Police Line Up at 2009 Classic Motor Show

BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM – August 4, 2009: Evenin’ all... No matter what your age, whether you’re from the Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars or Juliet Bravo generation, there’s bound to be a panda car or jam sandwich which will make you go all nostalgic at the 2009 Classic Motor Show, held from 13-15th November at Birmingham’s NEC. And hopefully, for all the right reasons...

First off, there’s the Police Car UK stand which will be showing an arresting line up of no fewer than six classic British Police vehicles.

Complementing the 2009 CMS theme of great driving roads, the stand will be focused on ‘50 years policing Britain’s Motorways’, featuring patrol cars from four decades – the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies and Eighties.

“We plan to have two ‘sides’ to our stand, one side for the older vehicles and one for the more modern ones, and hope to represent this as the two carriageways,” says Stuart Exelby from Police Car UK.

The impressive Police UK line up will include: an MGA roadster from Lancashire, a Humber Super Snipe estate from Hampshire (the last one in existence), a Jaguar 340 from Somerset & Bath, a Range Rover from Greater Manchester (this force had the largest fleet of Range Rovers in Britain), a Rover SD1 from London, and another car from Hampshire – a Series III Jaguar XJ6 – just one of 16 cars Hampshire Constabulary originally operated.

Whilst most of the cars will be familiar to many people, the same won’t be necessarily said for the stories behind them. Like, for example, the reason Lancashire Police adopted MGAs was to make their officers more visible and accessible to the public – and that the Constabulary even had an MGA display team, which demonstrated their skills to music.

If that still isn’t enough police four-wheeled action for you and you’d like to see something from further afield, then DDK, Die Deutschen Klassiker – the internet-based aircooled pre-1974 Porsche club – has a treat lined up for you: an über rare 1958 Porsche 356A formerly used by the Austrian police.

“We understand this is the only one left from just three made for the Austrian police and only 16 worldwide. It comes complete with the uniform worn by its original driver, as well as his warrant card and handheld stop-sign,” says Helen Goff from DDK.

Held from the 13-15th November at the NEC near Birmingham, the Classic Motor Show is Britain’s largest classic motoring event with thousands of wide-ranging cars on show as well as a dedicated Classic Bike hall. For more information, the latest show updates and to book tickets, visit www.necclassicmotorshow.com.