Dream cars: MG ZT 385

One genre of car that fascinates me is the 'sleeper' or 'Q car'. I just love the concept of a subtle and understated performance car that looks for all the world like an ordinary bread-and-butter model and doesn't shout about its power but can give other drivers quite a shock. A great example of such a sleeper is the V8-engined MG ZT 260 and I certainly wouldn't mind owning one of those, but since we're talking ultimate dream cars and don't have to be realistic, I'll go for the full-on but sadly stillborn supercharged ZT 385 to put in my fantasy garage instead.

It looks nothing special but appearances can be deceptive

The transformation of the retro-styled and rather old-fashioned Rover 75 into the sporty MG ZT was quite remarkable, but the V8 versions took things to another level. Although the wisdom of building such a car given MG Rover's financial state was dubious and has been extensively debated, the ZT 260 and 75 V8 became fully-fledged production models. The engine used in these was not the veteran Rover V8 but the 4.6-litre unit from the Ford Mustang, which in this naturally-aspirated form developed 260bhp. The other big difference under the skin was that it drove the rear wheels where the standard 75 and ZT were front-wheel-drive, yet these cars looked just like the lesser models, reputedly because developing the RWD conversion was so complex and costly it left no money in the budget for new bodywork - contrary to the popular myth, the 75/ZT was not based in any way on a BMW platform and couldn't just be reverted to its original layout.

The Rover 75, not the most obvious base for a performance car
(By Rudolf Stricker (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The ZT 385 would have been an even more extreme version to address criticism that the standard model wasn't as fast as might have been expected, with the addition of a Roush supercharger that upped the power output to a mighty 385bhp and created a formidable rival to the BMW M5 and AMG Mercedes range at a cost of around £40,000. It was far more than just a 260 with a supercharger bolted on and was substantially re-engineered; development work was initially outsourced to Prodrive but proved more difficult than anticipated and the intended launch date of late 2002 came and went. After it was taken back in-house, the 385 finally came close to production in 2005 but then fell victim to MGR going into administration and never made it to showrooms. A handful of running prototypes had been built and were on the road when the company folded, but what became of them is unknown.

That big blower gives the game away when you open the bonnet

A special version known as the XPower ZT 385 was prepared for motor show display to draw attention to the new model. This had a much more aggressive look than the ZT 260, with a wider track, heavily flared wheelarches, deep bumpers and a large rear spoiler, and was finished in MG's racing livery. I prefer the more subtle appearance of the prototypes that was virtually indistinguishable from the 260, and there was apparently much discussion over which look to go for on the production car. There are references to seemingly the same car having an even more highly-tuned 500bhp engine at one time so its exact history seems a little unclear and it may have gone through several incarnations as a show car.

The XPower car shouted a lot louder about its performance (Image: AROnline)

That rather garish saloon is now owned by the MG Owners' Club, but one other ZT 385 escaped from the Longbridge factory and it is this that I most covet as a sleeper. An Ignition Blue ZT-T estate version, it was built for MGR director John Edwards and is the closest thing to a production 385 in existence, being constructed on the assembly line as a 260 and then fitted with the supercharged engine by the factory to Mr Edwards's order. Being an estate makes it all the more appealing to me: not only is it more practical than the saloon but it's even more of a sleeper as such high performance just isn't expected from an estate car. It has come up for sale a few times over the years since the demise of MGR and is currently roadworthy and hopefully being enjoyed by its lucky owner. It's a practical family estate that can allegedly do almost 180mph once the limiter is removed and get to 60 in less than five seconds while looking like a standard 1.8-engined ZT-T!

Practical, unassuming and packing a surprising punch. The perfect sleeper.

MG has too obvious a sporting heritage so for the full sleeper effect and the element of surprise I would be tempted to turn my hypothetical ZT 385 into a Rover 75 with longship badges, chrome trim, the retro dashboard and maybe one of those crazy Personal Line interiors featuring dark green or aubergine leather. That would be the ultimate bruiser in an old man's clothing, but the noise would give it away as the V8 makes a glorious rumbling sound, further enhanced in the 385 by the whistle of the supercharger. Even better, there was a proposal for a Rover 75 Coupe, which the styling model showed to be an extremely handsome and classy design. Now if only they had put that into production and then dropped the supercharged V8 into it, that would be one hell of a car and would be even higher on my list of dream machines...

This handsome beast with a supercharged V8? Yes please! (Image: AROnline)

Thanks to PistonHeads.com and AROnline.co.uk for information and photographs used in this piece.