sierraman Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 I think they’d had a belly full of the ‘reliability’ of British cars by then do they went with Volvo etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 as a kid, i only remember seeing vauxhalls, fords and bl stuff, but there were a lot less foreign cars on the roads back in those days generally. Rover SD1 gets my vote eddyramrod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 2 hours ago, gm said: was there once a rule / guideline that the police should only buy cars that had been made in the uk ? obviously not the case anymore the earliest ‘foreign’ police cars i can think of would be the big traffic volvos The first foreign police car IIRC was indeed a Volvo but of a much earlier generation, an Amazon estate bought by Hampshire in 1965. It was extremely controversial at the time but a sign of things to come and so significant in police history that they've preserved one in their historic fleet. Here's some prime rozzer shite seen at the weekend, a 1.1 pov spec Metro. The owner reckoned a crim on a pushbike could outrun it. mk2_craig, eddyramrod and goosey 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsuncog Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 Surprised these haven't had a mention yet, amidst shite peelermobiles... I understand that a few UK forces trialled the new 'Big Talbot' after its launch, at PSA's insistence, but none reckoned they were worth taking onto their fleet long-term. I also found this intriguingly blurry image amidst the search results... Another big furreign car that didn't get much of a look-in against the Grannies and Rovers. Dick Longbridge, Faker, mk2_craig and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six-cylinder Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 3 hours ago, gm said: was there once a rule / guideline that the police should only buy cars that had been made in the uk ? obviously not the case anymore the earliest ‘foreign’ police cars i can think of would be the big traffic volvos I was caught speeding in 1987 on the A34 Hampshire by a BMW E28 5 series. A friend bought the car in the photo when it was decommissioned. In about 1987 Volvo UK had a Police demonstration, a 740 Turbo manual saloon in white with all the trimmings. When it was no longer needed as a Police demonstrator dealers were allowed to borrow it for promotional work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradders59 Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 I fitted a pair of ex police car front struts and springs to the front of my Omega Elite a few years ago. It transformed the handling of the car completely, without making the ride harsh in any way. I cant think of any good reason why that spec of springs / dampers wasnt fitted to retail spec cars across the range. I would like to do the same on the rear, but finding the parts is like searching for a hens tooth in a pile of rocking horse shit. And if they ever do come up for sale people often want silly money for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red5 Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 On 9/27/2022 at 3:21 PM, Bradders59 said: I fitted a pair of ex police car front struts and springs to the front of my Omega Elite a few years ago. It transformed the handling of the car completely, without making the ride harsh in any way. I cant think of any good reason why that spec of springs / dampers wasnt fitted to retail spec cars across the range. I would like to do the same on the rear, but finding the parts is like searching for a hens tooth in a pile of rocking horse shit. And if they ever do come up for sale people often want silly money for them. How old is the Omega? A lot is Irmscher/Bilstein spec stuff - eg Senators were fitted with Carlton Gsi suspension and so on... warren t claim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniMinorMk3 Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 Leyland Worldmaster, eddyramrod, warren t claim and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradders59 Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 2 hours ago, red5 said: How old is the Omega? A lot is Irmscher/Bilstein spec stuff - eg Senators were fitted with Carlton Gsi suspension and so on... Its a 2002 3.2 Elite. Should have mentioned, I have also fitted Monaro top mounts to the front struts and polybushed the front anti roll bar. Just need to uprate the rear a bit more and it should out handle my Boxster. 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J R Hartley Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 grogee, garethj, MiniMinorMk3 and 6 others 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DVee8 Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 A couple of months ago I spotted a Cupra Formentor unmarked car with a slim light-bar across the roof. Heading into Newcastle. I bet this would give you a canny run for your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymous user Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 Saw a marked up Tesla in Bridgend recently, no idea if it is on trial or on the fleet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 15 hours ago, anonymous user said: Saw a marked up Tesla in Bridgend recently, no idea if it is on trial or on the fleet This one? It's a demonstrator that's doing the rounds. AFAIK it's still the only police Tesla in the country as no force has yet been brave enough to buy any. LightBulbFun 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb Posted November 5, 2022 Author Share Posted November 5, 2022 Bridgend in Wales? That's where my old office is. Not that I ever went there. EyesWeldedShut and eddyramrod 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.E Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 warren t claim, J R Hartley, AnnoyingPentium and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniMinorMk3 Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 Dick Longbridge, grogee, Shite Ron and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shampooefficient Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 On 11/4/2022 at 4:54 PM, Bradders59 said: Its a 2002 3.2 Elite. Should have mentioned, I have also fitted Monaro top mounts to the front struts and polybushed the front anti roll bar. Just need to uprate the rear a bit more and it should out handle my Boxster. 