Rover Coupe Turbo F.D.H - Frequently Asked Questions

[Toblerone]

I thought it was about time we had an F.D.H Frequently Asked Questions, so here we go

What is an F.D.H Coupe?
It's a Rover Coupe turbo registered on an 'N' plate, and with 'F.D.H' as the plate suffix. It's not a specific model or special edition.

What's different about them?
Stories differ slightly, but the gist is that they were intended for a foreign market (possibly Japan, but i'm sceptical because they don't meet some of Japan's criteria - see later), but were not shipped for some reason. Rover kept them somewhere near Longbridge, and they were then sold in this country in 1998. I believe Rover employees were given first dibs!

Like most exports, they included all of the options - so you got aircon and full leather etc. The only tangible diffence to any other Coupe turbo is the addition of a third centre brakelight. So it's like a CD model if you like.

So any Rover with F.D.H on the end of the plate is one of these?
Not necessarily - the three letters on the end refer to the place of registration. Look here for details http://ukcar.co.uk/dvla/car_reg.html
You can see that the letters FD indicate the car was registered in either Dudley (near Longbridge) or Guildford. It goes without saying that they must have sold a few Rovers in these places in 1996 - theres nothing special about an F.D.H 416!

What's it worth?
An F.D.H coupe shouldn't be worth any more than a fully specced turbo of similar mileage and condition. Because they were registered in 1998 they tend to have less mileage, but this doesn't always apply.

If you want to pay more for the F.D.H letters then thats fine , but remember you are buying what is essentially a factory second if you're being cynical - and nobody else other than a Rover enthusiast will see anything different.

Note: These coupes are not any more powerful than a normal coupe turbo! Don't let anyone tell (or sell) you different!

Japan Spec Coupes
These coupes were exported to Japan and then imported back, others were intended for Japan and never made it. I think both types exist.

They have some features that make them desirable to some - small arch extensions to meet the Japan wheel-arch distance legislation, and a plinth to hold the Japanese square numberplates. They also have Japanese stickers and some other small additions like Cat temperature warning sensor and flare holder etc. These cars are no more powerful either!

Hope that helps

[bjrespect]

this should be made a sticky

to stop the arguing

and your wrong some guy driving a nova told me that his uncles best mates little brothers mate had an f d h coupe and it has 100 bhp more with nitrous as standard and its a limited edition fast and furious

[mach1rob]

this should be made a sticky

to stop the arguing

I agree

[Steve220]

good article

[PJF220]

Could I just add to this with additional information as I spent some time doing some research on the subject.

The cars were DEFINATELY due to go out to Japan and DEFINATELY made it on to a cargo ship. This has been confirmed by an ex employee who was directly involved in the shipment and the conversion back to UK spec. It is unknown so far if the cars made it to Japan. They kind of vanished for 3 years. They were being shipped to Japan when Japan changed it's laws on emmisions and the cars would no longer be eligable to bo sold in Japan new. Therefore Rover were left with little option to bring them back.

Now, with Rover were in trouble. They had, at the same time, launched the new generation 200 and 400 cars and the Coupe had been deleted from the range so the options available to them were as follows:

A: Get the cars back to the UK, convert the engines to comply with Japan law which would mean spending Hundreds of thousands of pounds in associated costs. This was ruled out as the batch of cars was just over 300. The man hours to change engines, subframes etc and then ship back to Japan was simply not worth it.

B: Bring the cars back to the UK, change to UK spec and sell off cheap. This is what they decided to do, rather than spend any more money of an old stock of outdated cars.

The cars arrived back on Uk soil and were immediately sent back to Longbridge and a team of two worked on converting the cars back to UK standards. The clocks were changed from KPH to MPH, the arch kits were removed. Wiring was changed back to UK spec rear plynth and front plynth chaged to UK for the UK registration laws and various other things. All parts removed were thrown in a skip and trashed.

Due to UK and EU importation laws, the cars were being brought in by Rover and they were not allowed to sell them on for 6 months. Rover had to register all the cars as new and keep them in storage. It's beleived by my source that this was infact at Longbridge. This is also backed up by the fact the 'FD' is the loacl DVLA office for Longbride. The cars were all registered at the same time and registered as new on 03/08/1998. There are a two cars from the batch registered on 20th August, but this is believed a DVLA error.

