Rozzer Shite

[Datsuncog]

Oof, I've a model of that there SD1.

Does indeed seem to have a rich and varied history, as well as an explanation given for the high ride height.

Nice that it's been preserved, I think for folks of a certain age the Big Rover's the ultimate in plodmobiles. They were never used locally here, but they're still my go-to icon whenever I think of a police car.

[horriblemercedes]

3 hours ago, Supernaut said:

The infamous (at least in the NE of Scotland) Grampian Police Rover SD1.

Bought due to Stonehaven getting a dual carriageway bypass, so they needed something quick to chase people down.

 

https://www.gtm.org.uk/exhibitions/gtm-permanent-collection/grampian-police-rover-sd1/

 

Interesting - I don't remember them having Rover on each side on that rear trim.

 

I remember 2300/2600/Vitesse/Vanden Plas (EFi) being on the right, but never Rover

 

[Supernaut]

21 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

Interesting - I don't remember them having Rover on each side on that rear trim.

 

I remember 2300/2600/Vitesse/Vanden Plas (EFi) being on the right, but never Rover

 

Well, I suppose it isn't really any of those trim levels. It's got a full-fat EFi 3500 V8 but is otherwise a base model. Proper Police spec.

[horriblemercedes]

10 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Well, I suppose it isn't really any of those trim levels. It's got a full-fat EFi 3500 V8 but is otherwise a base model. Proper Police spec.

I agree. I just wonder where they got that trim piece, unless it's one they did for police versions that I have never noticed

[JakeT]

This document is quite good. Written by an old copper about various Police Shite. From the start of motorway patrols up to around 2004/5 I think.

[Macscrooge]

On 9/13/2022 at 8:56 AM, cort1977 said:

Firstly, can I express my utmost delight that Mr. @Samuel_Pepys_Esq has made a return from the distant past to entertain us with his cheery epistles.

I have strong opinions on police cars because it's bad enough that all coppers appear to be about 12 years old these days but it adds insult to injury when they're driving some kind of Noddy car.  I want a proper machine driven by a proper copper with a big moustache and a line in sarcastic rhetorical questions 'do you know the speed limit for this stretch of road, Sir?'

Therefore, the only proper police cars are the Vitesse, Range Rover and the Volvo estates especially the 850 T5R.  My mate, whose family had a car dealership, claimed that the police ones of those had the boost turned up a bit but not sure i believe that because don't police value durability and idling for three hours more than outright speed?

With the Queen's passing there have been quite a few V90 estates around up here, a very welcome return to form by the peelers.

I’ve not seen any of these ‘new’ Volvos in Polis use. What engines did they buy?

[Macscrooge]

Not Polis or ex Polis but i once had a very entertaining drive from Dundee to Glasgow in a borrowed white SD1 3500. I kept the headlights on (in broad daylight) - it was like parting the Red Sea!  My dark blue Volvo 850 had a similar effect when South Yorkshire Polis had some on fleet. 

[Zie]

[808 Estate]

Snapped this outside the hotel when I was in the UAE a couple of years back.

[garethj]

Can’t talk about the police Rover SD1 without mentioning this dash through London 

 

[Pieman]

7 hours ago, JakeT said:

This document is quite good. Written by an old copper about various Police Shite. From the start of motorway patrols up to around 2004/5 I think.

That is bloody fascinating, thankyou for the link!

The M1 has only just been created, and on the other carriageway there is ALREADY someone sitting in the middle lane when the inside lane is empty!

[sierraman]

8 hours ago, garethj said:

Can’t talk about the police Rover SD1 without mentioning this dash through London 

 

I might watch that tonight over a cider. 

[Macscrooge]

11 hours ago, garethj said:

Can’t talk about the police Rover SD1 without mentioning this dash through London 

 

Exhausting just to watch!  

[cort1977]

14 hours ago, Macscrooge said:

I’ve not seen any of these ‘new’ Volvos in Polis use. What engines did they buy?

Don't know, never seen them up here before.  Don't know much about cars moderns but apparently these are avaliable as a T8 version with a turbo and supercharged hybrid system that puts out over 300hp.  You'd like to think someone with a sense of humour could have specced a few of those but they're probably diesels.