😂 Mine is on Bilstein B4s and Eibach springs and it handles silly well for a big old bus. 2003 ex plod, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J R Hartley Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 Hang on, we've got five pages in without the most iconic police car. I give you.... grogee, LightBulbFun, Rightnider and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyesWeldedShut Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 39 minutes ago, J R Hartley said: Hang on, we've got five pages in without the most iconic police car. I give you.... Ahhh - yes, we had those. Met, early 1980's. Twin headlight, 1750 automatics as the 'CID' car ' - I'm pretty sure the crims spotted them a mile off, especially as they were pretty much all painted beige or a sort of French navy colour. Panda-wise as in the image - last one I saw was around 1988 at Chiswick, 1300 (Super?) square steering wheel job used as the 'message car' i.e. if nothing else would roll out the gate - that's your steed. Had about 1/10th of the mileage compared to the 'superior' Metros garethj and J R Hartley 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniMinorMk3 Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 warren t claim and reb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shampooefficient Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 21 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said: Had about 1/10th of the mileage compared to the 'superior' Metros You know you've lowered your standards when a pov spec Metro becomes the appealing option... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Charm Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 On 27/09/2022 at 11:28, reb said: They were using BMWs in the early 70s. And apparently trialling a VW Beetle panda car in 1970! The number can't be an accident! VW Beetles were not, alas, adopted by any British police forces. Dick Longbridge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goosey Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 On 9/27/2022 at 2:11 PM, quicksilver said: The first foreign police car IIRC was indeed a Volvo but of a much earlier generation, an Amazon estate bought by Hampshire in 1965. It was extremely controversial at the time but a sign of things to come and so significant in police history that they've preserved one in their historic fleet. Here's some prime rozzer shite seen at the weekend, a 1.1 pov spec Metro. The owner reckoned a crim on a pushbike could outrun it. Apparently the Police had issues with the Metro fuel caps leaking fuel onto the rear tyre during heavy cornering, which caused them to lose grip and spin. was told this by a mate of mines dad who was a Traffic Cop many years ago, so not sure if there’s any truth to it Barry Cade 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffcortinacentre Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Yes this was a problem with all of them which led to relocation higher up . goosey and Barry Cade 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.E Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 CreepingJesus and Dick Longbridge 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuboy Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 31 minutes ago, goosey said: Apparently the Police had issues with the Metro also they was known to suffer tremendous brake fade, so naughty people would force the force to brake a lot knowing they give up risking a crash goosey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Jetter Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 2 hours ago, Missy Charm said: And apparently trialling a VW Beetle panda car in 1970! The number can't be an accident! VW Beetles were not, alas, adopted by any British police forces. I had a Corgi model, with steering controlled by twiddling the blue beacon on the roof. Can't remember the livery though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 9 hours ago, stuboy said: also they was known to suffer tremendous brake fade, so naughty people would force the force to brake a lot knowing they give up risking a crash The metro would have had trouble keeping up with someone on foot! In the mid 90’s, knowing most of the pursuit cars had airbags, the joyriders would just reverse in to the front, at worst taking out the radiator, at best immobilising it when the bag went off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riek Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 The local police station where i grew up had a Mk4 escort popular that survived past the arrival of their first focuses. It seemed to get used mainly for popping round to see old dears who complained a lot. Brodders 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard_FM Posted November 7, 2022 Share Posted November 7, 2022 On 11/5/2022 at 8:50 PM, EyesWeldedShut said: Ahhh - yes, we had those. Met, early 1980's. Twin headlight, 1750 automatics as the 'CID' car ' - I'm pretty sure the crims spotted them a mile off, especially as they were pretty much all painted beige or a sort of French navy colour. Panda-wise as in the image - last one I saw was around 1988 at Chiswick, 1300 (Super?) square steering wheel job used as the 'message car' i.e. if nothing else would roll out the gate - that's your steed. Had about 1/10th of the mileage compared to the 'superior' Metros I heard the Met had all the ones for front line use fitted with round steering wheels from Marinas. Supposedly some unmarked police cars were easy to spot because the registrations were in the same blocks as the patrol cars, I'm sure this was eventually noticed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now