Met Police Jaguar S Types
Discussion
LanceRS said:
aeropilot said:
Minsterjagman said:
while all Met cars had dark blue "Ambla" trim, plastic or vinyl in English
Which was no good for carrying Police dogs around in......My Dad's first dog broke off the bottom half of one of her canine teeth when she slid right across the rear seat and smacked the front of her muzzle on the rear door window winder of Xray 3 during a car chase down the A40 one night.... we forever after referred to that broken tooth as her Jag Tooth.
The introduction of the S-Type's into the Met pretty much happened around the same time, or just after, the big divisional border changes and creation of new divisions in 1966 (which affected X Div quite a bit as a lot of X Div ground now became the new Q Div, and some of T Div's ground on X Div south and east borders became X Div etc.
Prior to this change Xray 3 was based at Greenford (XG) IIRC.
Edited by aeropilot on Friday 16th December 13:58
I was watching another old film last night called 'Revenge' which was released in 1971, it was shot in late 1970 in High Wycombe, Little Marlow, Bourne End and Gerrard's Cross, starring James Booth (from 'Robbery') and Joan Collins, there are a few brief appearances of a white Police S-Type, probably another prop car as we don't really see the reg' number but it was to see on screen...
LanceRS said:
Thanks. I knew it had been the Southall car although the Jags obviously pre date the current Station there.
Greenford is apparently now a used car dealer.
I can remember my Mum & I getting picked up by Xray 3 in Dec '68 to get taken to the XS childrens Xmas party that was in the hall around the corner from the nick, as my old man got called out to duty with the dog to do a search, and couldn't take me, so he got the area car to pick me up with Mum instead so I wouldn't miss the party.Greenford is apparently now a used car dealer.
It used to make me sad when I used to go past the closed up XG, in more recent years as happy memories of many a visits in there up to late teens plus......often used to stop and chat with some of the guys I knew there if outside in the yard etc., as I walked past from the bus stop on way home from school. Its was my Dad's nick for almost 10 years from '58 to about '67-68.
I moved away from Greenford 3 years ago, and I've not been back since, so hadn't heard about it now being a car dealer. I would have loved to have acquired the old blue lamp from outside of it as a keepsake, would have looked great as an outside lamp on the side of my garage.
Well, it seems pretty obvious that police stations are going the same way as High Street banks. They will soon be things of the past. I feel sure that Khan will have closed every Met station except one. It will be called "London Police Station", and, to save money, it will be located in a remote part of northern Scotland. That is unless there is a cheaper alternative to be found in India.
Dragging this thread back to its main subject, I have managed to acquire SUU480F, which now resides alongside SUU441F in my garage.
SUU480F was a Traffpol car, fleet number 1903. It was posted to Bow Traffic Garage. First registered on 1st January 1968, it served until 12th December 1970, when it retired with 59,484 miles on the odometer. This is exactly in line with the three year or 60,000 mile (whichever came first) disposal rule at the time. Some cars did serve for longer, and clocked-up more miles, but that was the general rule.
This car has a claim to fame. In 1969, it was one of six white Met S-Type Jaguars used to take members of the Kray twins gang to prison. I have a copy of the 8mm cine film shot by "Nipper " Read on the run up north from London. Only two cars are identifiable from the rather poor quality footage, SUU480F and SUU487F. As SUU487F is no longer on the DVLA database, it seems likely that SUU480F may be the only survivor from this unique event. The other S-Types appear to be from the WGK***G series, as they have reflective number plates, but their actual index numbers cannot be read.
480F has been mercilessly civilianised! Having been used as a wedding car for the last thirty years, the interior has lost all traces of it's early life. The only clue left inside is it's Mark 2-style central instrument panel. That's it. Everything else has come from a civilian-spec car. Outside, it is all very shiny, and it is at least still white, but the underside will require some welding, and it does show signs of mechanical neglect.
The car did come with a great deal of police kit, all of which I will refit in the months to come. The biggest challenge will be the interior. I had possibly the last Met-Spec rear seats, which I fitted to SUU409F just before we sold it. How I wish that I had kept those!
So, being realistic for a moment, the plan is to restore the car to a sound and useable condition, and as far as I can reasonably achieve, in as close to as it was in service, given parts availability and budget constraints.
