FOR THOSE of us who grew up in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, Jaguar-based police cars were once as common as collecting Green Shield Stamps, power cuts and bright yellow Telecom vans. Due to their traditionally powerful engines and excellent handling, for over three decades they were deemed the perfect vehicle to patrol the UK’s roads, prowling our highways like a big cat would the Serengeti.
Although a few constabularies such as Warwickshire used Jaguar’s first generation of post war big saloons during the 1940s and 1950s, it was the smaller 2.4 and 3.4 models (colloquially known today as the ‘Mk1’) that became the company’s first popular choice for the police. According to a four-page leaflet produced by the company that sang the car’s praises, 37 forces across the UK were using Jaguars.
