The first UK police force to be equipped with SD1's was the West Yorkshire force. Described some years ago by a motor magazine as 'The definitive police car of the 80’s' many of these now ex-police SD1's except for one that I know of (see picture below right) are owned by clubs members and enthusiasts of the Rover SD1. Most are now in de-policed form (usually white) and are in normal daily use. Just a few have been restored to there former glory, more are in the process of restoration. If yours is white and has holes drilled in strange places? You may have an ex police SD1? to find out check for the letter 'X' in the chassis/Vin number? A series 2, VIN number may look something like this:- SARRRXWV7CM123456 the 'X' will denote police specification version. While similar in appearance to standard models the police SD1’s had a number of important modifications too numerous to mention here. Modifications did included much stiffer suspension, this made the ride quite hard (poor chaps!) The braking system was modified to improve stopping power (well a bit anyway!) It is said that all the faulty and dented panels were assigned to police car production? Other changes were to electric's trim and accessories, i.e. no thick pile carpets, electric windows, sunroof and definitely no air-conditioning! ‘A policeman's lot is not a happy one’. Extra electrical power and wiring were factory installed to power radios, sirens, lights and other necessary equipment; kettle, toaster, hair dryers etc. You may have wondered why your dash panel had those extra holes?
	Contrary to popular belief they were not specially tuned, they were not all V8’s either. Although some forces did have some Vitesse’s. The Royal protection squad also has some, a few where twin plenums. The reason given for using the SD1's was explained as, they needed a powerful car with some weight, for ramming cars out of the way should the need arise? I hope you did not buy one of those? Towards the end of SD1 production (mid 1986) BL/Rover had large stocks of unsold cars and were keen to dispose of them quickly as the new model
was now in production (The 800 model) Large numbers were offered to police forces at knock down prices, I have heard for as little as £3000 each? These were from normal production runs and included some high spec cars i.e. VDP's Vitesse's even some twin plenums! SD1 club members own two of the latter. Presumably police forces had to make there own arrangement's for equipment installation. There were a number of complaints at that time by members of the public, asking why are the police

being allowed to go whizzing about in luxury cars wasting tax payers money? In fact the opposite was true, although they did go whizzing about! However these complaints were taken seriously by police chiefs who then ordered the removal of all model identifying badges, like the VandenPlas and Vitesse badges from the back, also police crews were instructed when talking to the public, to pretend they were winding the windows down manually! before saying the customary 'Ello Ello Ello what's going on ere then? When these cars reach the end of their service life, they are decommissioned and

carefully submitted to car auctions. Often described in this manor: Ladies and gentlemen, here we have a very desirable car, clean and very comfortable, the mileage a little on the high side, but it has only had ONE CAREFUL OWNER (usually the Chief constable) It is a myth to believe that these vehicles have been carefully used, some will have had accident damage, engines and transmissions will have had very heavy use. 'Here we go then a clean one owner car, who will start the bidding.? silence reigns'. Doug King