I will ask Jim to take some photos of the car to post on here, and will add details of progress, as and when it occurs, for those who may be interested.
Dragging this thread back to its main subject, I have managed to acquire SUU480F, which now resides alongside SUU441F in my garage.
SUU480F was a Traffpol car, fleet number 1903. It was posted to Bow Traffic Garage. First registered on 1st January 1968, it served until 12th December 1970, when it retired with 59,484 miles on the odometer. This is exactly in line with the three year or 60,000 mile (whichever came first) disposal rule at the time. Some cars did serve for longer, and clocked-up more miles, but that was the general rule.
This car has a claim to fame. In 1969, it was one of six white Met S-Type Jaguars used to take members of the Kray twins gang to prison. I have a copy of the 8mm cine film shot by "Nipper " Read on the run up north from London. Only two cars are identifiable from the rather poor quality footage, SUU480F and SUU487F. As SUU487F is no longer on the DVLA database, it seems likely that SUU480F may be the only survivor from this unique event. The other S-Types appear to be from the WGK***G series, as they have reflective number plates, but their actual index numbers cannot be read.
480F has been mercilessly civilianised! Having been used as a wedding car for the last thirty years, the interior has lost all traces of it's early life. The only clue left inside is it's Mark 2-style central instrument panel. That's it. Everything else has come from a civilian-spec car. Outside, it is all very shiny, and it is at least still white, but the underside will require some welding, and it does show signs of mechanical neglect.
The car did come with a great deal of police kit, all of which I will refit in the months to come. The biggest challenge will be the interior. I had possibly the last Met-Spec rear seats, which I fitted to SUU409F just before we sold it. How I wish that I had kept those!
So, being realistic for a moment, the plan is to restore the car to a sound and useable condition, and as far as I can reasonably achieve, in as close to as it was in service, given parts availability and budget constraints.
I will ask Jim to take some photos of the car to post on here, and will add details of progress, as and when it occurs, for those who may be interested.
Minsterjagman said:
Well, it seems pretty obvious that police stations are going the same way as High Street banks. They will soon be things of the past. I feel sure that Khan will have closed every Met station except one. It will be called "London Police Station", and, to save money, it will be located in a remote part of northern Scotland. That is unless there is a cheaper alternative to be found in India.
Dragging this thread back to its main subject, I have managed to acquire SUU480F, which now resides alongside SUU441F in my garage.
SUU480F was a Traffpol car, fleet number 1903. It was posted to Bow Traffic Garage. First registered on 1st January 1968, it served until 12th December 1970, when it retired with 59,484 miles on the odometer. This is exactly in line with the three year or 60,000 mile (whichever came first) disposal rule at the time. Some cars did serve for longer, and clocked-up more miles, but that was the general rule.
This car has a claim to fame. In 1969, it was one of six white Met S-Type Jaguars used to take members of the Kray twins gang to prison. I have a copy of the 8mm cine film shot by "Nipper " Read on the run up north from London. Only two cars are identifiable from the rather poor quality footage, SUU480F and SUU487F. As SUU487F is no longer on the DVLA database, it seems likely that SUU480F may be the only survivor from this unique event. The other S-Types appear to be from the WGK***G series, as they have reflective number plates, but their actual index numbers cannot be read.
480F has been mercilessly civilianised! Having been used as a wedding car for the last thirty years, the interior has lost all traces of it's early life. The only clue left inside is it's Mark 2-style central instrument panel. That's it. Everything else has come from a civilian-spec car. Outside, it is all very shiny, and it is at least still white, but the underside will require some welding, and it does show signs of mechanical neglect.
The car did come with a great deal of police kit, all of which I will refit in the months to come. The biggest challenge will be the interior. I had possibly the last Met-Spec rear seats, which I fitted to SUU409F just before we sold it. How I wish that I had kept those!
So, being realistic for a moment, the plan is to restore the car to a sound and useable condition, and as far as I can reasonably achieve, in as close to as it was in service, given parts availability and budget constraints.
I will ask Jim to take some photos of the car to post on here, and will add details of progress, as and when it occurs, for those who may be interested.
Excellent.Dragging this thread back to its main subject, I have managed to acquire SUU480F, which now resides alongside SUU441F in my garage.
SUU480F was a Traffpol car, fleet number 1903. It was posted to Bow Traffic Garage. First registered on 1st January 1968, it served until 12th December 1970, when it retired with 59,484 miles on the odometer. This is exactly in line with the three year or 60,000 mile (whichever came first) disposal rule at the time. Some cars did serve for longer, and clocked-up more miles, but that was the general rule.
This car has a claim to fame. In 1969, it was one of six white Met S-Type Jaguars used to take members of the Kray twins gang to prison. I have a copy of the 8mm cine film shot by "Nipper " Read on the run up north from London. Only two cars are identifiable from the rather poor quality footage, SUU480F and SUU487F. As SUU487F is no longer on the DVLA database, it seems likely that SUU480F may be the only survivor from this unique event. The other S-Types appear to be from the WGK***G series, as they have reflective number plates, but their actual index numbers cannot be read.
480F has been mercilessly civilianised! Having been used as a wedding car for the last thirty years, the interior has lost all traces of it's early life. The only clue left inside is it's Mark 2-style central instrument panel. That's it. Everything else has come from a civilian-spec car. Outside, it is all very shiny, and it is at least still white, but the underside will require some welding, and it does show signs of mechanical neglect.
The car did come with a great deal of police kit, all of which I will refit in the months to come. The biggest challenge will be the interior. I had possibly the last Met-Spec rear seats, which I fitted to SUU409F just before we sold it. How I wish that I had kept those!
So, being realistic for a moment, the plan is to restore the car to a sound and useable condition, and as far as I can reasonably achieve, in as close to as it was in service, given parts availability and budget constraints.
I will ask Jim to take some photos of the car to post on here, and will add details of progress, as and when it occurs, for those who may be interested.
Shame about those seats, and 480F's dramatic post service civilianisation though.
My late father knew Nipper Read quite well back in day of my father's early years of Met service in the late 50's.
A great update, look forward to seeing the photos.
Interesting comment about the G-regd. ones having reflective plates as there's been much debate on various threads about when the 'new' reflective plates started to be in general use, and the fact that the Met were using them in 1968/9 is interesting.
I wonder if the BMW X5s etc. will be looked upon quite so favourably in 50-years time; somehow I doubt it
Interesting comment about the G-regd. ones having reflective plates as there's been much debate on various threads about when the 'new' reflective plates started to be in general use, and the fact that the Met were using them in 1968/9 is interesting.
I wonder if the BMW X5s etc. will be looked upon quite so favourably in 50-years time; somehow I doubt it
TarquinMX5 said:
Interesting comment about the G-regd. ones having reflective plates as there's been much debate on various threads about when the 'new' reflective plates started to be in general use, and the fact that the Met were using them in 1968/9 is interesting.
I think it was only the white Traf Pol S-Types on the G-plates that were fitted with the new reflective plates (as were the handful of white G-reg Rover 2000TC's Traf.Pol had around the same time)Probably some thing to do with the birth of higher vis for TrafPol, after the introduction of white cars as well.
The black area car S-Types on the G-plates still had old style black/white reg plates IIRC.
There are two WGK***G black area cars currently in preservation in service condition, WGK448G and WGK470G. Both have the old white-on-black number plates. In my opinion this is not correct. Every period photograph that I have found of these late cars in service, be they Area or Traffic Cars, clearly shows them with the reflective-type plates. These became available, but not compulsory, in 1968. From 1st January 1973, (near the middle of "L"-registration) the reflective plates became compulsory on all newly-registered private cars. They did not become a legal requirement on HGVs or buses until much later. The only preserved Traffic Car from the WGK***G series is John Wheatley's WGK495G, which is correctly fitted with reflective plates.
Surprising developments.
Eldest son, Jim, called me from holiday in Crete! He had heard from the owner of KYU362D, that there was a Met S-Type for sale on Ebay. This proved to be true. The car was KYU419D, a Driving School car pictured in service, complete with "L" plates, on these very pages some time ago. What chance, that?
From the not-so-great photos, it was obvious to me that it was indeed a genuine Met car, that it was in probably poor condition, and that the owner had no clue as to it's origins. It was advertised as a "3.8 manual with overdrive". This was surprising, as Met cars were all 3.4s, except two that I have researched, and manual cars were never fitted with overdrive.
To cut a long story short, a deal was struck for a bit less than the starting price, as nobody else had bid on it, and I went to collect the car yesterday (16th October).
I was hoping that the car may have been a viable prospect for restoration, but sadly this is not the case. It has excessive rust from front to back. Both sills are rotten, both chassis members hanging, front crossmember rusted and damaged ,and all four wings either holed or excessively filled, or both. KYU419D left some of herself on the recovery truck, such is the state of the rot. The floors, however are not bad, but this is not enough to make her in any way restorable to anyone without 100 grand to throw at her.
So, what have I bought? The car (chassis) number, shows this to have been a 3.4 automatic, not a 3.8 manual overdrive. The seller told me that the car was bought by his late father in 1976-7. He converted it to manual, and fitted the late-type wire wheels. Originally black, it seems that it had been painted white at some stage, before being repainted black again. After using the car for a few years, it was left in a garage until the owner's death. It was then moved to another garage, but the back end was left exposed to the elements for many years. This paint is now flaking off with every gust of wind, revealing the white paint beneath, or was this the primer before the later black repaint? The car does not have the twin-breather differential fitted, so may have had a diff or rear subframe change at some point, maybe from a donor car when the gearbox and wheels were fitted?
The engine is a 3.8 litre, but is locked-up solid. There is not one sheet of paperwork, so no V5, all I have is a receipt for the cash paid.
The good points? It will be a probably unique source of hens-teeth parts missing from SUU480F. Sadly, the seats have been replaced with
a red leather set from another car. The door cards have also come from a red civvy car, but I have already had a set of Met-spec ones made for 480F, and fitted them. The glovebox, (no lid), speedo panel (no tachometer) and handbrake guard, will all go in 480F, as will the manual gearbox, with the overdrive, to make it more practical, and all those unobtainium parts necessary to fit it.
Over the next few weeks, we hope to un-seize the engine, and test it. It has plenty of oil in it, which is fairly clean, so there is hope. If good, then it can be sold to recover some of the purchase price.
I must say that it gives me no pleasure to report that any classic Jaguar is beyond saving, and just a parts car, most especially a genuine Met S-Type, but this car really has had it. I last broke a Jaguar (a Mark 10) nearly forty years ago. That car was rather better than KYU419D, and I remember that I had paid £400 for it, and I still felt guilty!
I will ask Jim to post some photographs of sad old KYU419D, so that you can judge for yourselves the state of the car, together with some of SUU480F, showing the progress made since purchase last March.
Eldest son, Jim, called me from holiday in Crete! He had heard from the owner of KYU362D, that there was a Met S-Type for sale on Ebay. This proved to be true. The car was KYU419D, a Driving School car pictured in service, complete with "L" plates, on these very pages some time ago. What chance, that?
From the not-so-great photos, it was obvious to me that it was indeed a genuine Met car, that it was in probably poor condition, and that the owner had no clue as to it's origins. It was advertised as a "3.8 manual with overdrive". This was surprising, as Met cars were all 3.4s, except two that I have researched, and manual cars were never fitted with overdrive.
To cut a long story short, a deal was struck for a bit less than the starting price, as nobody else had bid on it, and I went to collect the car yesterday (16th October).
I was hoping that the car may have been a viable prospect for restoration, but sadly this is not the case. It has excessive rust from front to back. Both sills are rotten, both chassis members hanging, front crossmember rusted and damaged ,and all four wings either holed or excessively filled, or both. KYU419D left some of herself on the recovery truck, such is the state of the rot. The floors, however are not bad, but this is not enough to make her in any way restorable to anyone without 100 grand to throw at her.
So, what have I bought? The car (chassis) number, shows this to have been a 3.4 automatic, not a 3.8 manual overdrive. The seller told me that the car was bought by his late father in 1976-7. He converted it to manual, and fitted the late-type wire wheels. Originally black, it seems that it had been painted white at some stage, before being repainted black again. After using the car for a few years, it was left in a garage until the owner's death. It was then moved to another garage, but the back end was left exposed to the elements for many years. This paint is now flaking off with every gust of wind, revealing the white paint beneath, or was this the primer before the later black repaint? The car does not have the twin-breather differential fitted, so may have had a diff or rear subframe change at some point, maybe from a donor car when the gearbox and wheels were fitted?
The engine is a 3.8 litre, but is locked-up solid. There is not one sheet of paperwork, so no V5, all I have is a receipt for the cash paid.
The good points? It will be a probably unique source of hens-teeth parts missing from SUU480F. Sadly, the seats have been replaced with
a red leather set from another car. The door cards have also come from a red civvy car, but I have already had a set of Met-spec ones made for 480F, and fitted them. The glovebox, (no lid), speedo panel (no tachometer) and handbrake guard, will all go in 480F, as will the manual gearbox, with the overdrive, to make it more practical, and all those unobtainium parts necessary to fit it.
Over the next few weeks, we hope to un-seize the engine, and test it. It has plenty of oil in it, which is fairly clean, so there is hope. If good, then it can be sold to recover some of the purchase price.
I must say that it gives me no pleasure to report that any classic Jaguar is beyond saving, and just a parts car, most especially a genuine Met S-Type, but this car really has had it. I last broke a Jaguar (a Mark 10) nearly forty years ago. That car was rather better than KYU419D, and I remember that I had paid £400 for it, and I still felt guilty!
I will ask Jim to post some photographs of sad old KYU419D, so that you can judge for yourselves the state of the car, together with some of SUU480F, showing the progress made since purchase last March.
Minsterjagman said:
Surprising developments.
Eldest son, Jim, called me from holiday in Crete! He had heard from the owner of KYU362D, that there was a Met S-Type for sale on Ebay. This proved to be true. The car was KYU419D, a Driving School car pictured in service, complete with "L" plates, on these very pages some time ago. What chance, that?
From the not-so-great photos, it was obvious to me that it was indeed a genuine Met car, that it was in probably poor condition, and that the owner had no clue as to it's origins. It was advertised as a "3.8 manual with overdrive". This was surprising, as Met cars were all 3.4s, except two that I have researched, and manual cars were never fitted with overdrive.
To cut a long story short, a deal was struck for a bit less than the starting price, as nobody else had bid on it, and I went to collect the car yesterday (16th October).
I was hoping that the car may have been a viable prospect for restoration, but sadly this is not the case. It has excessive rust from front to back. Both sills are rotten, both chassis members hanging, front crossmember rusted and damaged ,and all four wings either holed or excessively filled, or both. KYU419D left some of herself on the recovery truck, such is the state of the rot. The floors, however are not bad, but this is not enough to make her in any way restorable to anyone without 100 grand to throw at her.
So, what have I bought? The car (chassis) number, shows this to have been a 3.4 automatic, not a 3.8 manual overdrive. The seller told me that the car was bought by his late father in 1976-7. He converted it to manual, and fitted the late-type wire wheels. Originally black, it seems that it had been painted white at some stage, before being repainted black again. After using the car for a few years, it was left in a garage until the owner's death. It was then moved to another garage, but the back end was left exposed to the elements for many years. This paint is now flaking off with every gust of wind, revealing the white paint beneath, or was this the primer before the later black repaint? The car does not have the twin-breather differential fitted, so may have had a diff or rear subframe change at some point, maybe from a donor car when the gearbox and wheels were fitted?
The engine is a 3.8 litre, but is locked-up solid. There is not one sheet of paperwork, so no V5, all I have is a receipt for the cash paid.
The good points? It will be a probably unique source of hens-teeth parts missing from SUU480F. Sadly, the seats have been replaced with
a red leather set from another car. The door cards have also come from a red civvy car, but I have already had a set of Met-spec ones made for 480F, and fitted them. The glovebox, (no lid), speedo panel (no tachometer) and handbrake guard, will all go in 480F, as will the manual gearbox, with the overdrive, to make it more practical, and all those unobtainium parts necessary to fit it.
Over the next few weeks, we hope to un-seize the engine, and test it. It has plenty of oil in it, which is fairly clean, so there is hope. If good, then it can be sold to recover some of the purchase price.
I must say that it gives me no pleasure to report that any classic Jaguar is beyond saving, and just a parts car, most especially a genuine Met S-Type, but this car really has had it. I last broke a Jaguar (a Mark 10) nearly forty years ago. That car was rather better than KYU419D, and I remember that I had paid £400 for it, and I still felt guilty!
I will ask Jim to post some photographs of sad old KYU419D, so that you can judge for yourselves the state of the car, together with some of SUU480F, showing the progress made since purchase last March.
Such a shame to break it. Surely someone will take 419D on to restore ? As for the rot, Se ears l MK2s and S Types that I owned 30 years ago had more rot in them. Eldest son, Jim, called me from holiday in Crete! He had heard from the owner of KYU362D, that there was a Met S-Type for sale on Ebay. This proved to be true. The car was KYU419D, a Driving School car pictured in service, complete with "L" plates, on these very pages some time ago. What chance, that?
From the not-so-great photos, it was obvious to me that it was indeed a genuine Met car, that it was in probably poor condition, and that the owner had no clue as to it's origins. It was advertised as a "3.8 manual with overdrive". This was surprising, as Met cars were all 3.4s, except two that I have researched, and manual cars were never fitted with overdrive.
To cut a long story short, a deal was struck for a bit less than the starting price, as nobody else had bid on it, and I went to collect the car yesterday (16th October).
I was hoping that the car may have been a viable prospect for restoration, but sadly this is not the case. It has excessive rust from front to back. Both sills are rotten, both chassis members hanging, front crossmember rusted and damaged ,and all four wings either holed or excessively filled, or both. KYU419D left some of herself on the recovery truck, such is the state of the rot. The floors, however are not bad, but this is not enough to make her in any way restorable to anyone without 100 grand to throw at her.
So, what have I bought? The car (chassis) number, shows this to have been a 3.4 automatic, not a 3.8 manual overdrive. The seller told me that the car was bought by his late father in 1976-7. He converted it to manual, and fitted the late-type wire wheels. Originally black, it seems that it had been painted white at some stage, before being repainted black again. After using the car for a few years, it was left in a garage until the owner's death. It was then moved to another garage, but the back end was left exposed to the elements for many years. This paint is now flaking off with every gust of wind, revealing the white paint beneath, or was this the primer before the later black repaint? The car does not have the twin-breather differential fitted, so may have had a diff or rear subframe change at some point, maybe from a donor car when the gearbox and wheels were fitted?
The engine is a 3.8 litre, but is locked-up solid. There is not one sheet of paperwork, so no V5, all I have is a receipt for the cash paid.
The good points? It will be a probably unique source of hens-teeth parts missing from SUU480F. Sadly, the seats have been replaced with
a red leather set from another car. The door cards have also come from a red civvy car, but I have already had a set of Met-spec ones made for 480F, and fitted them. The glovebox, (no lid), speedo panel (no tachometer) and handbrake guard, will all go in 480F, as will the manual gearbox, with the overdrive, to make it more practical, and all those unobtainium parts necessary to fit it.
Over the next few weeks, we hope to un-seize the engine, and test it. It has plenty of oil in it, which is fairly clean, so there is hope. If good, then it can be sold to recover some of the purchase price.
I must say that it gives me no pleasure to report that any classic Jaguar is beyond saving, and just a parts car, most especially a genuine Met S-Type, but this car really has had it. I last broke a Jaguar (a Mark 10) nearly forty years ago. That car was rather better than KYU419D, and I remember that I had paid £400 for it, and I still felt guilty!
I will ask Jim to post some photographs of sad old KYU419D, so that you can judge for yourselves the state of the car, together with some of SUU480F, showing the progress made since purchase last March.
In reply to "aeropilot", 480F, being a Traffpol car was originally a manual vehicle. It was converted to automatic, for some reason, many years ago, so I will be restoring it to nearer to it's former condition.
I was expecting some stick for condemning such a car as 419D, but wait until Jim has posted the photographs before being too harsh a critic. Further to that, I will make the vehicle available (after I have removed the parts that I have already mentioned) to any restorer or enthusiast who may be interested, before scrapping it, thus giving it the best chance of redemption. Any bits that I do remove will be replaced with civvy parts, keeping the car fairly complete, but the severe rot will make this an uneconomic proposition to restore, to say the least. Having said all that, I would be delighted if a dedicated restorer could take it on, as it is against my nature to scrap rather than restore. If I had the space, I would keep her, just in case of that lottery win..........
