My Car Collection.
I bought a model of a Mk 3 Ford Zephyr Police Car , marked City of Plymouth Police, as a
present for my ex son in law as a present to mark his completion of his 2 year Probationary
period in the Police Force. This first model was purchased on the 7th November 2002, the
start of my collection.
As I had had a number of operations on my thumbs, I was unable to carry on with my
calligraphy and needed a hobby. So this inspired me to get a model as above for myself and
to try to collect models of all the Police cars that I had driven or ridden in. I remember that an
ex colleague of mine Albert(Duke) Wellington had actually driven this Ford Zephyr back in the
mid 60’s.
So that was how it all started. I have collected models from toy fairs, including Westpoint at
Exeter and the NEC in Birmingham, antique shops, markets, and a dealer called Brian
Surcombe who has been of great help in learning the trade so to speak.
I deviated from Police cars and collected a mixture of emergency service vehicles and then
moved on to more general vehicle, many of which I have owned personally.
I have catalogued the models in Microsoft Access, backed up on a floppy disc and CD. I have
photographed them all and a current list and the photos are stored in our safe. The great
majority of the models have boxes and they are stored in Sue’s loft space in packing cases.
The limited edition certificates are in their original boxes.
I have listed the models which have particular interest or greater value below, with
explanatory notes.
The values are from a catalogue used by collectors and dealers known as Ramsey’s. A copy
of this is in the bookshelf in the conservatory.
1.
Vauxhall Ventora Police car. I used to drive this car as a Patrol car at Tavistock in 1970.
I used to keep it at home and clean and polish it regularly. In those days the car and it’s kit
had to be kept immaculate.
2.
Malta buses. We used to go on holiday to Malta regularly in the late 1990 and early
2000’s. We saw and I photographed loads of buses and I have a book about the history of the
buses. On Malta they are all yellow and on Gozo they are grey. The other colours were in use
prior to the 1960’s because people were unable to read the destination boards and therefore
knew which bus was theirs by the colour.
3.
Morris traveller. This was from the TV series Heartbeat which was filmed on the North
Yorkshire Moors at a place called Goathland or as known in the series, Aidensfield. We
visited there in early 2000.
4.
Daimler Ambulance. These ambulances were used by the City of Plymouth Ambulance
service in the 1950’s when I was a boy.
5.
BMW Z3. We saw the launch of this car when on holiday in Madeira in the late 1990’s.
6.
Austin A60. The dark blue and light blue models with the red wheels on the top were
made for use by the BSM (British School of Motoring) to teach people how to turn the steering
wheel especially whilst reversing. Light blue, right hand drive and dark blue left hand drive.
7.
Rover 2000. In 1967 when I was on my 5 week Standard Police Driving course in
Devizes, we had a Rover 2000, grey for a night run to London and blew the big ends up on
the way back. I also owned a Rover 2000, light green in 2003. I did it up and gave it to the
people of Boscastle to auction off after the flood in August 2004, to help others who had lost
cars to have transport. A butcher from Bodmin bought it for £2000.
8.
Ford Consul 3000GT. We used these as patrol cars at Newton Abbot Traffic Unit in the
early 70’s as the forerunner to the Ford Granada.
9.
Westfield Articulated Lorry. This is a scale replica of the Lorries often seen on the A38
and M5 as they are based in Truro
10.
Hillman Imp. This was my first Police Panda car and the first used by the Devon
Constabulary as it was then. I was the first person in the Devon Constabulary to sign on duty
using the old two piece Pye pocket phones at 6am sometime in 1966 when stationed at
Dawlish. The car had no two tone horns or blue lights. They were a much later addition. We
had black caps with no chequered bands around them. I have a photo of me with the car
outside the old Dawlish Police Station, in my Police folders.
Newton Abbot Division was the first in the Force to use Panda cars as a trial of unit beat
policing. The division consisted of, Newton Abbot, Teignmouth, Dawlish, and Chudliegh,
along with the country beat station. Dawlish had Hillmand Imps and the others had Vauxhall
Viva Mk 1’s.
11.
Van de Wettering articulated lorry with boat trailer. When I was in charge of the Police
Motorcycle section in Plymouth, then based at the old Plympton Police station in the
Ridgeway Plympton, we used to escort this very lorry as an Abnormal load, from Marine
Projects at Stonehouse in Plymouth to met up with the Exeter bike on the A38 around
Chudliegh/ Haldon Hill.
12.
