J.K. Starley made history in 1885 by producing the Rover safety bicycle—a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high-wheel designs.

Cycling Magazine said the Rover had "set the pattern to the world"; the phrase was used in their advertising for many years.

The words for "bicycle" in Polish (rower) and Belarusian (ро́вар, rovar) are derived from the name of the company.

In 1899 John Starley imported some of the early Peugeot motorcycles from France in for experimental development.

This was a 3.5 hp diamond-framed motorcycle with the engine in the centre and 'springer' front forks which was ahead of its time.

[3] This first Rover motorcycle had innovative features such as a spray carburettor, bottom-bracket engine and mechanically operated valves.

With a strong frame with double front down tubes and a good quality finish, over a thousand Rover motorcycles were sold in 1904.

The following year, however, Rover stopped motorcycle production to concentrate on their 'safety bicycle' but in 1910 designer John Greenwood was commissioned to develop a new 3.5 hp 500 cc engine with spring-loaded tappets, a Bosch magneto and an innovative inverted tooth drive chain.

He was eventually replaced by Owen Clegg, who joined from Wolseley in 1910 and set about reforming the product range.

Searle was by training a locomotive engineer with motor industry experience at Daimler and, most recently, had been managing director of Imperial Airways.

This was the Rover Scarab with a rear-mounted V-twin-cylinder air-cooled engine announced in 1931, a van version was shown at Olympia, but it did not go into production.

Frank Searle and Spencer Wilks set about reorganising the company and moving it upmarket to cater for people who wanted something "superior" to Fords and Austins.

[7] Building on successes such as beating the Blue Train for the first time in 1930 in the Blue Train Races, the Wilks Brothers established Rover as a company with several European royal, aristocratic, and governmental warrants, and upper-middle-class and star clients.

[10] In the late 1930s, in anticipation of the potential hostilities that would become the Second World War, the British government started a rearmament programme, and as part of this, "shadow factories" were built.

The original main works at Helen Street, Coventry, was severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1941 and never regained full production.

After the Second World War, the company abandoned Helen Street and bought the two shadow factories.

Acocks Green carried on for a while, making Meteor engines for tanks such as the Centurion and Conqueror, and Solihull became the new centre for vehicles, with production resuming in 1947.

[17] In 1945, Rover hired engineers Frank Bell and Spen King away from Rolls-Royce to assist Maurice Wilks in the development of automotive gas turbines.

[18] By 1949, the team developed a turbine that ran at 55,000 rpm,[18] produced more than 100 horsepower (75 kW),[19] and could run on petrol, paraffin, or diesel oil.

[20] In March 1950, Rover showed the JET1 prototype, the first car powered with a gas turbine engine, to the public.

[21] JET1, an open two-seat tourer, had the engine positioned behind the seats, air intake grilles on either side of the car,[22] and exhaust outlets on the top of the tail.

[30] Rover and the BRM Formula One team joined forces to produce the Rover-BRM, a gas turbine-powered sports prototype that entered the 1963 24 hours of Le Mans, driven by Graham Hill and Richie Ginther.

Experimental projects were undertaken to improve the engine's power delivery, running qualities, and fuel tolerances.

British Army requirements led to the development of a multifuel version of the 2.25-litre variant of the engine in 1962, which could run on petrol, diesel, Jet-A, or kerosene.

Rover was also working on the P8 project which aimed to replace the existing P5 large saloon with a modern design similar in concept to a scaled-up P6.

This also used the ex-Buick V8 engine as well as the P6's innovative safety-frame body structure design and features such as permanent four-wheel drive and all-round disc brakes.