Little i knew about UK police cars until i stumbled across this picture on the internet some time ago.
Now that is interesting, the UK police making wise choices when it comes to selecting their patrol cars?
DVLA says: Tax due: 01 July 1987, it didn't have a long life...
A bit more searching found this:
Obviously, this reliable, fast and comfortable means of transportation "made in France" had been selected to tackle the police challenges of the early 1980's.
The hunt for more information was now on, first stop, the name on the bottom of the second image.
Turned out, James Burns is an ex police officer and a very nice chap who sent us this kind message:
Hi Peter / Michael
I was interested in the Police Tagora because it was very unusual at the time. The photo which you already have shows the Police demonstrator which travelled about being evaluated by different Police Forces in the UK. At one point the car was used in Glasgow for a few weeks around 1983 before going to Cumbria Police for a few weeks after that. I heard that it was then bought by Northumbria Police , ( as you know they apparently had others ). Despite my best efforts over the years I have never managed to obtain photos of the other Tagora cars at Northumbria. I was in the Police myself for 31 years and I had some friends in Northumbria Police Traffic Dept search but we never had any luck. The car wasnt very well liked but in Glasgow they had a large Chrysler factory which was bought over by Talbot making the sunbeam. That factory closed and all Talbot production moved away. That may have been a reason why Talbots were not bought.
The new Photo was taken when the same demo car went to Cumbria Police for trial. It was taken by a friend Andy Hunton who was with Cumbria. I realise though Andy doesnt have any further information about the car except it left them and went to Northumbria. If I get any more info or luck with photos I will let you know
Best Wishes from Scotland
Jim Burns
A search through old newspaper archives found this in a 1983 Autocar issue.
May 1983? That was about the time the Tagora went out of production.
The Talbot factory archives revealed this:
100 cars / year to be produced with police specs, V6 engine, grey plastic seats.
The images indeed show metric steel TRX made just for that purpose, wonder if any remain.
To be commericalised "as soon as possible".
I thought, this is the full story until a few days ago another image was found.
A second police Tagora, with two very sceptical proud officers.
Now the hunt for more details to the story is on again.
Who can help?
This car has a seal on the door, which police force this is?
What does the registration starting with HWU stand for. Wikipedia says isle of Wight?
Anything else the combined autoshite wisdom can add to the story?
Thanks!
Peter & Michael