Mk3 Ford Cortina. We used the Mk3 Ford Cortina Patrol cars at Newton Abbot in the
early 70’s. The brakes were not good and were prone to fading and overheating. I remember
going to a fight at the Newton Abbot Bus Station and as I slammed on my brakes they failed
and I drove into the wire mesh barriers causing them to bend. Quite an entrance and it had a
good effect as the people stopped fighting.
13.
Austin Westminster 110. This was one of the cars used at the Police Driving School in
Devizes and I used one on many occasions whilst there.
14.
Ford V8 Pilot. These were used by the Cornwall Constabulary in the 50’s and there is a
Police version in the collection.
There is a green coloured one in the collection. Dinky did not make a green one and this is a
very well done repaint in green.
15.
Vauxhall Cresta. These were used on Traffic Patrol when I was at Crediton 1967-70.
They were big heavy cars and were prone to wallow and lurch in the bends, but very
comfortable.
16.
MGB GT. I owned a light blue MGB GT in the early 2000’s, which had black rubber
bumpers.
17.
Austin A40 Devon. My grandads brother, i.e. my great Uncle Len, a train driver, owned
a black Austin Devon in the 1950’s.
18.
Police Ford Escorts. I drove all Mk’s of these Police cars over the years in the Police,
from the Mk1 to the Mk 4.
19.
Ford Zodiac. I acted as Police Observer in Torquay in the Ford Zodiac in 1964 and
1965.
20.
Range Rovers. We used these to patrol the A38/A380when I was Newton Abbot in the
early 1970’s and again when on traffic in Plymouth in the early 1980’s.
21.
Triumph Dolomite. I owned a wedgewood Blue Triumph Dolomite 1850HL in the early
1990’s.
22./23. These Bedford vans are restorations.
24.
Coles Mobile Crane. I had a similar model as a boy.
25.
AEC Tanker. This is a restoration.
26.
Bentalls Van. This was originally made by Dinky. This model was made by a firm called
copy cat who went bust. If it had been the original it would cost about £10000. They never
had a box.
27.
Humber Hawk. When I was a Police Cadet, I was stationed at Police HQ in
Middlemoor for a short time and I used to go out on patrol with Traffic Officers in one of these.
At first all our cars were black, with just a bell on the front. In 1966 the Regional Traffic
scheme was started to concentrate patrols on the A class roads. They were all single crewed
and were painted white with blue lights on the roof and two tone horns.
27(A) Foden Mobilgas Tanker. This is a restoration and is rare because only a very few were
made with the Pegasus symbol transfer at the rear of the tank.
28.
Esso Tanker, this is a restoration and a one off.
29.
Jaguar XK150. This is a rare model.
30.
Foden Lorry, flat bed with chains maroon. This is a restoration of a model I had as a
child and is the first Foden I collected.
31.
Chevrolet Convertible with brown/blue seats. This is a rare model because of the
colour of the seats. They are usually all blue.
32. Foden Shell petrol tanker. This is believed to be a very rare model, made by Dinky as a
prototype but never put into production, i.e. a factory model.
33.
Leyland Octopus. This Leyland Octopus Corn Products Ltd lorry is a restoration. If it
was an original in mint condition, it would cost about £10000.
34.
Pullman Dinky car transporter. This is a common model and I had one as a child.
This has a box and a separate box containing a ramp for it.
35.
Foden Guiness Tanker. A restoration, one off, model made by a friend.
36.
Foden British Road Services. A restoration mdel, one off, made by a friend.
37.
Foden in blue/orange is in mint condition with a mint box.
38.
Leyland Octopus Yellow/green is in mint condition in a mint box.
39.
Foden Green with chains is a mint condition model with a mint box. There is an
identical model but part played with.
40.
Guy Ever Ready van is in mint condition in a mint box.
41.
Foden red/fawn is in mint condition with a mint box.
42.
Foden Regent Tanker is in mint condition with a mint box. This model was bought for
my 60th birthday and is worth £600 approx.
43.
F15 Fire Engine. This is a one off hand made model made by the Fire Engine Model
Company. They use outworkers and this one was made from a photograph provided by the
Devon Fire Service in Clyst St Mary. This model was based at Greenbank, Plymouth in the
1950’s and I use to see it when I was a school in the 1950’s. The registration number on the
model is the actual one given to the original fire engine.
44/45/46.I had these Mercedes Benz cars in the early 2000’s.
47.
Austin Westminster. I drove these when I was on my Police Standard Driving course in
Devizes in 1967.
48.
