August 2013
I drove this car!
It was based for some of it's life at Gomersal (near Dewsbury) Police Post and was used for both Motorway and also general Road Traffic Patrol.
The SD1 was a big lump of a car and hard work to drive, not least because the Force disabled the power steering so we could 'feel' the car through corners at speed. A good idea but then when it came to parallel parking in a tight space your arms and shoulders got a serious workout!
You're right the lighting gantry as you call it (They were referred to a 'Federals' because that was the name of the manufacturer) did impact on the top speed and acceleration but also the drivetrain did not have the same 'guts' as the earlier models which were fitted with just a 'nipple' blue light and that coupled with a gutsy engine/gearbox meant that the earlier models were a lot quicker.
I once chased a motorcycle down Ainley Bank (near Huddersfield) on the M62. I knew there was another of our cars on the observation ramp halfway down, doing Vascar, and called forward to them to let them know I was coming. As I went past they called and said the motorcycle was too quick for them but they Vascar'ed me and I was doing 137.5 MPH! I got the motorcycle in the end but at some cost as the Gearbox on the SD1 blew up in 5th gear! The auxillary shaft had just twisted and sheared with all the torque that was going on in there. Read more
Best one I remember was the blue Metropolitan police P6 3500 Rover's with the chrome search lamps on the roof and a single siren on the roof that and the Ford Grandas and Rover P6 3500 S variants and SD1's and I even remember Ford Zodiacs and Transit mk1's , those were the days. Read more
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