Late registration madness

[horriblemercedes]

On 11/05/2026 at 08:41, Missy Charm said:

Sounds about right, although I can't really comment given we were bound by the following extract from the Essex Police staff handbook:

Chief Constable's Ordnance 98/5/22; Subsection 5 (b): all employees must hereby note that all Vauxhalls are s**t (AVAS) .  Those graded mark 'merit' or higher in Staff Aptitude Test will know such already.  Those with differing beliefs are required to attend re-education course 'Ford appreciation' at Boreham Airfield and chant 'Ford is best' thirty times a night before bed for two consecutive quarters.

Police drivers must:

1. Refuse to drive any Vauxhall.

2. Laugh uproariously and/or pull over on spurious grounds at any member of the public observed driving whilst in Vauxhall.

3. Learn the phrase, 'it's an SVO Cosworth Mondeo prototype that was too fast to be a touring car so they sold it to me via a secret auction' and repeat it in the pub whilst off duty.  

Poor old Vauxhall actually gave the force a free police-spec Astra once, as inducement to join the dark side.  All we got were complaints about the seats being too hard and the engine being less powerful than the one in the Focus.  

Pretty specific example though. They sold absolute shitloads of Vectras, Astras and other models to many police forces.

[horriblemercedes]

On 11/05/2026 at 08:46, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Not one of those has survived... 😳

I had one 10 years ago. It was only 10 years old at the time and was ok, but it had had a hard life. I think these V6 Turbo Vectras (basically VXRs in SRi trim and with Zafira alloys) were intended to be driven hard, and they were.

 

A cousin is/was a traffic policeman in West Midlands and he always says how fond he and his colleagues were of them.

[Lonestar]

17 hours ago, MantaGTE85 said:

Remarkably, I even remember the reg of that particular van because I'm sad - G97TFW if any of you are in a look-it-up mood.

Couldn't resist looking it up. It kept going until it failed its MOT miserably in 2018.

[MantaGTE85]

Yes, it has the 'grey bar of death' against it on the DVLA main site, so to end up scrapped at 28, it's done incredibly well.

It must have been super-fucked for at least 10 years prior, looking at its MOT test in 2010, after which point someone just kept it limping along like Albert Arkwright's 'Mobile Store' ice-cream-van until 2018.

[Lonestar]

Pinched from the Practical Classics Facebook page.

An imported Opel Astra F on a 51 plate.

[Noah Davies]

could this be a late one?

Its Registered In 2004 However (Would Of Been AN 04 REG One Somewhere)

[MantaGTE85]

I always quite liked the Shumas. Very good spot, I've not seen one for at least the last ten years.

[Noah Davies]

Extreamly Late VW LTs!!!

 

Alot Of 57 Ones And One 07 One!!!

 

[Noah Davies]

Edit Theres Another07 One!!

 

[500tops]

Spotted this today at the Tavistock Steam Fair 

[Noah Davies]

A Sister Moment On This Audi A2

WG55 And HJ55

And Both Has HHA At The End!!!

Thats What I Like To Call It Twins!!!!

[Noah Davies]

a 69 REG C-MAX!!!

Cant Be Many Of These Around On 69s

[Noah Davies]

THERES NO WAY A FORD GALAXY ENDED ON A 24 REG PLATE!!!!!

Most Of The Others Were On 23s And No 73 Ones

[Noah Davies]

02 REG MK1 CORSA!!!!

 

[Noah Davies]

WHAT IS THIS!!!!

57 REG MK5 TRANSIT!!!!

[Noah Davies]

62 REG Ford Fusion!!!!

[lesapandre]

13 hours ago, 500tops said:

Spotted this today at the Tavistock Steam Fair 

Clubman Countryman was in production to end 1982 - a few probably lingered in showrooms into 1983 or even '84.

Y reg is August 1982 -July 1983 so that Mini must be one of these last sold.

Sundym tinted glass which was an option.

Van shape was introduced 1960. Press dies must have been been pretty fragged by 1982.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Clubman Countryman was in production to end 1982 - a few probably lingered in showrooms into 1983 or even '84.

Y reg is August 1982 -July 1983 so that Mini must be one of these last sold.

Sundym tinted glass which was an option.

Van shape was introduced 1960. Press dies must have been been pretty fragged by 1982.

Yeabbut, next to it!

[lesapandre]

Austin or Morris Suntor camper van 👍

In the usual BMC madness the base vans were badged as both to keep the dealer network(s) happy.

In production to 1972 - based on an Austin car introduced in 1954.

[quicksilver]

5 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Austin or Morris Suntor camper van 👍

In the usual BMC madness the base vans were badged as both to keep the dealer network(s) happy.

