[1] Equipment in the Paris body included: leather upholstery, five lamps, two electric horns, eight-day clock, automatic screen wiper, roof ventilator and lamp, companions, rear blind controllable from the driver’s seat, folding luggage grid etc.
Priced at a 12 per cent premium it came with a sliding roof, bumpers (buffers) front and rear, safety glass, vacuum servo braking, two spare wheels and special mats.
[10] The correspondent of The Times reported the smooth and quiet steel saloon would reach 46 mph on the straight.
[11] In February 1932 "following a reorganisation of the company's management"[note 2] Rover announced strengthening of the Family Ten chassis by using heavier gauge material and re-designed cross members to improve torsional rigidity.
These improvements were, they said, the outcome of lengthy testing on New Zealand's and Australia's roughest roads carried out to make the cars suitable for overseas use.
[12] An all new chassis with four speed gearbox, freewheel, automatic restart, bigger brakes, automatic clutch spiral bevel final drive and other facilities for the driver but bearing the same Pressed Steel body and, for the moment, the same engine was announced in July 1932.
[10] The engine was now supported at just three not four points using special rubber insulation to control noise and vibration.
Startix was activated when the ignition was switched on and, in addition, operated automatically if the engine stalled.
The new change-speed system meant gears might be changed after a slight easing of the accelerator without using the clutch yet making no noise.
Special plant was installed at Rover's works to spray the inside of all body panels with asbestos to ensure quietness fire-proofing etc and insulation from extremes of heat and cold.
Body joints received treatment to avoid squeaks and the doors were fitted with silencers[13] "Specialised bodies by leading coach builders" available on all chassis, ordered from The Rover Company The 1933 10 announced in the autumn of 1933[15][16] was really a new car with new underslung chassis and new 1389 cc engine.
The car was relatively expensive at GBP238 - the Austin 10 was GBP168 - and reflected the new company policy of moving upmarket rather than chasing volume.
The engine was flexibly mounted in the chassis to reduce vibration and a freewheel device was fitted to help gear changing on the non-synchromesh gearbox and save fuel, a 15% improvement in economy was claimed.
[19] The chassis was slightly modified getting an extra half inch (12 mm) in the wheelbase and the engine got a new cylinder head increasing power from 44 to 48 bhp.