The SD1 Estate

Production of the SD1 was in full swing. The design department were now working on an estate version named the Hold-All.
It was thought that an estate car would appeal to the management classes who were already buying Volvo estate cars and the like. At this time, finances were very tight. This meant it would have to be outsourced.

The final design had been approved and Carbodies of Coventry were commissioned to produce a clay buck for evaluation.

The clay buck was approved by the board and gave permission to pursue the project further. Rover now brought the project back in-house, and converted two SD1’s into estate cars: LOE 99P and SHP 549R.
British Leyland boss Michael Edwardes saw the SD1 Hold-All in the proto-type department and realised that it was basically complete, he acquired it himself as daily transport. This was SHP 549R.