We were very interested to read in today's Times newspaper (17th June 2010) that the UK police have gone back to using trusty Rover SD1 V8 saloons, like the one we hire out here at Great Escape. Apparently with felons to apprehend nearby and a dearth of modern patrol cars in the car park, officers at Ruislip in Middlesex had to use a Rover 3500 SD1 kept in the police car pool.The Rover SD1, in full police livery complete with blue flashing lights, apparently belongs to one of the officers at the station and is one of three police-liveried cars that he owns. He also has a 1962 Jaguar Mk2 and a 1956 Wolseley. In similar circumstances with the long arm of the law to extend, for us it would have been a toss up between the Mk2 and SD1 - the Jaguar Mk2 is more powerful (220 bhp according to Jaguar, versus 155bhp for the Rover) but the SD1 copes better with taking corners on the doorhandles. We are told.
Full marks to the police and we hope the miscreants were apprehended. Perhaps they gave up - after all, who'd want to miss a cosseting ride in the big 80s Rover?
You can imagine recreating the scene with Great Escape Classic Car Hire's 1986 Rover SD1 Vitesse - the ultimate high performance limited production Twin Plenum model. You can hire it by the day or weekend with classic car hire prices starting at £165 for 24 hours, including insurance and unlimited mileage.