MG Car Club of South Australia
MGC NEWS MGC conversations by Richard Mixture , February 2017
H
M . G . s on Patrol ave you ever wondered how many MGs the UK police bought ? No , neither had I until the Director General of Indoor Duties , you know who I mean , yes , Mrs Mixture , bought me a wonderful book for Christmas . Oh yes , it ’ s Richard here for the New Year . I hope it ’ s wonderful for you too ! Now where was I ?
Police cars . How does 955 plus a few modern ones sound . That ’ s a hell of a lot of black cars , plus a few white ones and the odd red and blue and BRG cars . Next question , what was the most prolific MG model bought by the police ? MGCs maybe ? No , but Met bought 31 MGC roadsters and the Lancashire Constabulary bought 21 CGTs . They were all white ones . If you said MG TCs , well you ’ re close . They bought 113 TCs and found them a little cramped and were pleased to move on to the roomier new model , the MGA ! All up they bought 65 1500s , 1600s and M k I I s M G A s . Thankfully no Twin Cams Allan . The answer is MGBs of course . 79 roadsters and 129 BGTs .
All these numbers are listed in “ M . G . s on Patrol ” by Andrea Green . She tells a fascinating story about the development of the
police force in the UK starting with the formation of the new ‘ Police ’ in 1829 . The new name was taken from the Greek ‘ politeia ’. As early as 1904 the Metropolitan Police purchased two cars but the mechanisation of the force was slow even for the authorisation to use bicycles . “ However , in 1933 the then Chief Constable of Bedfordshire , Lt . Col . F . A . D Stephens , found that experience with motorcycle combinations showed they were not really suitable for police work and these should be replaced by cars .”
Also in 1933 the Home Secretary announced that “ telephones are installed in practically every police station in the country ...”. In 1935 the Home Secretary informed Parliament of the development of a rapid wireless communication system that can be installed in police motor vehicles . However the wireless created problems in
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