Some (not me) will be able to cast their minds back to the late 1970s, when TV screens were awash with hit detective shows.
You had the great Gordon Jackson starring alongside Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins in The Professionals (which to this day still has one of the best theme tunes), Dennis Waterman was tearing up west London in Minder, and when he wasn’t doing that, he was buddying up with John Thaw for The Sweeney.
Many moons ago, Phillips Sr – who grew up watching Bodie and Doyle take fake punch after fake punch – would often subject me to re-runs of his favourite episodes during the school holidays.
While the storylines didn’t strike much of a chord with me, the cars of the protagonists certainly did.
The silver Ford Capri 3.0 S in The Professionals was a peach, as was the Diamond White Mk2 Ford Escort RS2000 – not to mention the immaculate Copper Bronze Ford Consul GT driven by The Sweeney’s DI, Jack Regan.
The producers of these shows obviously chose cars with the same star power as the actors: you can’t imagine George Cowley skidding around an industrial wasteland in a Reliant Robin.
And what made the Capri and Consul even cooler was that their propensity to intimidate was undented by stickers, plant pot lights and comically tall aerials.
These were unmarked police cars – and all the more effortlessly threatening for it.
Using plain cars to snatch wrongdoers became a popular tactic for police forces during the 1980s and 1990s, and they’re still deployed to great effect by traffic units and drug squads today.
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To nitpick - Terry in Minder wasn't a detective. I think his car was whatever nice Ford he bought from Arthur's lot, I remember him in a mk2 Escort and a Capri at one point. When he wasn't ferrying Arthur about in his Daimler. It wasn't all glory for Ford - at one point Arthur was down in his luck and slumming it in a mk2 Granada. But generally Ford of that era seemed to do well for product placement of "cool" looking cars.
The Channel 5 police documentaries show the ANPR equipped unmarked interceptors, usually fast BMWs. My local police force is fond of things like Skoda Superb estates. Tempting used buys as they have a dedicated HQ for preparing, servicing and repairing their fleet. Though someone I knew years ago bought an ex police mk3 Granada and there was a box build into the dashboard for whatever screen/equipment was in there that was removed.
Just had a flashback of the drivers' footwell with Jack Regan's foot coming off the brake and onto the accelerator pedal in stop-motion photography.
I know the intro you mean. Was it Jack Regan's foot or his driver, who I recall was just identified as "Bill"?
I can't be the only one who wishes that manufacturers offered more of these "wolf in sheeps clothing" models in their ranges on sale to the general public. But people seem to need all the bling, dazzling lighting, sports exhausts and body kits to make sure that people are looking at them all the time.
You can die in an accident at 40mph as much as one at 140mph, cars like these are vanity, Ego cars, you like how they look, you'll never drive it anywhere near it capabilities,but, you'll enjoy the satisfaction of having owned the car of your dreams,now, isn't that enough?