A60 van, another example of a commercial that carried on long past its sell-by date. A fifties design made until about 1971/72 so they look like late registration madness even when they're not.

[lesapandre]

6 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

A60 van, another example of a commercial that carried on long past its sell-by date. A fifties design made until about 1971/72 so they look like late registration madness even when they're not.

Like the A35 van made until 1968 - when the car stopped production in 1959 and was based on a 1951 design.

[adw1977]

6 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Like the A35 van made until 1968 - when the car stopped production in 1959 and was based on a 1951 design.

At which point it was replaced by an Austin badged Morris Minor van, based on a 1948 design!

[Brodders]

On 08/05/2026 at 19:59, Missy Charm said:

No, the cars were bought complete and registered -- albeit in police specification* -- from the dealer and then went to the converter to be fitted with the police-specific bits.  For a Focus estate, which was the ordinary patrol car in my day, the rig out wasn't actually that complicated.  It effectively consisted of fitment of a fixed steel-mesh bulkhead between the passenger compartment and boot area, replacement of the car radio with a police Airwave set, the affixing of a light bar to the roof and the application of police graphics to the exterior.  Oh, and some had a siren!  There were some other fiddly bits, too, such as a hands-free radio mike for the driver, a telephone receiver attachment on the passenger side (also connected to the same radio) and a 'run lock', which was a sort of reverse immobilizer device that allowed one to switch off the ignition and take the keys out whilst forcing the engine to continue to run at idle -- such things were necessary in the old days to keep the lights going whilst the car was being used as a roadblock or similar.  The pre-LED lightbars had electric motors in to spin the reflectors and big, power-hungry bulbs.  

*for the Focus, that was a 1.8 turbo-diesel engine, white paint, steel wheels (mostly) and 'handling kit'.  Nobody seemed to know what the handling kit was.  

Sorry for wandering far off topic.  

Only just seen this, but that's pretty much the spec of the Ex-Suffolk one I had, right down to the bulkhead and run lock. Never realised it had a "handling kit" but it was nippy enough and is probably in the top three of my favourite cars I've owned (put over 15k on it in the year I had it, including a trip to the Czech Republic and West Coast of Ireland .)

[Noah Davies]

8 hours ago, Brodders said:

Only just seen this, but that's pretty much the spec of the Ex-Suffolk one I had, right down to the bulkhead and run lock. Never realised it had a "handling kit" but it was nippy enough and is probably in the top three of my favourite cars I've owned (put over 15k on it in the year I had it, including a trip to the Czech Republic and West Coast of Ireland .)

there is a sister of the ex suffolk police BUP i found on flickr

 

[Missy Charm]

21 hours ago, Brodders said:

Only just seen this, but that's pretty much the spec of the Ex-Suffolk one I had, right down to the bulkhead and run lock. Never realised it had a "handling kit" but it was nippy enough and is probably in the top three of my favourite cars I've owned (put over 15k on it in the year I had it, including a trip to the Czech Republic and West Coast of Ireland .)

Yes, that's it.  Only real differences are that the Essex cars didn't have that elaborate lion-cage construction in the boot -- they just had the vertical bulkhead behind the back seat -- and the dashboard of your one looks even more hacked about than that of the average squad car.  It's possible that they didn't do the best job whilst decommissioning!  

Another thing worth noting is the hole in the front bumper.  I suspect it was there to provide an attachment point for some sort of blue repeater flasher.  The Essex cars didn't have those, either, but they did have front fog lights.  Having lived in the south of the county, I can see why!  For some reason, one still encounters real pea-soupers in rural South Essex.  

[MantaGTE85]

On 31/05/2026 at 21:37, lesapandre said:

Clubman Countryman was in production to end 1982 - a few probably lingered in showrooms into 1983 or even '84.

Y reg is August 1982 -July 1983 so that Mini must be one of these last sold.

Sundym tinted glass which was an option.

Van shape was introduced 1960. Press dies must have been been pretty fragged by 1982.

It's a 998 engine as well. When did BL decide to fit the 998 to these? I thought the longer Clubman-fronted Minis were at least 1100s! This would be the 'yellow-block' A+ Series 998 by that point, no? 

[High Jetter]

A+ was Metro tho? You could get Clubman GT in 1275 form, thought they were 1098 otherwise by then - but my memory is unreliable

[Noah Davies]

wait a minute....

theres no way this twingo got an 07 reg plate

and its LHD so its an import

 

found on autotrader

[aotb]

They were built up to mid 2007 and all were LHD. 

[Noah Davies]

hold up that got a 57 REG
after the new shape came