Ant Anstead - Cops and Robbers

The Rootes Group, usually using their Hillman badge on smaller cars and Humber on larger cars, produced some ideal cars to fulfil the role, especially with its Hunter and Minx saloons. For a decade from 1966, the company produced this solid four-door saloon with a 1725cc motor capable of achieving 95mph. It had dependable handling and was a tough and solid car. It was everything an area car should be, and those officers who once crewed them remember them with a fondness not afforded to other cars. Many forces utilised the Hunter and its round-headlight twin the Minx, including the Sheffield and Rotherham Constabulary, Durham, Hampshire, Surrey, the British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police. Developed under the internal code ‘Arrow’, the Hunter range is often forgotten now but it achieved an enormous amount in its quiet understated way, not just with the police. Not only did Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle win the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon in one, but it also remained in production, latterly only as a pick-up, until 2015 in Iran where it was known as the Paykan, which is, apparently, Persian for Arrow.

The later Hillman Avenger was even more popular with forces such as the Avon and Somerset, West Yorkshire, Sussex, Dorset and Kent Police. Although it had a slightly smaller engine, at 1598cc, it was almost as quick as the Hunter/Minx and, being the younger of the two models, was obviously a more modern drive. Its styling wasn’t to everyone’s liking, though, due to its rather heavy-looking rear end. Sussex Police in particular bought lots of them and they remained the area car in that county for many years.

Volvo. Yes, Volvo. Many years before those legendary figures ‘T5’ hit the automotive headlines, Volvo had enjoyed a modicum of success with a few forces but none more so than in Hampshire, who had pioneered the Swedish brand in 1965 when it bought the 121 Amazon estates as Traffic cars, followed by the 144DL in 1968, again for traffic patrol, until about 1973 when the car got downgraded to area car role because more powerful cars like the Rover 3500 V8 and Mk2 Triumph 2500 Pi were now the favoured tools. But the force stayed loyal to the Volvo 144DL, which was followed in 1975 by the new 244DL with its 2.1-litre engine. Every station in the county had one as their area car, although a number of other cars like the Hillman Hunter, the Mk3 and Ford Cortinas were brought in, but in very small numbers along the way. Forget all the very unfair journalistic ‘tank’ labels given to it over the years, the Volvo was a big, solid, dependable car that was perfectly suited to the role. In 1979 Volvo upgraded the engine to a 2.3 litre, added fuel injection, a 5-speed gearbox, alloy wheels and a few other bits, and all of a sudden the ‘tank’ would top 115mph with a 0–60 time of just nine seconds. Those stats are identical to those of the Mk2 Ford Escort RS2000 that those same journalists all raved about! In 1985 Volvo introduced the 240 Police Special, built to Swedish Polis specification. It got the same 2.3i engine and performance figures, but Volvo built the car with frontline police work very much in mind, with steel wheels instead of alloys, half-cloth and half-vinyl front seats, all-vinyl rear seats to facilitate the mopping up of blood and vomit, no rear window winders and a rubber compound on the floor instead of carpet. The first 244s were released in 1975 and the last 240 version in 1990 – during which time the Hampshire Constabulary bought no fewer than 276 of them, all for area car use. There can be few other cars that have spanned 15 years and managed to outgun all the new arrivals, staying the course until it was no longer available. There were many police officers who genuinely mourned its passing – and you can’t say that about many cars. Certain officers who were unfortunate enough to be driven into by other road users also credit the Volvo with saving their lives, at a time when few other manufacturers were prioritising occupant safety in accidents.

One of Hamphsire’s 1985 Volvo 240PS area cars, photographed at Brooklands’ annual Emergency Services Day (which is well worth attending, by the way). It’s been restored by ex-Hampshire officer Steve Woodward and is the only one preserved in police livery of the 276 244/240 models the force used. The light bar really was a roof-rack-type bar with two lights on, as this image clearly shows!

They were fitted with a switch panel for the police accessories which became almost legendary within the force, because the switches had a particularly tactile, satisfying action. And, okay, I’m admitting it here, I love a good switch action, so I totally get why the purple switches were so loved.

Left to right

S - Stop box on boot flashing stop

P - Police sign

B - Blue lights

H - Headlamp flasher

TT - Two-tone horns

In 1995 BMW entered the medium-sector police market like a bull in a china shop by giving us the 325 TDS. What? Diesel-powered patrol cars? Diesel? Really? No, this must be some kind of a wind-up, surely? Diesel is for tractors and buses! Coppers all over the country were now looking for the culprit who started this vicious rumour. But it wasn’t a rumour; in fact, far from it. BMW had refined the diesel unit to such an extent that it gave the car a huge amount of useable, low-down torque, which was delivered in a very smooth manner without the clanking sounds of previous diesel-powered cars. It was an ideal power plant for area car use, with the added bonus of better fuel consumption and higher mileage possibilities before resale. And, of course, BMW had built its previous reputation on being a driver’s car, so within seconds every copper had a smile on their face once more. Without a shadow of doubt the BMW 325 TDS was a huge success story, not just for BMW themselves but for the police service as a whole. The car had very few vices; it was fast, comfortable, handled well and had that all-important ingredient: presence. It looked the part. Forces all over the UK took them on, and over the next few years and into the twenty-first century the 3 Series has continued to dominate the area car sector because quite simply it’s almost the perfect package.

The early Volvo 244 GLT cars were actually used as Traffic cars for a while alongside BMW 525 saloons. The Volvos were fitted with very nice-looking five-spoke alloy wheels; a first in its class. A traffic unit driving a Volvo 244 GLT picked up a Triumph Trident motorcycle one night that was suspected of doing a big drugs run into the city; the bike failed to stop and a very high-speed pursuit started, with the bike reaching speeds in excess of 100mph. The bike entered the city but its speed rarely dropped below 60mph. A second Volvo area car now joined the chase and positioned itself behind the Traffic car. As they sped towards a large crossroads the Triumph didn’t slow down at all and went straight across it at 60-plus mph. The traffic Volvo hit the brakes hard and the rear nearside of the car slewed to the left. A huge arc of sparks, some 20 feet high, was seen coming from the rear before the car travelled across the same crossroads. Less than two miles later the biker fell off his machine and was arrested. A two-pound bag of heroin was found under the seat. After everything had calmed down a bit, one of the officers present called the traffic officers over to look at their car. We all stood in disbelief as we looked at the rear nearside alloy wheel, which now only had one of its five spokes left! A shudder went down the spine of the driver when he realised that after hitting that kerb he was still driving the Volvo at over 80mph.