With the 6 months up, Rover could now sell the cars but as mentioned earlier, they were out of production so all they could do was ovver them to employees and special affiliated car sales companies at a significant loss.

Now in 2007, some 50% of the original batch are untaxed but in existance on the DVLA books. 33% have been SORN'd and certainly 7 have been scrapped, though this may be higher. 6 are known to be on personalised plates, through research, it has been proved than at the time of checking, it was not more than this.

The batch of cars consisted of four options:

Tahiti Blue with beige leather
Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with ash grey leather
Charcoal with ash grey leather.

Any difference to this and it is either not part of the batch of cars or it has been modified.

As I say, this is all verified with reliable sources within the old MG/Rover company, Customs and Excise and the DVLA.

Hopefully that will shed a few myths.

[s0ck]

Well done, Pete
I'm not clear on what colour I should be calling my leather though? I've always called it black leather with red piping...? It's not beige so I guess that leaves ash grey?

[PJF220]

Well done, Pete
I'm not clear on what colour I should be calling my leather though? I've always called it black leather with red piping...? It's not beige so I guess that leaves ash grey?

Yup, Ash grey is the dark grey with red piping, sometimes called black but it's not actually black.

[monster hunter]

Just to add, pete, all the (wanna be jap crap) as I call it was taken off at MG sports and racing I have a more or less complete vin number set of all the ex jap or wanna be jap coupes that were converted back in 1998 by them, again a great article,and a s far as I can find out that batch never had arches fitted, rear plinths yes but arches no..
H

[xr4x4]

so why did some come with jap spec details and the F D H's didnt?

different batch?

[s0ck]

i think it's about time the swear filter was updated too.

[xr4x4]

i think it's about time the swear filter was updated too.

arse... lol

updated

[Tomcat216T]

so why did some come with jap spec details and the F D H's didnt?

different batch?

I think that the ones that are here with Jap details are actual Japanese imports that have been privately imported into the UK - so will still have the plinths and arches.

Where as the F D H's were never sold in Japan and were converted back to UK spec by Rover to sell in the UK. All F D H's will have full leather, air con etc but the bits that needed to be changed to be legal in the UK were changed.

[jimjimjeroo]

my mate had one of these, was certainly quicler than mine, byt mine was buggered lol, his was also on a private plate, only had 60k on the clock too, sold it last week for 1100, blew the gear box!

[jimjimjeroo]

also, i have seen a scanned copy of a poster which was distributed throughout Longbridge, advertising Rover 220 Coupe Turbo's for 11.995 these were the so called F D H's somewhere on here iirc!

[jimjimjeroo]

[monster hunter]

the F D H were converted back to standard,I was told lights and glass etc?, what ever that was, they certainly did not have anything left on them by the time MG sport and Racing had finished with them, and the certainly did not have any more power, and that flyer is mine..I ordered mine in nov or dec 98 via colliers via Land Rover, it went to MG sport and racing along with at least 180 others, Some bits were took off and skipped, deffo front and rear plith( still got the old plinth holder marks on my front bumper)they even took the flare holders out, got the holes lol, this was confrimed by MG sport and racing just after rover went bust, but no arches.. (work that one out)a few of the guys who worked on the MG-SV's etc kept the VIN records of all the coupes they worked on, ( also the Cup cars as well ) I viewed my coupe mid feb and I collected it in March from colliers as new.. it was a case of pick your reg mate, they had more or less every F D H plate from 101 to about 306..,
either way I waited about3-4 months to collect it having paid 1250 deposit on it for an early christmas present..
hope this is of use..

[lou123]

would i be ok to use this info in my ebay add please?

[AddsT]

I disagree with this claim

The batch of cars consisted of four options:

Tahiti Blue with beige leather
Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with ash grey leather
Charcoal with ash grey leather.

.

From what i've seen and read i think they came in three variants

Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with cream/beige leather
Charcoal with cream/beige leather.

[Steve220]

I disagree with this claim

The batch of cars consisted of four options:

Tahiti Blue with beige leather
Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with ash grey leather
Charcoal with ash grey leather.

.

