Happy birthday R8

2019 has been a good year for milestones in the British Leyland enthusiast community. Most famously of course the Mini is celebrating 60 years, I've already paid tribute to 50 years of the Maxi, and the Land Rover Discovery appeared 30 years ago. Also celebrating its 30th birthday is a lesser-appreciated but very significant car in the company's history, the R8 Rover 200-series, which made its debut on 11th October 1989. It became one of the UK's best-selling cars of the 1990s and even won a Car of the Year award, thus proving once and for all that the Rover Group was indeed capable of building good cars. For that, its coming of age as a classic is well-deserved.

30 years young, five of the oldest survivors gathered