VLC 847M? Ex police car?

L

lewis2392

Member
I recently bought a 1974 Rover 3500s with reg number VLC 847M and a few weeks ago an old boy came down the driveway and said he was in the met police in the 70's, based in peckham and was adament that this vehicle was the one he used to drive. Really strange but he was absolutely certain as he recognised the reg number. Just wondering if anyone could confirm this or throw anymore light on this vehicle and its history.
Many Thanks
Lewis
 
I couldn't say, but aren't there usually clues of police ownership in the form of signs of extra fittings, radio....etc? You know, screwholes & such, maybe a zip in the headlining where the blue light was attached. Have a look around the car for evidence, like the ex-copper should have done. :LOL:
 
I will ask around and see if anyone knows about it. You could look for holes in the roof , boot ,under the engine bay etc. What colour is it?
Best thing to do would be to complete a DVLA history form , will give you a list of past owners

Andy

www.film-cars.co.uk
 
Hello. Thanks for replies, i cant find any holes or anything that shouldnt be there but the car is blue in colour. i may try this dvla form and see if it helps :) Thanks again
 
Btw, I think all the police cars of this era were white with a flourescent red body stripe.

If you have this car, please send some pics as I'd love to see it today. I still have some stuff for it, owners manual etc and probably service records. I was the second owner and bought it from my girlfriends (at the time) father. He was a history teacher and bought this car new in Barnet, North London. I had it from 1985 to maybe 91 ... when I thought it was involved in an accident.

Rob
 
460rob said:
Btw, I think all the police cars of this era were white with a flourescent red body stripe.
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No, the Met ones were that (or similar) blue, (I reduced many of them down to their component parts when they came out of service. Usually with hard frontal damage...) with a very few white ones thrown in. They had a good few "Q" cars in various colours.
 
No, the Met ones were that (or similar) blue, (I reduced many of them down to their component parts when they came out of service. Usually with hard frontal damage...) with a very few white ones thrown in. They had a good few "Q" cars in various colours.
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interesting ... were the police spec cars equipped differently than standard models, bigger brakes, different heads etc?
 
No, as far as I remember they were all standard, (apart from the very few "S" models that had uprated gearbox internals), and they were all non-PAS. It's possible they had uprated springs and dampers, but they weren't so different that you'd notice. They did all come with "S" wheeltrims, knackered driver's seats, and two rather fetching zips in the headlinings....
 
Met police used them in blue and white ,some with just a single blue lights ,others had 'micky mouse' spot lights fitted. Mets also had some S reg ones striped before the SD1 came out.
Other forces used them striped , and many forces used them on driving school (training 'traffic' drivers).
There are 3/4 'real' ex met police cars about (in blue) and my replica , also 3/4 stripped versions about on the show scene i know about (i'm sure they are many other tucked away)
 
I had an ex Manchester force 3500s back in the 80s & 90s HVM626N and that had heavy duty shock absorbers I think from a landrover fitted it also had extra strengthening pieces welded alongside the front lower mounting points;a different camshaft fitted;various extra relays and wireing everywhere and it went like the proverbial s#@t off a shovel it was also a handful to drive as it was equipped with Denovo wheels and manual steering I used to have biceps like Popeye from hauling the thing around - it also had those nice little spoilers fitted to the front valance

Mal
 
your car does not sound like a Met police car, the ones used on the police districts were mid blue with black interior white cars were traffic division cars. About this time some cars were fitted with a computer location system which then accounted for more holes in the roof one either side of the car in line with the meeting of the front and rear doors also these cars had a lot of electronic stuff in the boot. Also by this time the mickey mouse ears spot lights had more or less disappeared. I spent many humdreds of hours in these cars in the Metpol. and I also have owned about seven of them including two S models. P.S. with the Met cars the low position on the automatic gear shift was blocked off to stop shifting into low at high speed as the transmission could not take the strain.These cars were amazing for the work they did I have been in a duty car that wore out a set of front pads in less than thirty days pads calipers and rotors front and rear were replaced and the car was back on duty in less than eight hours.
 
Mal, that suspension spec is sometimes known as Police spec, but was actualoly available as an option and described as Heavy Duty. It would also have haad 10% stiffer rear springs, but you might not have noticed that! The front shockers with this set up are very stiff indeed, so they had a tendency to tear the bottom mount out of the chassis rail - hence the strengthening ears on the chassis.

Chris
 
Green Parrot said:
P.S. with the Met cars the low position on the automatic gear shift was blocked off to stop shifting into low at high speed as the transmission could not take the strain.
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It's only now that you mention that that I remember the little plate that used to bolt on to the bottom of the lever that was used to do that.
 
Hey Lewis, I'd still love to see a pic of my old 3500S (VLC 847M) if you get a chance. If you are restoring it I've still got the manual, service history and brochures, as well as a load of the old P6 owners club books. Saw them back at my mums this past Christmas and I'm sure she'd like to see the back of them :)

Cheers
Rob
 
Hello there. Im afraid i have now sold the vehicle. The man i sold her to seemed keen he was going to restore her so hopefully shes somewhere being loved :)
 
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