From what i've seen and read i think they came in three variants

Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with cream/beige leather
Charcoal with cream/beige leather.

They do come as Tahiti Blue with cream leather. There are a few around.

[AddsT]

I've never seen or heard of the blue/cream combo. I would be interested in finding out more details on those cars. I've never seen any verification of cars with combo's outside the three i posted above.

[southside]

There used to be an N***FDH going round sutton a couple of years back but it was flame red with cream leather? Used to see it quite alot.

[targatop17]

What's to stop someone swopping the interior's...

I guess only by having all the vin plate records for trim etc, could you define how many of each variation exist, and are still in their factory trim..

[empsburna]

What's to stop someone swopping the interior's...

I guess only by having all the vin plate records for trim etc, could you define how many of each variation exist, and are still in their factory trim..

the list on RCOC is certainly out of date

[Cableguy]

There used to be an N***FDH going round sutton a couple of years back but it was flame red with cream leather? Used to see it quite alot.

N*** FDH purely means its a 1995 car registered in dudley , anybody thinking otherwise needs shooting in the face... twice.

I can name around 50 cars with N***FDH that are non rover , or rover 400's etc. etc.

[PJF220]

I think your missing the main point of the thread.

Yes, FDH indicates a registration plate first registered in Dudley for any car, but the topic is specifically about the Rover Coupe Turbo. It cannot be denied that there is not a story relating to the batch of cars in question, it's whether the reader thinks it's anything special or a waste of time.

As for the comment by whoever about interior swaps, yes this happens, but when you've researched in to the batch of cars in question, you can see certain patterns emerge. for example, of the batch, about 50 that were registered consecutively are/were blue with cream leather. Not that many people could have changed the interior on a batch of cars that had registrations running one after the other.

And if the batch did not have arch extentions, it may simply be that the Jap market were doing a typical Rover cost cutting exercise, as Rover did frequently. This batch was the last lot to go over so they may have removed a few bits to save some cash.

[monster hunter]

Just for the record there was another FDH plated Coupe next to mine as new Tahti with cream leather, i was going to have cream in mine it was an option with that deal at the time.
H

[mattw]

Did the FDH only come in Tahti blue

[empsburna]

Did the FDH only come in Tahti blue

No, some charcoal and some nightfire red.

[roverboi21]

my rover coupe turbo

[black_sunrise]

interesting read is that.

heard that many different stories about this batch of cars. A lot of sellers try to make up loads of crap about how they are more powerful etc... and the FDH's always seem to sell for more.

[BVit]

We have N214 FDH, Charcoal grey with cream leather interior.. 27k, 6k in 4 years Bought from a guy in Wales about 2 months ago. Can be seen on RCOC.

[empsburna]

We have N214 FDH, Charcoal grey with cream leather interior.. 27k, 6k in 4 years Bought from a guy in Wales about 2 months ago. Can be seen on RCOC.

Kev's old one then. Shame it went downhill after he sold it. Hope it is in better condition than the last time it was photographed as they wanted top money for it.

[BVit]

How did it go downhill? It's literally 99% perfect condition, a couple of tiny blemishes in the spoiler, but that's it. Any more info would be amazing, maybe a pm? Don't worry if you do not have the time What sort of price was top money? Very interested in more info, as we've been told it's quite possibly the second best one, but would, like I say, love to know more. Again don't worry if you don't have the time.

Many thanks, Ben.

[celsisone]

I disagree with this claim

The batch of cars consisted of four options:

Tahiti Blue with beige leather
Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with ash grey leather
Charcoal with ash grey leather.

.

From what i've seen and read i think they came in three variants

Tahiti Blue with ash grey leather
Nightfire red with cream/beige leather
Charcoal with cream/beige leather.

They do come as Tahiti Blue with cream leather. There are a few around.

The F.D.H coupe turbo that I have now is Tahiti Blue with Black leather with red piping. this was the factory spec. and was first registered in Dudley on the 03.08.98 LOL I have all the service history with it and the original paperwork.

[tyke71]

I have a imported model with paperwork and no arch ext on. Still got the flare holder and the colour is charcoal grey with grey and red trim seats and was reg in jan98. What information does the rcoc give you and do you have to pay for it.I am trying to find out how many are left.