Police Patrol

Police Patrol - 20

Replaced: Lamborghini Marzal Replaced by: Volvo Container Truck (1986)

Not dissimilar to Hondarora, Police Patrol was another new for 1975 model produced for a long time with many various colour schemes. It was completely different though, being a chunky vehicle looking like a Range Rover police car. It was a Rola-Matic, too, the working feature being the rotating light inside the dome ('gumball light' in the U.S.A.). The frosted windows where there to hide the lack of an interior, which was taken up by gears used to make the light turn. Pre-production models had the light's flat face plated with chrome, but production models did not have this feature as it made it harder to see the light working. Although some realism was lost in the effort made to make the light spin, it soldiered on for 11 years.

The first examples where white with an orange stripe label along the side to make it look like a generic U.K. police car. The base and grille went unpainted and the 'interior' was orange or sometimes yellow, a strange choice considering British police vehicles usually had blue lights. It appeared in the Construction Site gift set in 1976 in orange with a 'Site Engineer' sticker on the doors. It also appeared briefly in the Two-Pack range as a military ambulance coloured olive drab with a Red Cross labe on either side.

A model was made in 1981 exclusive to France to commemarate the Paris-Dakar Rally. This example was mid-blue with a yellow label saying 'Securite - Rallye Paris - Dakar 81'. It was one of just three models exclusive to France, the others being the Holden Pick-up and Ambulance (1977), which were also Paris-Dakar themed.

Further into 1981 Police Patrol had a change of livery. It remained white for the European market but with a black chassis, blue 'interior' and a new side label with red and yellow stripes over a checkerboard pattern. The U.S.A. received a blue and white model with 'County Sheriff' decals. These were later given a tampo-printed bonnet star and a blue roof. As not many County Sheriffs went about their business in costly, imported Range Rovers, the model was dropped in America in 1983 and replaced with the Jeep 4x4.

In Europe, Police patrol was given another new look in 1983 as another Paris Dakar security vehicle, this time in metallic beige with a red 'interior'. This wasn't exclusive to France, though, and the car remained in this livery until its Eurppean demise in 1985. This was not the end though, as it was still made for Japan in black and white Tokyo Police colours with Japanese lettering on the doors and a stylised chrysanthemum on the bonnet.

The Police Patrol is known as the Range Rover Police Patrol. It is based on a Range Rover.