automotive fashion.

Of all the Turin coachbuilders, Pinin Farina (not to become Pininfarina until 1961) probably had the best track record of producing elegantly restrained designs that respected the essential character and image of the manufacturer concerned.

A closed car, a 90 with a floor gearchange, came later at the instigation of Farina.

The drophead, based on a column-shift 75 export chassis, arrived first and was shown at Earls Court.

Pinin Farina’s take on the Rover 90 features a wider front grille

Of identical design (other than the roof arrangement), both open and closed versions had frameless side glass.

They were a full foot longer than the standard P4, with a wider take on the contemporary Rover grille.

The factory saloons had aluminium door skins, but Farina worked entirely in steel, with a body-coloured dashboard that was completely different to the timber of the standard 75 and 90.

Solihull approached Pinin Farina to build the drophead P4 late in 1951.

The Rover 90 Mulliner drophead coupé follows the shape of Pinin Farina’s original show car

Having approved the Italians’ proposal, a right-handed chassis frame and associated components were shipped out to Turin in 1952, with a note from the stores at Solihull stating that all items were ‘production-line ready’ and, where necessary, screwed together – on the understanding that BSF imperial threads would be difficult to obtain in metric Italy.

The cabriolet was completed only just in time for Earls Court, where Rover’s bosses were keen to gauge public reaction.

The long, handsome bronze drophead proved to be among that year’s showstoppers.

On opening the event, the Duke of Edinburgh took such a shine to the drophead, with its beige leather and deep maroon hood, that he wanted to buy it – or more likely take it on long-term loan.

Most enthusiasts agree that this Rover 90 drophead coupé was the sole example built by Mulliner

In the end, Rover kept the cars for appraisal and investigated the possibility of putting the design into some kind of limited production by having a second, dark-blue drop-top built by Mulliners of Birmingham, in aluminium, on a 90 chassis.

Some sources say two such cars were produced, but just the one (RNX 10, the example pictured here) appears to have been enough to convince Rover’s management that the Italian design could not be reproduced on a commercial basis.

Tooling costs would have been massive and the 50% Purchase Tax levied on expensive vehicles considered ‘luxury items’ would off put most potential buyers.

This classic Rover’s freewheel system is controlled by a knob above the gearlever

The fact that Pinin Farina had repurposed the same basic shape on a variety of Lancia and Alfa Romeo chassis perhaps sealed the fate of Rover’s short-lived Italian adventure.

Meanwhile, the Farina coupé turned up in 1954, painted a fetching metallic dark green.

It almost certainly provided David Bache’s emerging styling department with inspiration for the P5 3 Litre saloon, but the coupé also had the most chequered history of the trio.

Some of Pinin Farina’s projects for Lancia and Alfa Romeo echoed the Rover 90 drophead coupé’s design

Rover converted the fixed-head to left-hand drive for a Spanish buyer in 1958.

Señor Tabanera sent over his driver to collect the car from Solihull, only to learn that the chauffeur, on leaving the factory, almost immediately pranged the gleaming one-off against a lamp post.

Repairs were effected and the car made it across to Spain, only to be crashed a second time, allegedly when the owner suffered a (non-fatal) heart attack at the wheel.

The consensus in both the Rover P4 Drivers’ Guild and the Rover Sports Register is that the Farina Coupé, last seen on the road in the ’60s, is lost.

The Rover 90 Mulliner drophead coupé’s tight shutlines and simple doorhandle

Rover parted with the two dropheads, by then demoted to works runabouts, in 1955.

Registered OGX 576, the Pinin Farina car was disposed of to a Liverpool Rover dealer who had been pestering the factory to sell it to him since he’d laid eyes on it at Earls Court in 1953.

It had acquired a 90 engine (and a floor change) by 1955, and would be further updated to 110 specification with disc brakes.

After a parking bump, coachbuilder Hooper made amends with a suitably adjusted Bentley Continental bootlid.

The Rover’s painted dashboard adds an Italian flourish

The car was briefly repainted white in the late ’60s, but rust was beginning to get the better of the steel panels.

Thus, in the hands of a second private owner, Bill Elsey, the Italian-built P4 was fully restored in 1973.

His choice of a wooden dashboard, replacing the rather severe Italian-designed original, was a matter of personal taste; the modified BMC 1800 ‘Landcrab’ bumpers were fitted out of necessity.

By the mid-’80s, the Farina P4 was on the road again and owned by a Dutch Enthusiast (who took part in a three-page feature for Classic & Sports Car in November 1985), and today the 1953 show car is in the hands of a Rover P4 Drivers’ Guild member, now registered NHF 800.

The Rover 90 Mulliner’s hood folds away neatly, but rear vision is poor when it’s up

As for the Mulliner-built car, Coombs of Guildford ran an advert for it in The Autocar in 1955, offering the ‘special foursome drophead’ for £1575, which was roughly the going rate for a new Rover 90 saloon at the time.

