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Factory photo Jaguar S-type Police Car interior B SB521 Factory photo Jaguar S-type Police car SB521 Factory photo Jaguar S-type Police car interior A SB521
There were over 260 ‘S’-types produced for UK police forces. Jaguar produced a ‘police specification’ specially for police departments. Jaguar Engineering Schedule, ref. A.202, is a supplement to the main ‘S’-type Engineering Schedule, ref. A.175. It covers the modifications/additions made to ‘S’-type police cars. It runs about 70 pages. Not all Police cars were fitted with the complete range of available changes as each jurisdiction’s requirements varied in some ways.
The Newsletter of the International Jaguar ‘S’-type Register has carried over 20 articles on the ‘S’-type police cars. That information, and more, was consolidated in the Enclosures to Newsletter Vol. 7, Nos. 3 and 4, which are available upon request.
All the interior woodwork is specified as 'black ebony stain' rather than burled Walnut. On The Met’s cars, the wood between the vent controls on the parcel shelf was a high gloss enamel. The dash cap, speedometer fascia and glove box facia were satin black. The remaining wood was painted a flat black.
The centre gauge panel on Police ‘S’-types is not wood. It has the same grained plastic as the Mk2. The secondary panel has switches for the gong, the siren, the top flood lights, the front flood light, and the blue beacon. It also housed the front plate for the PYE radio-transceiver housed in the boot. There is also no slide tray under the panel. Above the heater controls were the loudspeaker for the radio telephone and there was no centre console fitted.
In front of the driver was either a special (accurate for the 4.09 diff ratio) speedometer in the left position, so the passenger officer could read the speed when following a car. On some non-The Met cars, two speedometers were fitted, the second speedometer fitted in the rev. counter position. The only other instrument on this panel is the brake indicator lamp.
On Police ‘S’-types, the glove box was open (no door) and did not have a blue glove box light or switch. It held the radio microphone.
There were also ‘Special’ (undefined) sun visors fitted to Police cars.
Fascinating stuff.
Over the years a lot of manufacturers produced "police specials" but I never realised that Jaguar was so involved.
I wonder if any of these cars still exist today?
Many years ago I helped a fellow (in Ireland??) source the grills for the foglight fill. As I recall there was one fog and one grill on the one he was restoring. Point is, I know there is at least one left LOL
Fascinating stuff.
Over the years a lot of manufacturers produced "police specials" but I never realised that Jaguar was so involved.
I wonder if any of these cars still exist today?
We have a chap on the S Type Register that owns 3 of them. Mk2's sans back seat were more prevalent with their smaller boot. They had 1 fog light & one night claxon behind the RHS grill
The ‘S’-type Register has researched ‘S’-type police cars for over 20 years. Our police car archives contain 358 MB of data and photographs.
All of the above questions – and more – are answered in two Newsletter Enclosures published a few years ago. If you would like copies of them, please PM your email to me.
David is the man with all the data in this regard as Founder & Editor of the S type Register & Newsletter. My sources are from other reading. Especially the Mk2 data that is of little interest to the Register.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Aug 25, 2022 at 08:03 PM.
It is great to see that unique cars like these S type police specials are being preserved.
I had no idea that they even existed.in the first place.
Thankyou for the information.
Cheers
'S'-type police cars
