The Register was set up in 1996 with the aims of establishing which police forces used Mini Coopers, to identify and record the specification of the cars used, to register cars which still survive, to formulate relationships with police force archivists and museums, and provide advice on availability of police equipment for restorers.
At the time the Register was started the Liverpool and Bootle force cars were fairly well documented and some of the Manchester force cars were known about. I have been quite successful in gaining information on cars from the follow
ing forces:
Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Ulster, West Yorkshire, Metropolitan, Essex, Hampshire, Gateshead and Pembroke County. No doubt there are others which have not come to light yet. The majority of forces ran the Cooper ‘S’ although the "Met" are known to have had Mk 2 Coopers. The "bobbies" that I have spoken with all enjoyed using the ‘S’s even if they sometimes struggled to fit in them!
The force with the largest number of cars registered is Liverpool, probably because they were the force with the most cars, as over the period from 1966 to 1971 they registered twenty seven cars each year and kept them for two years. At any one time they had fifty four cars on the road. At present the only cars I can call on for display in correct colour and livery are a couple of Liverpool cars. There are a number of other cars from various forces under restoration which always seems to take longer than the restoration of standard cars, probably because police cars had an extremely hard life and were quite popular purchases from the police by people who wished to go rallying!
Cars are still being discovered and recently a Liverpool MK3 ‘S’ was founded in a garden only twenty minutes from where I live!
Added advantaged of police car ownership are the opportunity to display the cars at Emergency Services shows, police displays and film and TV work which can be quite lucrative.
Finally, you’ll probably find that ex-police cars are rarer than ex-works cars and always create a lot of interest when displayed.
