Month: September 2011

After Woodall Nicholson and Coleman Milne joined forces in the 1980s they turned out some interesting Rover Group-based conversions amongst their more usual Ford-based fodder. However, Woodall Nicholson had previously […]

Woodall Nicholson produced this curious-looking stretched Landcrab, along with a far more elegant hearse… THIS Austin 2200-based limousine, which had clearly seen better days, appeared on eBay at least twice […]

Being nippy and economical, Minis were mainly used as Panda cars, although some forces elected to use the Cooper versions as Patrol cars. Mini A Befordshire Mini Panda car photographed […]

Austin 1100/1300 Panda cars were a common sight in the 1970s, as were Metro Area cars in the 1980s. Less common in Police hands were the 1800 ‘Land crab’ and […]

The Morris Minor was a very popular Panda car throughout the 1960s. Also shown here is what must be one of the rarest of police cars, the Morris 1800, which […]

These days it’s hard to imagine the police zipping around in a two-seater sports car, but from the 1930s through to the 1960s, some of them did just that. Today’s […]

The Police’s loyalty to the Wolseley marque was remarkably strong right up to the mid-1960s. In fact, watch any British black & white crime film, and you’ll probably see one […]

It takes one to catch one: in fact, some British police forces were using Jaguar saloons as early as the 1940s, but they came into their own as motorway patrol […]

Like their counterparts Rover, Triumph had long been suppliers of cars to the Police, ableit less prodigiously, for many years prior to the 1968 merger. Here we see a couple […]

The General Post Office (GPO) had long-favoured Morris vans both for Royal Mail and Telephones duties, and this loyalty was maintained throughout the BMC era and right into the early […]

The installation and maintenance of Britain’s telephone network was originally the responsibility of the Post Office, and as with their purchases of Royal Mail vans, Morris (and later BMC) was […]

Prior to the 1968 merger with Leyland, BMC was busily cultivating its own range of trucks, writes DECLAN BERRIDGE… These trucks were mainly derived from the former products of Morris […]

Following the 1952 merger, BMC rationalised its van range by concentrating on the Morris models. However, in order to keep their separate Austin and Morris dealer chains supplied, they turned […]

For many years, the small and medium-sized Austin and Morris vans produced by BMC were almost as familar a sight on British roads as the cars on which they were […]

Steven Ward As you may have read in Blogs, three teams from the AROnline family participated in the recent RatRod Rally from Calais to Romania. Two of these teams used […]

The small Standards might well be almost forgotten today, but that doesn’t mean their story is any less fascinating. Robert Leitch tells their fascinating story, as well as that of […]

Mike Humble goes On The Buses, dons his drivers cap and brushes up on his Phwoars and Cor Blimey’s whilst getting behind the wheel of the latest bus built in the plant which […]

Under the skin, there was plenty to crow about the Rover Metro of 1990 – the K-Series engine and interconnected Hydragas suspension were a technical marvel in this class. However, […]

Keith Adams Despite the world and its daughter knowing that there’s a new small Jaguar sports car on its way, the appearance, and overall beauty of the C-X16 still managed […]

Keith Adams Here’s a strange and yet compelling one to get your teeth into – a chrome and carbonfibre-wrapped Rover Metro Rio. Obviously, it’s going to be an acquired taste […]