Category: Police > Classic

This 1986 car saw service in the Tameside area of Manchester based at Ashton-under-Lyne between 1986 and 1989. The car was disposed of by the force when it entered civilian life. The car has had a number of private owners until it was discovered and a full restoration began in 2018 to reinstate it to its police livery.

Used by the National Emergency Services Museum at Sheffield

This P38 Range Rover was one of a small fleet of police demonstrators loaned by Land Rover to various UK forces. It was then sold to the Met in 1997 and used until 2003 as a traffic car. It is seen here prior to the original livery being restored.

This replica vehicle was a dog unit. The van had two-tone horns fitted when most other vehicles at the time still used a bell. Each dog handler had their own vehicle that they customised to their liking. The car has a 1.1 litre engine producing 48 bhp.

This 1980s traffic car has been expertly and perfectly restored back to factory condition by James Wade. When the automotive engineering graduate bought the car in 2012 it was in a poor state. Incalculable hours and a lot of money later, it was a star of the show at Birmingham's NEC classic car show in 2018.

Police Mobile Column from 1966. This is the only preserved mobile police column vehicle still on the road. The description refers to its use in the Cold War civil defence force that was intended to patrol the UK in the event of a nuclear attack. It was delivered to the Home Office in 1967 but the force was disbanded a year later and the Gipsy was passed to Hampshire Police. After some use, it was superseded by the Ford Transit and so went into storage. After passing through a few private hands, it returned to the UK from Ireland in 2016 and underwent re-liverying back into its original 1966/7 livery. It has never been restored! The interior is totally original and the vehicle has covered less than 6,000 miles in its long life. It is even still using the original exhaust. It is a real time-warp vehicle.

In great condition when seen in 2018 when it was for sale

The car has its blue lights and police markings covered up as it arrives at a car show. Notice the hand-held sign in the rear asking drivers to 'follow me'

This model Cortina shows what was in use in Herts in the late 1970s. All five generations of Cortina gave sterling service to many Police forces during the model's twenty year production life, which ended in 1982. The car modelled was used as a Divisional Area Car and was based at Hitchin Police Station. In common with other Hertfordshire Constabulary vehicles it carried dual roof mounted spotlights as well as the equipment required to deal with a variety of emergency situations. All the constabulary's Divisional Area Cars were ordered in blue to distinguish them from the force's traffic patrol units, which were white.

This model is an example of the vehicles used by the MOD in 1995. It has a 2.0 litre engine producing 134 bhp and a maximum speed of 125mph. The 0-60 mph time is 9.0secs.

The 'Police Special' version of Jaguar's 4.0 litre XJ6 model. The car joined Staffs Police from new in 1993. It later moved to be used by the driving training unit before moving to front-line duties as a traffic car. The rear seats were taken out when it was used as a traffic car as the boot was not big enough to accommodate the kit that was carried. The seats were later reinstated so the vehicle could be used to carry detainees. It was the first video car on the central traffic group. It definitely had rear seats but also had a VHS video recorder in the boot as it was in the early days of video cars. The car has been in preservation since 2003.

This vehicle was new in 1994 when it was part of Land Rover's police demonstrator fleet. After being passed around a number of forces, it found a permanent home withy the Met Police in 1997 as part of the Special Escort Group. Its most famous moment was escorting Princess Diana's funeral cortege in 1997. It left police service in 2002.

This model shows some of the standard features such as one wing mirror, and a wailer siren and bell mounted on the front.

The 1970 vehicle was used to drive from Lands End to John O'Groats in 2017 for charity

The super-fast version of the standard Ford Cortina.

This ex-SYP PSU has been passed over to the National Emergency Services Museum and now carries wording to say this

Dating from 1952, this car is believed to be the second such vehicle purchased by the Met. It was bought by the National Emergency Services Museum in 2017

Dating from 1976 and now preserved and part of the fleet of the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield

Communications unit from the 1990s

Riot van dating from 1978. Preserved and part of the fleet of the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield

Preserved and part of the fleet of the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield