Met Police Jaguar S Types
Discussion
Webserve00 said:
Good morning from Charlotte, North Carolina. I happened across this thread. In 2000, I purchased a 1967 420 drivable and a 1967 3.4S for parts for the 420. In researching both cars, I discovered my S-type was a former Metropolitan police S-type. I confirmed this with Jaguar and received the build certificate from them. My car is SUU 491F It was built 5 October 1967 Delivered 2 weeks later. I still have the original front and rear factory license tags. In discovering the pedigree of this car, I have done a complete restoration from ground up back to factory specs with some small modifications. This car was not running and had rotted from the ground to midway up the doors. It had been in two accidents over the years with serious damage to the right front fender. I pulled it from the weeds in a field in Florida.
I have been working on this car for 20 years off and on. The entire underside has been bead blasted and painted with anti-rust paint. Both suspensions were disassembled and powder-coated semi -gloss black Both were completely re-built including the differential. All damaged sheet metal has been replaced including the inner and outer sills. The wire harness is new. All chrome bits including bumpers and grill have been stripped and re-chromed.
In stripping the body of paint, we discovered there had been no punctures to the roof, thus there had been no roof lights, (blue or Micky Mouse.) One of the previous owners had attempted to change the interior timber from the black to wood grain. This was all stripped and returned to black.. The Amblahyde had become brittle from the Florida sun I found a roll of original in a warehouse in California.and had an aircraft certified upholsterer restore the seats to original. The head liner in the back was impregnated by the grease and dirt of the prisoners transferred over the years of service. Unlike most Metpol cars, this one had some of the original carpet in it. This was not a Herndon car from what I can determine, but a car used by a higher official. One other distinctive mark is the antenna is on the left rear unlike pictures of other s-types where it is on the right.
The engine has been brought back to original specs although the pistons had to be increased to +10 since I could not find zeros. The engine block number is not the original nor is the gearbox or head. This seems to be standard fare on theses cars. In fact the head is a "virgin" unit in that it was never painted and is plain aluminum It has no serial number stated into it either. This car has the standard Borg Warner DG250 gearbox. I had it completely re-built. The column selector has no Park or Low gear position which was standard. I have changed the electrical system from positive to negative ground keeping the original positive alternator. This will make traveling easier should the car break down The floodlight was replaced with a landing light f4rom a Cessna which is brighter with less heat and an exact replacement size. Not being able to find a PYE radio, I have installed a combination AM/FM weather band CB radio the looks very similar to the original
Obviously I have replaced regular parts like break servo, master, pads rotors. The heater box has been restored and improved with better motor and transfer radiator. The SU carburators are brand new. as are petrol tanks and pumps and senders. The only thing left to do is the wiring in the dash. Since suffering a brain injury in 2006 I have been unable to follow the schematic to do it myself. It should be done within the new couple of weeks. Needless to say I am excited to get it on the road.
One other note. North Carolina allows any car over 40 years old to drive on the original SUU 491F tags. A proud acknowlegement to those who served with the METPOL
Clark
Great stuff. As they say in the Police, "Pappa Hotel Oscar Tango Oscar Sierra please..."I have been working on this car for 20 years off and on. The entire underside has been bead blasted and painted with anti-rust paint. Both suspensions were disassembled and powder-coated semi -gloss black Both were completely re-built including the differential. All damaged sheet metal has been replaced including the inner and outer sills. The wire harness is new. All chrome bits including bumpers and grill have been stripped and re-chromed.
In stripping the body of paint, we discovered there had been no punctures to the roof, thus there had been no roof lights, (blue or Micky Mouse.) One of the previous owners had attempted to change the interior timber from the black to wood grain. This was all stripped and returned to black.. The Amblahyde had become brittle from the Florida sun I found a roll of original in a warehouse in California.and had an aircraft certified upholsterer restore the seats to original. The head liner in the back was impregnated by the grease and dirt of the prisoners transferred over the years of service. Unlike most Metpol cars, this one had some of the original carpet in it. This was not a Herndon car from what I can determine, but a car used by a higher official. One other distinctive mark is the antenna is on the left rear unlike pictures of other s-types where it is on the right.
The engine has been brought back to original specs although the pistons had to be increased to +10 since I could not find zeros. The engine block number is not the original nor is the gearbox or head. This seems to be standard fare on theses cars. In fact the head is a "virgin" unit in that it was never painted and is plain aluminum It has no serial number stated into it either. This car has the standard Borg Warner DG250 gearbox. I had it completely re-built. The column selector has no Park or Low gear position which was standard. I have changed the electrical system from positive to negative ground keeping the original positive alternator. This will make traveling easier should the car break down The floodlight was replaced with a landing light f4rom a Cessna which is brighter with less heat and an exact replacement size. Not being able to find a PYE radio, I have installed a combination AM/FM weather band CB radio the looks very similar to the original
Obviously I have replaced regular parts like break servo, master, pads rotors. The heater box has been restored and improved with better motor and transfer radiator. The SU carburators are brand new. as are petrol tanks and pumps and senders. The only thing left to do is the wiring in the dash. Since suffering a brain injury in 2006 I have been unable to follow the schematic to do it myself. It should be done within the new couple of weeks. Needless to say I am excited to get it on the road.
One other note. North Carolina allows any car over 40 years old to drive on the original SUU 491F tags. A proud acknowlegement to those who served with the METPOL
Clark
This photograph was taken in 1989 at the Met Police museum when it was located in Catford. It shows SUU493F.
I cannot believe that 491F was a senior officers car. They were still using Rover P5's and Austin A60's, for that purpose. The flying squad had a couple but they were not black or white and would not been registered on a SUU plate.
If it was not used by the Driving School at Hendon someone has done a good job of hiding the 3 holes in the roof where the blue light would have been.
Not all of the S types were fitted with roof spotlights, these were fitted to traffic cars or those cars assigned to the outer divisions.
I am sure that someone will come along with the answer to this cars history.
I cannot believe that 491F was a senior officers car. They were still using Rover P5's and Austin A60's, for that purpose. The flying squad had a couple but they were not black or white and would not been registered on a SUU plate.
If it was not used by the Driving School at Hendon someone has done a good job of hiding the 3 holes in the roof where the blue light would have been.
Not all of the S types were fitted with roof spotlights, these were fitted to traffic cars or those cars assigned to the outer divisions.
I am sure that someone will come along with the answer to this cars history.
Webserve00 said:
Good morning from Charlotte, North Carolina. I happened across this thread. In 2000, I purchased a 1967 420 drivable and a 1967 3.4S for parts for the 420. In researching both cars, I discovered my S-type was a former Metropolitan police S-type. I confirmed this with Jaguar and received the build certificate from them. My car is SUU 491F It was built 5 October 1967 Delivered 2 weeks later. I still have the original front and rear factory license tags. In discovering the pedigree of this car, I have done a complete restoration from ground up back to factory specs with some small modifications. This car was not running and had rotted from the ground to midway up the doors. It had been in two accidents over the years with serious damage to the right front fender. I pulled it from the weeds in a field in Florida.
I have been working on this car for 20 years off and on. The entire underside has been bead blasted and painted with anti-rust paint. Both suspensions were disassembled and powder-coated semi -gloss black Both were completely re-built including the differential. All damaged sheet metal has been replaced including the inner and outer sills. The wire harness is new. All chrome bits including bumpers and grill have been stripped and re-chromed.
In stripping the body of paint, we discovered there had been no punctures to the roof, thus there had been no roof lights, (blue or Micky Mouse.) One of the previous owners had attempted to change the interior timber from the black to wood grain. This was all stripped and returned to black.. The Amblahyde had become brittle from the Florida sun I found a roll of original in a warehouse in California.and had an aircraft certified upholsterer restore the seats to original. The head liner in the back was impregnated by the grease and dirt of the prisoners transferred over the years of service. Unlike most Metpol cars, this one had some of the original carpet in it. This was not a Herndon car from what I can determine, but a car used by a higher official. One other distinctive mark is the antenna is on the left rear unlike pictures of other s-types where it is on the right.
The engine has been brought back to original specs although the pistons had to be increased to +10 since I could not find zeros. The engine block number is not the original nor is the gearbox or head. This seems to be standard fare on theses cars. In fact the head is a "virgin" unit in that it was never painted and is plain aluminum It has no serial number stated into it either. This car has the standard Borg Warner DG250 gearbox. I had it completely re-built. The column selector has no Park or Low gear position which was standard. I have changed the electrical system from positive to negative ground keeping the original positive alternator. This will make traveling easier should the car break down The floodlight was replaced with a landing light f4rom a Cessna which is brighter with less heat and an exact replacement size. Not being able to find a PYE radio, I have installed a combination AM/FM weather band CB radio the looks very similar to the original
Obviously I have replaced regular parts like break servo, master, pads rotors. The heater box has been restored and improved with better motor and transfer radiator. The SU carburators are brand new. as are petrol tanks and pumps and senders. The only thing left to do is the wiring in the dash. Since suffering a brain injury in 2006 I have been unable to follow the schematic to do it myself. It should be done within the new couple of weeks. Needless to say I am excited to get it on the road.
One other note. North Carolina allows any car over 40 years old to drive on the original SUU 491F tags. A proud acknowlegement to those who served with the METPOL
Clark
Great story Clark I have been working on this car for 20 years off and on. The entire underside has been bead blasted and painted with anti-rust paint. Both suspensions were disassembled and powder-coated semi -gloss black Both were completely re-built including the differential. All damaged sheet metal has been replaced including the inner and outer sills. The wire harness is new. All chrome bits including bumpers and grill have been stripped and re-chromed.
In stripping the body of paint, we discovered there had been no punctures to the roof, thus there had been no roof lights, (blue or Micky Mouse.) One of the previous owners had attempted to change the interior timber from the black to wood grain. This was all stripped and returned to black.. The Amblahyde had become brittle from the Florida sun I found a roll of original in a warehouse in California.and had an aircraft certified upholsterer restore the seats to original. The head liner in the back was impregnated by the grease and dirt of the prisoners transferred over the years of service. Unlike most Metpol cars, this one had some of the original carpet in it. This was not a Herndon car from what I can determine, but a car used by a higher official. One other distinctive mark is the antenna is on the left rear unlike pictures of other s-types where it is on the right.
The engine has been brought back to original specs although the pistons had to be increased to +10 since I could not find zeros. The engine block number is not the original nor is the gearbox or head. This seems to be standard fare on theses cars. In fact the head is a "virgin" unit in that it was never painted and is plain aluminum It has no serial number stated into it either. This car has the standard Borg Warner DG250 gearbox. I had it completely re-built. The column selector has no Park or Low gear position which was standard. I have changed the electrical system from positive to negative ground keeping the original positive alternator. This will make traveling easier should the car break down The floodlight was replaced with a landing light f4rom a Cessna which is brighter with less heat and an exact replacement size. Not being able to find a PYE radio, I have installed a combination AM/FM weather band CB radio the looks very similar to the original
Obviously I have replaced regular parts like break servo, master, pads rotors. The heater box has been restored and improved with better motor and transfer radiator. The SU carburators are brand new. as are petrol tanks and pumps and senders. The only thing left to do is the wiring in the dash. Since suffering a brain injury in 2006 I have been unable to follow the schematic to do it myself. It should be done within the new couple of weeks. Needless to say I am excited to get it on the road.
One other note. North Carolina allows any car over 40 years old to drive on the original SUU 491F tags. A proud acknowlegement to those who served with the METPOL
Clark
It’s a bit before my time so hard to know what it’s likely to Have been used for
If you’re on Facebook there are a couple of groups for “old U.K. police cars” and one for “metropolitan police vehicles” there are some very knowledgeable folks on there so it’s possible someone might have some info
If you’re not on fb I will happily ask on the groups on your behalf if you wish
Regards and enjoy the car
Edit to add
There are some closed ( hidden) groups for retired Met officers that I can on for you
Edited by Earthdweller on Saturday 23 April 20:56
gentlemen,
Thank you for the responses. A couple of things. When we did the body work on the car we bead blasted the exterior roof as well as the interior ceiling. We had discovered early on that for some reason the original primer used would leave pinpoint etchings in the metal. There was absolutely no signs of any holes having been put into the roof for lights. Anything the had been wlded in any manner would have appeared as it did on the damaged front fender. Over the years I have had numerous conversations with JDHT as well as the museum and pensioners from that era. All to no avail. The car remains an enigma. I spent much time talking to Ciarn Cavanaugh from Dublin who was a mechanic during that era with Metpol and owned 2 vehicles himself. Sadly he passed away a number of years ago. He was a stickler for details, but had no information on my particular car.
I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
SUU 491F would have been eleven months old. It was sent to Mr. J.H. Smith It was correctly identified as fleet number 627 and SUU 491F
The delivery date wa 21 Oct 1967 Service date 12 January 1967. Semi-surprisingly the engine number was the original build. It was at this time the transmission was replaced. It had 10,817 miles on the odometer. It had lost 1st gear and had excessive gearbox oil leak.
This order was signed by W.A. Creasey Works manager.
I am writing this simply to share an historical record regarding these cars. I have yet to find an original photo of this car. I have searched everywhere I can think of to date to no avail.
Thank you for the responses. A couple of things. When we did the body work on the car we bead blasted the exterior roof as well as the interior ceiling. We had discovered early on that for some reason the original primer used would leave pinpoint etchings in the metal. There was absolutely no signs of any holes having been put into the roof for lights. Anything the had been wlded in any manner would have appeared as it did on the damaged front fender. Over the years I have had numerous conversations with JDHT as well as the museum and pensioners from that era. All to no avail. The car remains an enigma. I spent much time talking to Ciarn Cavanaugh from Dublin who was a mechanic during that era with Metpol and owned 2 vehicles himself. Sadly he passed away a number of years ago. He was a stickler for details, but had no information on my particular car.
I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
SUU 491F would have been eleven months old. It was sent to Mr. J.H. Smith It was correctly identified as fleet number 627 and SUU 491F
The delivery date wa 21 Oct 1967 Service date 12 January 1967. Semi-surprisingly the engine number was the original build. It was at this time the transmission was replaced. It had 10,817 miles on the odometer. It had lost 1st gear and had excessive gearbox oil leak.
This order was signed by W.A. Creasey Works manager.
I am writing this simply to share an historical record regarding these cars. I have yet to find an original photo of this car. I have searched everywhere I can think of to date to no avail.
Webserve00 said:
gentlemen,
I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
It's 290 Willesden Lane, London NW2.I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
10k miles in 11 months is nothing, so clearly it wasn't being used by Hendon as a training car, as they were doing 1000 miles a week, and it wasn't being used in other normal everyday capacity as a Police car either with so little miles and no roof lights.
I can therefore understand why you have deduced it was a senior officers car, but while not impossible, it would have been very unusual and unlikely........ unless it was a senior officer at Hendon, which might be more likely, and especially if they sent it to the Daimler Service Dept in Willesden (rather than sending to Jaguar as Daimler were now part of Jaguar) for the gearbox replacement, as 290 Willesden Lane is only a few miles down the North Circular from the Driving School....!!
I therefore still think that it was based at the Driving School in some capacity.
Webserve00 said:
gentlemen,
Thank you for the responses. A couple of things. When we did the body work on the car we bead blasted the exterior roof as well as the interior ceiling. We had discovered early on that for some reason the original primer used would leave pinpoint etchings in the metal. There was absolutely no signs of any holes having been put into the roof for lights. Anything the had been wlded in any manner would have appeared as it did on the damaged front fender. Over the years I have had numerous conversations with JDHT as well as the museum and pensioners from that era. All to no avail. The car remains an enigma. I spent much time talking to Ciarn Cavanaugh from Dublin who was a mechanic during that era with Metpol and owned 2 vehicles himself. Sadly he passed away a number of years ago. He was a stickler for details, but had no information on my particular car.
I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
SUU 491F would have been eleven months old. It was sent to Mr. J.H. Smith It was correctly identified as fleet number 627 and SUU 491F
The delivery date wa 21 Oct 1967 Service date 12 January 1967. Semi-surprisingly the engine number was the original build. It was at this time the transmission was replaced. It had 10,817 miles on the odometer. It had lost 1st gear and had excessive gearbox oil leak.
This order was signed by W.A. Creasey Works manager.
I am writing this simply to share an historical record regarding these cars. I have yet to find an original photo of this car. I have searched everywhere I can think of to date to no avail.
Interesting fleet number which (to me) indicates a Specialist vehicle Thank you for the responses. A couple of things. When we did the body work on the car we bead blasted the exterior roof as well as the interior ceiling. We had discovered early on that for some reason the original primer used would leave pinpoint etchings in the metal. There was absolutely no signs of any holes having been put into the roof for lights. Anything the had been wlded in any manner would have appeared as it did on the damaged front fender. Over the years I have had numerous conversations with JDHT as well as the museum and pensioners from that era. All to no avail. The car remains an enigma. I spent much time talking to Ciarn Cavanaugh from Dublin who was a mechanic during that era with Metpol and owned 2 vehicles himself. Sadly he passed away a number of years ago. He was a stickler for details, but had no information on my particular car.
I did aquire a work order from when there was a move to the 1967 New Scotland Yard. It is dated 6 August 1968. It is addressed to The Daimler Co., LTD "Daimler House" 290 Milesdon Lane London, N.W.2 It is my understanding that this is the location for warranty work.
SUU 491F would have been eleven months old. It was sent to Mr. J.H. Smith It was correctly identified as fleet number 627 and SUU 491F
The delivery date wa 21 Oct 1967 Service date 12 January 1967. Semi-surprisingly the engine number was the original build. It was at this time the transmission was replaced. It had 10,817 miles on the odometer. It had lost 1st gear and had excessive gearbox oil leak.
This order was signed by W.A. Creasey Works manager.
I am writing this simply to share an historical record regarding these cars. I have yet to find an original photo of this car. I have searched everywhere I can think of to date to no avail.
It’s possible that it was an allocated car to a specific (very) senior officer or it could have been attached to Royal or Diplomatic Protection duties
Most senior officers had access to pool cars and driver’s which ferries them around and they weren’t usually that fancy, though some such as the Commissioner/Deputy had their own
Most cars had a four/five digit fleet number with the first one identifying the role
ie:
Low numbers were specialist stuff iirc including buses/trucks and vehicles attached to units at HQ
Van 3000/4000
GP/patrol car 5000/6000
Traffic/area/advanced car 7000/8000
Advanced car Central units 9000
The car predates my time but the numbering system was around for decades and still is so likely to have been in place in the late 60’s
As I said if you want me to I can ask around for you on some closed sites
Earthdweller said:
Interesting fleet number which (to me) indicates a Specialist vehicle
It’s possible that it was an allocated car to a specific (very) senior officer or it could have been attached to Royal or Diplomatic Protection duties
Most senior officers had access to pool cars and driver’s which ferries them around and they weren’t usually that fancy, though some such as the Commissioner/Deputy had their own
Most cars had a four/five digit fleet number with the first one identifying the role
ie:
Low numbers were specialist stuff iirc including buses/trucks and vehicles attached to units at HQ
Van 3000/4000
GP/patrol car 5000/6000
Traffic/area/advanced car 7000/8000
Advanced car Central units 9000
The car predates my time but the numbering system was around for decades and still is so likely to have been in place in the late 60’s
As I said if you want me to I can ask around for you on some closed sites
Royalty Protection and DPG weren't formed as separate entities until after the Jag's were long gone, so it would be interesting to find out who/what it was allocated to with that low fleet number, and still being I presume an otherwise normal black area car spec Jag?It’s possible that it was an allocated car to a specific (very) senior officer or it could have been attached to Royal or Diplomatic Protection duties
Most senior officers had access to pool cars and driver’s which ferries them around and they weren’t usually that fancy, though some such as the Commissioner/Deputy had their own
Most cars had a four/five digit fleet number with the first one identifying the role
ie:
Low numbers were specialist stuff iirc including buses/trucks and vehicles attached to units at HQ
Van 3000/4000
GP/patrol car 5000/6000
Traffic/area/advanced car 7000/8000
Advanced car Central units 9000
The car predates my time but the numbering system was around for decades and still is so likely to have been in place in the late 60’s
As I said if you want me to I can ask around for you on some closed sites
LanceRS said:
Is it possible that it was supplied for evaluation by the driving school, or maybe used for initial driver training before the blue light part of the course?
I would say no.The Met had already been using the S-Type for 3 years, and the driving school wouldn't have used Jag's for the lesser courses, and used cheaper cars for the skid pan and preliminary parts of the course. Probably still using a lot of old Wolseley 6/99's still for that.....the later 6/110 were still in use as area cars in some of the inner divs at this time. The last 6/110's stayed until about 1970, only a year or so before the last S-Types left service.
The low mileage of only 10k or so, after a year in service is the puzzle.....as these things racked up lots of miles per week in pretty much most Met use.
I would love to be put in touch with others that have more information. I have bee working on this mystery off and on for over 20 years. I have sought photos for that would explain much.. The other mystery is the placement of the antenna on the rear. It is on the opposite side of every METPOL A-type I have seen. The opening was stamped into the body at the factory and not a later addition
Now that the low milage is brought up it raises two questions for me Why the plain aluminum head? I understand that the garage would pull a new one (possibly) off the shelf to do a repair, but that seems unusual for such low mileage. Not so much for a gear box problem.
In doing the rebuild, it was discovered that brass shims had been used on the main bearings wearing the crankshaft down. This may have been done after the car came to the US, but it seems rather uncommon
In doing the rebuild, it was discovered that brass shims had been used on the main bearings wearing the crankshaft down. This may have been done after the car came to the US, but it seems rather uncommon
Webserve00 said:
I would love to be put in touch with others that have more information. I have bee working on this mystery off and on for over 20 years. I have sought photos for that would explain much.. The other mystery is the placement of the antenna on the rear. It is on the opposite side of every METPOL A-type I have seen. The opening was stamped into the body at the factory and not a later addition
Clark I have copied your posts into some other closed groups, if I get any response I will post them on this thread
Regards and here’s hoping your mystery can be solved
Earthdweller said:
Webserve00 said:
I would love to be put in touch with others that have more information. I have bee working on this mystery off and on for over 20 years. I have sought photos for that would explain much.. The other mystery is the placement of the antenna on the rear. It is on the opposite side of every METPOL A-type I have seen. The opening was stamped into the body at the factory and not a later addition
Clark I have copied your posts into some other closed groups, if I get any response I will post them on this thread
Regards and here’s hoping your mystery can be solved
Hopefully your car will be mentioned
As soon as he comes back to me I’ll let you know
Hello. I am a newbie so bear with me. I happened to type into Google earlier today SUU 491F Jaguar 3.4S (was also going to try SUU 491G as the other possibility) and couldn't believe that SUU 491F came up on your website. I saw a posting by williamp on a thread by someone called Clark in April. There were no pictures and I don't know who is the present owner of the car but it appeared to me that the car was now in North Carolina! My late father purchased SUU 491F (or SUU 491G) a black 3.4S in 1970/71 from Monaghan Brothers garage in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland when it was 3 years old. I was 9 years old at the time. We knew it had been a Metropolitan Police car and my father was a serving police officer in Co. Fermanagh at the time. It was automatic. My father paid £500 for it and had it re-registered as AIL 5960 which was a Fermanagh registration number. I remember finding on the passenger side a black sticky tape with the original registration (white ticker type digits) and there was also a four digit number but I don't remember it. However I am not in agreement about the comments on the roof lights - in the roof lining you could see where the two front spotlights and the centre blue light had been positioned but certainly from the outside it was hard to see any evidence that they had been there. A couple of other things - the original engine was indeed replaced with one from a 3.8 or maybe a 4.2, maybe a Daimler, can't remember exactly when but it was about 1980. I remember my father buying this other car to replace the engine but he drove it for a while first. By that time the car had been completely resprayed but money was tight and I think some type of cheaper cellulose paint was used. The rear driver's side panel above rear bumper was damaged in 1982 when I accidentally reversed into it with my car. The automatic gearbox gave problems on more than one occasion (losing first gear) so the comments on the thread about this were spot on. I don't remember us being told about that when we bought the car but maybe we were told and I just didn't know. The replacement engine blew up about 1985/86 and my father just lost heart. It lay outside a garage at the side of the road for nearly five years until my father sold it for £500 in 1990/1991 to someone who was going to try and get it restored. Never heard anything about the car afterwards. That was over 30 years ago! Hopefully this message can be seen by whoever owns the car now. Would love to see a picture of it now and am happy to show mine in return. Thanks everyone. Selwyn
Earthdweller said:
Please see my entry today regarding your query on SUU 491F. Regards. Selwyn
Great story Clark
It’s a bit before my time so hard to know what it’s likely to Have been used for
If you’re on Facebook there are a couple of groups for “old U.K. police cars” and one for “metropolitan police vehicles” there are some very knowledgeable folks on there so it’s possible someone might have some info
If you’re not on fb I will happily ask on the groups on your behalf if you wish
Regards and enjoy the car
Edit to add
There are some closed ( hidden) groups for retired Met officers that I can on for you
Great story Clark
It’s a bit before my time so hard to know what it’s likely to Have been used for
If you’re on Facebook there are a couple of groups for “old U.K. police cars” and one for “metropolitan police vehicles” there are some very knowledgeable folks on there so it’s possible someone might have some info
If you’re not on fb I will happily ask on the groups on your behalf if you wish
Regards and enjoy the car
Edit to add
There are some closed ( hidden) groups for retired Met officers that I can on for you
Edited by Earthdweller on Saturday 23 April 20:56
SUU491F said:
Hello. I am a newbie so bear with me. I happened to type into Google earlier today SUU 491F Jaguar 3.4S (was also going to try SUU 491G as the other possibility) and couldn't believe that SUU 491F came up on your website. I saw a posting by williamp on a thread by someone called Clark in April. There were no pictures and I don't know who is the present owner of the car but it appeared to me that the car was now in North Carolina! My late father purchased SUU 491F (or SUU 491G) a black 3.4S in 1970/71 from Monaghan Brothers garage in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland when it was 3 years old. I was 9 years old at the time. We knew it had been a Metropolitan Police car and my father was a serving police officer in Co. Fermanagh at the time. It was automatic. My father paid £500 for it and had it re-registered as AIL 5960 which was a Fermanagh registration number. I remember finding on the passenger side a black sticky tape with the original registration (white ticker type digits) and there was also a four digit number but I don't remember it. However I am not in agreement about the comments on the roof lights - in the roof lining you could see where the two front spotlights and the centre blue light had been positioned but certainly from the outside it was hard to see any evidence that they had been there.
It was probably late '70, as they were usually sold off after about 2 years use, especially if allocated to an outer Division, as they covered more miles. The later batch of G reg cars (incl WGK ***G batch) were sold off at the end of '71 and these were the last Jags. If it had the mickey mouse roof lights it would indicate it was most likely allocated to one of the outer divisions, not a guarantee, but much higher likely hood.
Given the use of the Daimler service centre in Willesden was used to do the gearbox change under warranty, my guess would be that it was being used by a local outer division to there which would be then relatively recently created Q division, or neighboring X or S divisions (if it was an former X division area car, I might well even have ridden in it at some point!!)
SUU491F said:
Hello. I am a newbie so bear with me. I happened to type into Google earlier today SUU 491F Jaguar 3.4S (was also going to try SUU 491G as the other possibility) and couldn't believe that SUU 491F came up on your website. I saw a posting by williamp on a thread by someone called Clark in April. There were no pictures and I don't know who is the present owner of the car but it appeared to me that the car was now in North Carolina! My late father purchased SUU 491F (or SUU 491G)
It would have been 491F: SUU was only issued with an F-suffix, from Aug '67 - May '68 incl. SUU was not issued with a G-suffix, they were using TUU by then.TarquinMX5 said:
SUU491F said:
Hello. I am a newbie so bear with me. I happened to type into Google earlier today SUU 491F Jaguar 3.4S (was also going to try SUU 491G as the other possibility) and couldn't believe that SUU 491F came up on your website. I saw a posting by williamp on a thread by someone called Clark in April. There were no pictures and I don't know who is the present owner of the car but it appeared to me that the car was now in North Carolina! My late father purchased SUU 491F (or SUU 491G)
It would have been 491F: SUU was only issued with an F-suffix, from Aug '67 - May '68 incl. SUU was not issued with a G-suffix, they were using TUU by then.At least 2 of the surviving Met area car S-Types are in the WGK 4**G series.
And here's a period photo of a Met Traf Pol S-Type in the WGK 4**G series
Edited by aeropilot on Tuesday 2nd August 20:29
Regarding black Jaguar S-Type SUU491F; this was certainly a Driving School car! My son ,Jim, found a photograph of the car on the internet, parked in the background inside Hendon Driving School, while still in service. The registration number is clearly and completely shown. The car has no blue light, or "Mickey Mouse" spotlights, which was normal for a Driving School car. I have seen much later photographs of the car, taken in the U.S. with a blue light in the centre of the roof, but it would never have had that in service. I do not know the current whereabouts or condition of SUU491F.
I owned the only other known surviving Driving School car, NVB269E, a manual non-overdrive car. By incredible quirk of fate, that car had also been imported into the U.S. I had it shipped back to the U.K. to restore, but sold the car to another collector and restorer when I acquired SUU441F, which is in exact service condition.
Regarding fleet numbers; do not expect any rhyme, reason or logic. They would follow consecutively in accordance with the registration numbers, then jump hundreds for no apparent reason. For example WGK499G had the fleet number 625, while WGK500G had the fleet number 1798. My own car, registered SUU441F, registered nearly a year earlier has the fleet number 1841. Figure that one out. I can't!
I am trying to compile a complete list of all the Met S-Types, surviving or not, and would be happy to hear of any previously unknown cars.
I owned the only other known surviving Driving School car, NVB269E, a manual non-overdrive car. By incredible quirk of fate, that car had also been imported into the U.S. I had it shipped back to the U.K. to restore, but sold the car to another collector and restorer when I acquired SUU441F, which is in exact service condition.
Regarding fleet numbers; do not expect any rhyme, reason or logic. They would follow consecutively in accordance with the registration numbers, then jump hundreds for no apparent reason. For example WGK499G had the fleet number 625, while WGK500G had the fleet number 1798. My own car, registered SUU441F, registered nearly a year earlier has the fleet number 1841. Figure that one out. I can't!
I am trying to compile a complete list of all the Met S-Types, surviving or not, and would be happy to hear of any previously unknown cars.
Minsterjagman said:
Regarding black Jaguar S-Type SUU491F; this was certainly a Driving School car! My son ,Jim, found a photograph of the car on the internet, parked in the background inside Hendon Driving School, while still in service. The registration number is clearly and completely shown. The car has no blue light, or "Mickey Mouse" spotlights, which was normal for a Driving School car. I have seen much later photographs of the car, taken in the U.S. with a blue light in the centre of the roof, but it would never have had that in service. I do not know the current whereabouts or condition of SUU491F.
I owned the only other known surviving Driving School car, NVB269E, a manual non-overdrive car. By incredible quirk of fate, that car had also been imported into the U.S. I had it shipped back to the U.K. to restore, but sold the car to another collector and restorer when I acquired SUU441F, which is in exact service condition.
Regarding fleet numbers; do not expect any rhyme, reason or logic. They would follow consecutively in accordance with the registration numbers, then jump hundreds for no apparent reason. For example WGK499G had the fleet number 625, while WGK500G had the fleet number 1798. My own car, registered SUU441F, registered nearly a year earlier has the fleet number 1841. Figure that one out. I can't!
I am trying to compile a complete list of all the Met S-Types, surviving or not, and would be happy to hear of any previously unknown cars.
So, back to my original suggestion of being a Driving School Car, which I tied in with the reason it had the gearbox replacement at Daimler in Willesden.I owned the only other known surviving Driving School car, NVB269E, a manual non-overdrive car. By incredible quirk of fate, that car had also been imported into the U.S. I had it shipped back to the U.K. to restore, but sold the car to another collector and restorer when I acquired SUU441F, which is in exact service condition.
Regarding fleet numbers; do not expect any rhyme, reason or logic. They would follow consecutively in accordance with the registration numbers, then jump hundreds for no apparent reason. For example WGK499G had the fleet number 625, while WGK500G had the fleet number 1798. My own car, registered SUU441F, registered nearly a year earlier has the fleet number 1841. Figure that one out. I can't!
I am trying to compile a complete list of all the Met S-Types, surviving or not, and would be happy to hear of any previously unknown cars.
It had to be either Hendon based, or one of the 2 or 3 north west divisions.
Only possible explanation for the fleet numbers randomness is that they re-allocated fleet numbers from vehicles that had been sold out of service each time, hence the random allocation of numbers?
As you say, there otherwise appears to be no logic to the numbering otherwise
Would love to see any info of any details of the S-Types that served on X Div if you ever find that out.
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