Rover finally closed its doors at Longbridge 10 years ago but there will always be people who will love the cars this iconic factory produced.

Here are just a few who have dedicated their lives to lovingly restoring and maintaining their Rovers and Austins

Henry Morgan and his Austin A35

Henry Morgan bought his Austin A35 straight from Longbridge in 1957 – and still drives it today!

It cost him £575 and 12 shillings and he and his wife Brenda drove it 700 miles to and from Lands End on their honeymoon in 1964.

It remained as the family car for 20 years then was stored away in a shed for two decades.

Ten years ago, Henry restored his precious car, with the help of fellow enthusiast Robin Wilson.

“There are 130,000 miles on the engine in total,” says Henry, who is now 80 and lives in mid-Wales.

“I’ve always loved it. I drive around the town, picking up my groceries and everyone waves, people know me in my Austin.

“Sometimes I pick my grandson Max, 10, up from school in it and he likes showing it off to his mates.

“I’ve promised my other grandson Ewan, 15, that I’ll teach him how to drive it in a couple of years time.

“My granddaughters like to come to the car shows with me too.

“Sadly I lost my wife 17 years ago to cancer so I’m lucky to have my family around me.

“It was always my dream to restore our A35 because we had so many happy memories in it.”

Robin Wilson and his 1906 Rover

Robin Wilson became interested in classic Rovers quite by chance when he went to an auction to buy a pedal car for his 15-month-old daughter Libby.

He came away with a 1906 green Rover 6hp instead, having fallen in love with the 109 year old car which badly needed some TLC.

“The pedal car sold for far too much money but there was an old Rover that had just been found in Ireland available that hadn’t been listed in the catalogue,” says Robin, 62 and from Droitwich.

“It was one of the first Rovers ever made, open top, Edwardian two-seater with wooden wheels and nickel plated oil lamps, 25mph at best. It was complete but looked like it hadn’t be running for at least 10 years.

“I decided it was a rather nice old car and came out and said to my wife Cheryl ‘you see that old green thing on the end of that row? I’ve just bought it.’

“That received a mixed reaction!”

Robin spent the next 10 years restoring it back to its former glory.

Having been an engineer for 40 years, and worked at Longbridge from 1985 to 2000 where he rose to chief engineer, he had the necessary experience but he still ran into difficulties.

“Ninety per cent of the work was done in the first two years,” explains Robin, who also has an old Austin 8 Tourer from 1939 which he is working on.

“But the engine block was cracked. You can’t just go into a garage and ask for an engine block for a 1906 car.

“It was coming up to the car’s 100th birthday and I decided it was do or die really. A lot of the black arts of car manufacturing from those days have been lost.

“Whilst I project managed it all, I couldn’t do the casting myself but I found a man in south Wales who worked on architectural casting projects and he managed to build it for me.”

The car was used as Libby’s wedding car seven years ago when her new husband David drove her from the church to the reception in the beautifully-restored Rover.

“It sort of squared the circle that, having never bought her that pedal car, she used the Rover for her wedding,” smiles Robin, whose son Edward has helped him work on an old Triumph TR3.

“She turned 30 this year which shows how long I’ve had the car.

“Cheryl enjoys club events, for her it’s more of a social thing.”

When it became clear Longbridge had to close, Robin was offered the chance to join Landrover, where he remained until retiring six years ago. He finds it sad that the MD of the time John Towers became embroiled in the pensions scandal.

“John Towers was a brilliant managing director in the 1980s, very inspirational.

“It’s a shame greed got the better of him because that wasn’t the man he was at all.”

Robin now works in manufacturing for the UK Innovation Agency.

“I now work on cutting edge technology so it’s a nice antidote to that to be working on a car that is 100 years old.

“It’s the simplicity of old cars that I love. The feeling that they were new in an era when my dad was born, that this was what the novel thing was like back then.

“It’s not a nostalgia thing, I don’t want to just recreate a car for the sake of it but more to get the experience of what life was like then.

“For me, as a professional engineer, the difference between a 1906 Rover and a 2015 Discovery is incredible in just 100 years.”

Danny Archer and his 17 Rovers

Danny Archer is known as the ‘Roverman’ by his friends and neighbours.

He’s been a fan of Rover cars ever since the company launched their P6 model back in 1963.

Since then he has owned 17 Rovers – a dozen of which he used for spares to make five classics.

“I remember when the P6 was launched I used to look go and look at it all illuminated in the showroom,” recalls Danny, 74 and from Stourport-on-Severn.

“I had to wait six years before I could buy one.

“It was red and I kept it for 11 years. I wish I’d never sold it, the first one really sticks in your mind, but it was my daily driver and was starting to have problems so it wasn’t worth spending a lot of money to keep it going.”

Next, Danny bought a V8, which he kept for 21 years, notching up a whopping 275,000 miles on the clock.

Then, in 1996, he stumbled upon a blue 1974 3500S as a barn find, which had been left untouched for 13 years.

“I spent every weekend and evening for a month working on it with a friend so it could pass its MOT,” explains Danny, who currently owns a Rover 75.

“I ran it for two or three years then it started to show small problems with age and wear. I wanted it to be reliable so one Christmas, I was looking for something to do and so I stripped it down.

“I thought it would take 18 months max but I ended up spending 10 years working on that car on and off.

“I’ve had it nearly 20 years now.”

Danny’s family have understandably become involved in Rover club meetings and events. His daughter Beth, 40, is one of the local Rover P6 Club organisers.

Beth, who is mum to Caitlin, 11, adds: “Dad has been known as the Roverman for years where they live.

“He has fixed and worked on a number of cars all his life for friends and relatives.”

Now, Danny’s hobby has turned into his job as he works at a classic car restoration garage.

“I used to go into the garage and get work done and they asked me if I’d be interested in some part time work,” says Danny, who used to be a milling machinist.

“I really enjoy it.

“I’ve always loved Rovers because I felt, compared to other cars, they were well engineered and they looked good.

“It was sad when Longbridge closed but you could see it coming. It was a shame as they had a really good product at the end, which should have flourished.”