Hillman Avenger. This is a model of Sue’s first car which we bought her in the late 80’s.
Hers was metallic light green.
49.
Morris 1000 van. This was a limited edition number 64 of 200 of the Morris 1000 van
marked Aidensfield Stores. This is in fact in a village called Goathland in North Yorkshire
which is used for the TV programme Heartbeat.
50.
Morris Courier Van Kemps biscuits. This is a rare model.
51.
Ford Model Zerolene Van. This is a rare model.
52.
Lagonda Drophead coupe. Strawberry colour is a rare model and worth about £350.
53.
Thomas Flyabout with yellow grill and seats. This is a very very rare model and worth
about £1500.
54.
Ford Model T Arnotts. This is a rare model as there are double labels on it.
55.
Lagonda drophead coupe. Purple colour. This is extremely rare and worth about £800.
56.
Mercedes 190. I had a silver one of these which had body skirts, spoilers etc made by
Brabus. This was in the late 1990’s.
57.
Mk1 Lotus Cortina. These were used by the Plymouth City Police.
58.
Wolseley 6/80. This Police model is one of only 60 made. The metropolitan Police
used these in the 1950’s. My brother and I owned a maroon one in the early1960’s.
59.
Vauxhall Victor Mk1. This was used by my Sergeant at Paignton in 1965.
60.
Morris Marina. I owned various versions of the Marina in the 1970’s.
61.
Austin A60. The Plymouth City Police used these in the early1960’s. I went for a drive
in one of their Police A60’s on a courtesy drive after driving lessons put on by them. I also
owned a blue and a grey one of these cars.
62.
Triumph Herald. I owned a dark green one in 1967.
63.
Ford Cortina Mk 2. My first Police Traffic car when stationed at Tavistock which was
a 1500cc model.
64.
Triumph 2.5PI. We used these as Police cars in Newton abbot in the early 1970’s. I
took the Chief Constable John Alderson out in one for the day.
65.
Morris 1000 Police Panda car. I used these at Crediton in 1966. My first one which I
picked up from the workshops brand new was TTA604H.
66.
Jaguar Mk2. I drove as an observer in a black Police Jag in 1964 when I was a Police
Cadet. The driver Pete Hounsell was later to be my Traffic Sergeant at NewtonAbbot.
67.
Ford Zephyr Mk 4 or the batmobile as we used to call them. We used them in the
1960’s. Ferguson Ford put 4 wheel drive on two of them and they were quickly involved in
accidents which wrote them both off. The drivers were going too fast into roundabouts.
68.
Police mini van. We used these at Crediton in 1967 and I have a photo of me with one
at the back of our Police house in the Police folders.
69.
Rover P5 Mk2.I drove one of these, a grey one as a test as it was being considered for
the Chief Constable’s official car.
70.
Austin A30. I had a dark green Austin A30( small rear window) in 1965 reg no 662DVX.
I used it to travel to the Police Training centre at Chantmarle in Dorset.
71.
Wolseley 1800 Police or the land crab as it was called. We used these in 1967 at the
Devizes Police driving school.
72.
Ford Granada Mk1 Police car. We used these at Newton Abbot in the early 1970’s.
73.
Ford Zephyr Mk 3. This was the car that started the collection. I was an observer in a
Police one in Paignton on Traffic Attachment in my Probationary period in 1965.
74.
Triumph 2000. These were used at the Police driving school at Devizes in 1967.
75.
Ford Cortina Mk 3 Used by us at Newton Abbot Police Centre in 1970’s.
76.
Austin 1100 Police car used by Plymouth City Police in 1966.
77.
Standard Flying 9, 1939 model. I took my driving test in one of these owned by my
brother in 1962. Western Models do not make this model in maroon but when I told them that
I had taken my test in a maroon one they put a base model into the dip with some Morris 8’s
which they do in maroon. This is therefore a one off.
78.
Queen Mothers Daimler, I sat in at Charles Cross Police Station and escorted her
around the He on a Royal Visit.
79.
For my 65th Birthday I received a Daimler Dart White metal model from my parents.
This is a limited edition made by Crossway Models. It is handmade and is number 5 of 10.
This model is worth £115
80. The Models of Yesteryear J4 White and red Dusenberg is an extremely rare model only
a few left in the world and is worth between £1500 and 2000.
Several of the Foden lorries and a few others are repaints and do not have boxes or have
boxes which are repro boxes or temporary boxes.
As at the 15th October 2014 I have 852 models in the collection.
Trevor Davies.