The current owner of this unique Rover is P4 enthusiast Frank Butler, who has researched extensively into the background of these cars.

Frank believes that, as well as the high cost of productionising the body, one of the directors at Rover simply didn’t like the shape and that was why it was killed off.

“I’ve never driven the Farina, so I don’t know how different they are to drive,” he says, “but this one was not a show exercise – it was a proper pre-production car.”

The Rover 90 Mulliner drophead coupé was restored by a previous owner and repainted six years ago

“There are quite a few differences between this car and the Pinin Farina drophead,” Frank continues.

“You could stand me blindfolded between the two cars, and I would still be able to tell you which was which.

“For instance, the grille is flatter on mine. On both there is a panel at the back to extend the body – with a smaller extension panel at the front – but on the Farina car the instruments were welded in, not bolted and screwed like in mine.”

The current owner of the Farina P4 lives in Singapore, but the car itself lives in Cambridge.

The Rover 90’s original steering wheel blends in well with the Pinin Farina modifications

“I was very friendly with the previous owner,” says Frank. “I even loaned him my car for six months to copy the shape of the rear wings, but the last time they were together was my daughter’s wedding, a few years back.”

The Mulliner car left the works finished in Royal Blue with a white hood and was sold to a friend of one of the directors at Rover, a Dr Sherwood from London.

“I’m in contact with his son, Robin,” says Frank, “but he claims that the car was always painted bronze, which is a bit of a mystery.”

‘The tooling costs would have been massive and the 50% Purchase Tax levied on expensive vehicles would have put off most potential buyers’

At some stage in the 1980s, having been abandoned in a semi-dismantled state on the Isle of Wight, RNX 10 ended up with a hotelier in Nottinghamshire.

He then embarked on a restoration, in the belief that his car was the Farina P4.

“I think he could have been into it for £70,000 or more,” says Frank, “but he finished the car and promptly put it into an auction, which is where I bought it.

“It was in reasonable condition, but I had it resprayed six years ago, and I have recently fitted an electric power-steering conversion so that I can keep driving it at my somewhat advanced age!”

The 90 Mulliner drophead coupé’s tapering tail hints at the Rover original

In the metal, the drophead Rover 90 has an imposing presence and could easily be a coachbuilt early ’50s Lancia Aurelia B50 or Alfa Romeo 1900, or possibly even a one-off Farina Bentley.

The grille and the front end as a whole have more than a touch of the Facel/Farina-bodied Bentley Cresta; from another perspective you feel as if you are looking at a giant Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.

With a hood that nestles well down in the body, the interior takes four in comfort, five at a pinch, with an asymmetrical front bench (split two-thirds/one-third in favour of the passenger) leaving plenty of space to wield the ‘shepherd’s crook’ gearlever.

There’s generous rear passenger space in the Rover 90 Mulliner drophead coupé

Combined with a smooth clutch, it works better than it looks, with a noisy non-synchromesh first gear and quiet intermediates.

Overdrive gives a useful top-gear stride, while the freewheel facility sacrifices engine braking for clutchless changes – although I did not sample it.

Standard P4 steering is heavy, so you don’t lose much in terms of sensitivity by assisting the movements of the big, knurled-rim wheel.

You sit back and direct events with good self-centring and straight-line stability.

This unique Rover’s long gearlever

Presumably, the alloy-bodied Mulliner car is lighter than its Italian inspiration, but 90bhp to shift upwards of 3200lb is not a recipe for exciting acceleration.

Powered by a quiet, silky F-head straight-six, the Mulliner 90 gathers pace in a dignified manner, suppressing all your aggressive urges.

It feels psychologically livelier than its saloon brethren, simply by virtue of not having a roof.

Pictures of the Farina with the top erected show quite a formal outline; Frank says loss of rearward vision due to the heavy rear quarters makes him reluctant to drive the drophead with the roof up.

This much-loved Rover 90 Mulliner has been on road trips across Europe

The former accountant is not shy of using the car, and has toured Italy and Scandinavia in the Rover.

“It’s been all over the Continent,” he says. “I did 3500 miles in Italy alone. I used to leave it at my house in France during the summer.

“Out on the road, wherever you are, people are amazed: nobody believes it’s a Rover.”

Images: Jack Harrison

Factfile

Rover 90 Mulliner dhc

Sold/number built 1953/one
Construction steel chassis, aluminium body
Engine all-iron, inlet-over-exhaust 2638cc straight six, SU carburettor
Max power 90bhp @ 4500rpm
Max torque 130lb ft @ 1500rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with overdrive and freewheel, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs; telescopic dampers f/r
Steering worm and nut
Brakes drums, with servo
Length 15ft 11½in (4864mm)
Width 5ft 6in (1676mm)
Height 5ft (1524mm)
Wheelbase 9ft 3in (2819mm)
Weight 3200lb (1451kg)
0-60mph 19 secs
Top speed 85mph
Mpg 18-26
Price new n/a
Price now £80-100,000 (est)*