[eddyramrod]

Z (254×198)

An icon of my youth.  In the early 90s I met a retired copper who had worked Z Romeo 2 in the 60s, working the other side of the East Lancs Road that the Newtown boys allegedly worked.  His Z car was Goodwood Green...   He built a replica, using a civvy car in the right colour, with a period-correct Lancashire County registration, and I was privileged to have a ride in it one day.  I lost track of it after he died.  DTC 362B where are you now?

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, cort1977 said:

Don't know, never seen them up here before.  Don't know much about cars moderns but apparently these are avaliable as a T8 version with a turbo and supercharged hybrid system that puts out over 300hp.  You'd like to think someone with a sense of humour could have specced a few of those but they're probably diesels.

I hope they haven’t picked the XC60 2.0 diesel. Stop halfway through a pursuit to ‘add 500ml of oil’

[Macscrooge]

I spoke with a traffic officer a couple of years ago ( in my professional capacity, not his!). Apparently he and many of his colleagues really missed their V70s and S60s. The BMW 3-Series replacements were regarded as worryingly unstable at high speeds, especially when laden with all the shit these cars carry around. 

[reb]

14 hours ago, garethj said:

Can’t talk about the police Rover SD1 without mentioning this dash through London 

 

One of my favourite bits of film ever. The style of narration is something you don't see much in broadcast TV too. Excellent stuff.

[Pieman]

I used to love Police Camera Action - there's a playlist of episodes here:
 

 

[jon.k]

I remember the commentary and quips from police camera action even though it must be 25 years since I watched them on repeat as a kid. That first one you've linked has the transit trying to escape at 65 mph!

[ETCHY]

Some good chod on here & classic Police Range Rovers

 

[warren t claim]

@Lord Sterling

[808 Estate]

CNC up at Sellafield have a couple of Ovik Crossways, which are surprisingly big.

[warren t claim]

Does anyone else still remember the reg numbers of the unmarked cars of their youth?

 

Locally we had two unmarked Fiestas, D816THG was he burgundy one and E661DNN was the dark blue one. 

We also used to have an unmarked Vectra C PO54NVP.

[Noel Tidybeard]

in the West Midlands "back in the day" if you noticed an Allegro in your mirror with the reg starting NOF**** you knew it was CID

2.8i Sierror in low spec- didn't last as they kept crashing

Montego 2.0i base?

mates dad worked for ARG and told me ther may* have been some Maestro 2.0i base models in existance

[Dabooka]

On 9/13/2022 at 8:14 AM, Soundwave said:

Not very AS I know, but I love the Oop North forces' answer to hot hatch joyriders; a hot hatch of their own!

 

 

Humberside, Northumbria and a few other places had a string of Escort Cosworths, all fettled a bit by Ford Motorsport to various degrees. The later ones didn't have the whale-tail spoiler, which made them faster at the top end but apparently significantly less stable.

 

Back in my youth I used to all sorts of exciting things with these guys as part of a multi agency initiative with schools and so on, between the Rozzers, Captain Flack and us from the VAS taking on the role of the ambulance service. Think demos of patient extractions from car accidents with the roof being removed and other such nonsense. It was all jolly good japes.

I recall being at a school in Blyth doing this and me and my chum were chatting to the police in their RS, who told us they’d got a Cavalier twin turbo (?) on trial.  Apparently they put it up against the RS and his exact words were that ‘It came up on it like the Cozzie was going backwards’.  Knowing little of performance cars aside from watching the stolen ones being blattered about the West End of Newcastle, I had no reason to disbelieve him. 

I do know that they had a mix of motors including some Lancers at some point.  Apparently they also had an RS nicked from compound at North Shields before it got liveried up. 😆

[eddyramrod]

8 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Does anyone else still remember the reg numbers of the unmarked cars of their youth?

 

Locally we had two unmarked Fiestas, D816THG was he burgundy one and E661DNN was the dark blue one. 

We also used to have an unmarked Vectra C PO54NVP.

Not just me then...   In Southport in the early 80s we had a mk2 Escort Popular, same as the local pandas, except it was red and registered JUM 47V.  It struck me as odd that one of our local copcars was registered out of town (Leeds) and on a short plate too, so of course it stayed with me.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 9/15/2022 at 6:49 PM, Macscrooge said:

I’ve not seen any of these ‘new’ Volvos in Polis use. What engines did they buy?

Pesumably the 300 bhp would make most sense for the V60/90 Traffic cars. The Grey unmarked V60 that hunts on the M25- J12 stretch of the M1 seems pretty quick off the mark.

[gm]

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 

[reb]

They were using BMWs in the early 70s.