About me
Club Links
SD1 History
Cars and Spares
Downloads
Technical Data
Projects
Classic Insurance
Links
Contact
Home
A short introduction to the Rover SD1 used by various police forces in the UK from the mid 70's into the late 80's.

By the mid-16th century wealthy citizens often resorted to paying deputies to assume their turns as constables; as this practice became widespread, the quality of the constables declined drastically. In 1663 the city of London began paying watchmen (generally old men who were unable to find other work) to guard the streets at night. Until the end of the 18th century, the watchmen—as inefficient as they were—as well as a few constables, remained the only form of policing in the city. The inability of watchmen and constables to curb lawlessness, particularly in London, led to a demand for a more effective force to deal with criminals and to protect the populace. After much deliberation in Parliament, the British statesman Sir Robert Peel in 1829 established the London Metropolitan Police, which became the world's first modern organised police force. The development of the British police system is especially significant because the pattern that emerged not only became a model for the American police system but also had great influence on the style of policing in almost all industrial societies.

The Metropolitan Police force was guided by the concept of crime prevention as a primary police objective; it also embodied the belief that such a force depended on the consent and co-operation of the public, and the idea that police constables were to be civil and courteous to the people. The force was well organised and disciplined and, after an initial period of public skepticism, became the model for other police forces in Great Britain. Several years later the Royal Irish Constabulary was formed, and Australia, India, and Canada soon established similar organisations. Other countries, impressed by the success of the plan, followed suit until nations throughout the world had adopted police systems based on the British model.

The first UK police force to be equipped with the SD1 was the West Yorkshire. 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?
Bow Street runners click here
Contrary to popular belief they were not specially tuned, they were not all V8’s either, a large number of area cars were 2600's. Although some forces did have a few Vitesse’s. The Royal protection squad also has some, a few were twin plenums. The reason given for using the SD1's was explained as, a powerful car was needed 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 a new model. was now in production intended to replace the SD1 this was The Rover 800 model series. These in my view have never come anywhere near the SD1's popularity among Rover enthusiasts.
Large batches of SD1's 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.
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 the 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'.

D King
First a brief history of British Police Forces.
During the Middle Ages, policing authorities in England, was the responsibility of local nobles on their individual estates. Each noble generally appointed an official, known as a constable, to carry out the law. The constable's duties included keeping the peace and arresting and guarding criminals. For many decades constables were unpaid citizens who took turns at the job, which became increasingly burdensome and unpopular.
|Home|who am I?|Club Links|SD1 History|Cars-Spares|Downloads|Projects|Insurance|Links|Contact|