I was expecting some stick for condemning such a car as 419D, but wait until Jim has posted the photographs before being too harsh a critic. Further to that, I will make the vehicle available (after I have removed the parts that I have already mentioned) to any restorer or enthusiast who may be interested, before scrapping it, thus giving it the best chance of redemption. Any bits that I do remove will be replaced with civvy parts, keeping the car fairly complete, but the severe rot will make this an uneconomic proposition to restore, to say the least. Having said all that, I would be delighted if a dedicated restorer could take it on, as it is against my nature to scrap rather than restore. If I had the space, I would keep her, just in case of that lottery win..........
Did you know the extent of the rot before buying it or were you always going to buy it whatever the condition? Someone, somewhere may want to restore it but without the parts you’re removing, it’s just another severely rusted S-Type, albeit with the history, but if it has to be scrapped, it has to be scrapped.
No, all the Area Cars were automatic, all Traffic Cars were manual with no overdrive. Driving School cars could be fitted with either type of gearbox. They were all fitted with Dyna 4.09 (low Ratio ) differentials, which gave them very rapid acceleration, but a poor top speed, and awful fuel economy. Adding overdrive to SUU480F will make her more relaxing to drive, and much more economical as well, while hardly effecting originality. The automatic gearbox could then go with KYU419D, as that was originally fitted with that type of transmission.
When I purchased KYU419D, I suspected that it was pretty far gone, mainly because nobody else had shown the slightest interest in it, despite it being on E-bay for a week. The photographs were not very high-resolution, so they did not assist much in assessing the condition of the bodywork. I may have bought almost blind, but while I hoped that it was saveable, I was prepared for it to be a total wreck, and paid appropriately. Sadly the bodyshell has excessive corrosion throughout.
In reply to "uk66fastback", why would you leave the unique parts on a total wreck, while you have a roadworthy car which lacks those very parts? In my opinion, after forty-three years of owning and maintaining these cars, KYU419D is beyond saving. At the risk of repeating myself, if another enthusiast wants to take her on when I have finished with her, then I will give them the opportunity to do so!
When I purchased KYU419D, I suspected that it was pretty far gone, mainly because nobody else had shown the slightest interest in it, despite it being on E-bay for a week. The photographs were not very high-resolution, so they did not assist much in assessing the condition of the bodywork. I may have bought almost blind, but while I hoped that it was saveable, I was prepared for it to be a total wreck, and paid appropriately. Sadly the bodyshell has excessive corrosion throughout.
In reply to "uk66fastback", why would you leave the unique parts on a total wreck, while you have a roadworthy car which lacks those very parts? In my opinion, after forty-three years of owning and maintaining these cars, KYU419D is beyond saving. At the risk of repeating myself, if another enthusiast wants to take her on when I have finished with her, then I will give them the opportunity to do so!
Edited by Minsterjagman on Wednesday 18th October 21:43
Edited by Minsterjagman on Wednesday 18th October 21:56
Well, any car can be restored, if someone wants to pour sufficient money and time into it, and I will put the word out when the time is ready, to pass KYU419D on. Be warned, though. If all you want is a piece of "Yard Art", then happy days. If you want to achieve a roadworthy car, let alone an authentic police vehicle, then you had better be very skilled, have deep pockets, and be very well-connected in the world of old police cars. Since purchasing SUU480F a car in so very much better condition, I have invested a substantial sum into her in 7 months, and she is not finished yet. This does not include buying KYU419D either.
Do I regret it? NO.
Did I go into it with my eyes open? YES.
When examining KYU419D, since buying her, I have now found that the floors are not as good as I had first thought. The driver's floor area is sound, but a gentle push with my fingers on the front passenger side revealed a 3-inch rust hole. At this point I decided to stop prodding.
ideally, we would all like to save every vehicle, if we have a soft spot for them, but the real world, the one in which we actually live, has a habit of dictating otherwise.
Form an orderly queue here!
Do I regret it? NO.
Did I go into it with my eyes open? YES.
When examining KYU419D, since buying her, I have now found that the floors are not as good as I had first thought. The driver's floor area is sound, but a gentle push with my fingers on the front passenger side revealed a 3-inch rust hole. At this point I decided to stop prodding.
ideally, we would all like to save every vehicle, if we have a soft spot for them, but the real world, the one in which we actually live, has a habit of dictating otherwise.
Form an orderly queue here!
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