Someone has registered a privacy complaint against this video... someone is sitting on a low mileage Cossie and wants to pretend it isn’t a clocked ex-police car... I don’t know which car, but I do know that there’s nothing in this video that you can’t find with a bit of google and a brain...
As I said in my comment, I found myself surprised at the relatively low mileages you were stating for some of these cars which I would not have expected for ex-police vehicles. And, as you say, you have used no information that is not publicly available from a google search.
L255YNL was used as a pursuit car. It was based in Alnwick in Northumberland. It was driven mainly by Inspector Paul Gilroy who was a neighbour of mine and the photo in your video of it parked outside the brick building was taken by me. It was taken outside the garage of Alnwick police station a couple of weeks before it was being decommissioned and sold. Paul told me it was being sold and I asked him if I could get some photos before it went. I had a RS 500 at the time it was at Alnwick and I have photos of the two of them together. That escort was driven hard by Paul as the area it covered was from Berwick to Morpeth. He took me out in it a couple of times and he knew how to drive it. He is not with us anymore. But it was always in the repair shop as it was always breaking down. Gearbox problems and oil leaks plus turbos. But he loved driving it
I’d love to see the photos of your RS and the Escort! My father now lives up that way and Alnwick is his closest police station. Funny how these things work out. Thanks for contributing! Mr Golroy can’t have been very old then if he’s no longer with us...?
I LOVE the Es-Cossie series Geoff, hopefully there’s a part 3. Also, if you do a series on the police Sierras, it’d be 10+ episodes at least 😅 Do you think the cossies would be able to keep up with cars of today?
14:28 been through that arch many, many times, it's Bondgate Tower, Alnwick, Northumberland. If you went to Alnwick when you visited Holy Island you may have gone though it
This channel is a model for journalism. Not what this platform likes unfortunately so it’s no wonder people are not getting notifications. Love this throwback to the early to mid 90s even the jellied eels were a thing back then. Keep them coming 👍
You could make this a whole series. Once you've exhausted the police Escorts, you could move on to the Prodrive Imprezas and the Evos that you've mentioned replaced the Escorts.
L76 WRG was my allocated Northumbria Police traffic car On its last day in force I was on night shift heading west on the A1058 Coast Road at Wallsend when the engine blew. It was sold at auction and my understanding was that it was pushed into the auction and still made £15000 My understanding was that it went to the Merseyside area and was involved in a fatal RTC Regarding L255 - whoever told you it wasn’t used as a pursuit car is wrong. It was. It was based at different times at North Shields and Byker The traffic inspector at Byker (Paul Gilroy) who died a few years ago did try to use the car as a bit of a runaround (so that’s probably where your story comes from) but it was still an operational car
On the subject of ex police cars. I bought a black unmarked 57 plate S40 t5. The first owner was Volvo cars UK. Northumberland police had it from 1 year old. Ive still got the brass dog tag with the reg carved on it. Some of the speakers didn't work. There was a few holes behind the water fall dash and in the boot which I liked to think were for gun racks. 😁
Hi Geoff, I was the under buyer at the auction on sat for L255YNL I got out bid but later that day was phoned and told the winner had backed out of sale. Just before I watched your video so decided I wouldn't buy unless really cheap. I offered £30,000 and was turned down. He has decided to keep it. But wouldn't be surprised if it came up for sale somewhere else soon.
Maybe you could do a video about the police Focus mk2 STs? (ST225) I've heard that several police officers were so impressed with them that they bought their own (this influenced my decision to own one). One or more of these used to appear on Police Interceptors in the late 2000s / early 2010s.
I was an apprentice mechanic in a Ford dealership in Dublin. Word went around that the Guards were getting 6 Sierra cosworths, very bad news if you're a young hooligan with a capri. Anyway a few months go by and and while repairing a Garda car got talking to the garda that brought it in. When I mentioned the cosworths he said rather bitterly that they had taken delivery of the 6 cars on a Friday and by Monday morning 2 had been written off, so the other 4 were sent back to ford. I did see the police in Northern Ireland with unmarked Sierra cosworths back in the day.
Not cossie related, but Nottinghamshire Police had a Impreza P1 when they first came out and only a few weeks later I saw them write it off chasing a stolen Calibra Turbo. When the Calibra lost control and stopped on the high street the Police smashed straight into the back of it. The front end was literally in the Calibra’s boot and the PC got a right bollocking when the Sarge turned up 😂
my dad had an ex-police car escort it had 3 zips on the roof for their maps and then you could see where the light had been cut out and sealed up really good car run to the lat of its days it even got written off and bought back
I'm an ex Hull lad. I remember GAT and the Senator flying past me as a kid on my bike, on Littondale on Sutton Park. The thing was flying and the noise and sight stuck with me. Sadly I never got pulled by the cossie but mates into cars had fond memories. I did however have run ins with the Volvo's and later Subaru's.... the Hull cosssie had WRC spec suspension, brakes and underbody and a mild tune.. Deigned for hopping speed humps at over 100mph. This was confirmed by an ex hull police mechanic.
Another great video Geoff. A friend through my eldest daughters horse riding hobby, who drives a Subaru remembers the Skipton Cossie on patrol. I mentioned your video a couple of days ago, I'll see what else he can remember.
I remember as a kid seeing L75 WRG and L76 WRG parked side by side in Morrison’s car park fairly often when we would nip across from high school (John Spence) for lunch. My jaw was always on the floor as I walked passed. Loved seeing those cars!
Ha ha Geoff! That final comment letter that you read out was the most fantastic and clever nonsensical diatribe I have ever heard and the writer clearly has special literary skills. I hope he/she doesn’t waste them 👍🙏👌
I sat in one of the Northumbria cars when I was 14 the police officer was at a petrol station right next to my parents house in Newcastle (wallsend) I was absolutely obsessed with cosworths 30 years later there still one of my favourites, great videos 👍
I've enjoyed part 1 and 2, your vid popped up in my feed. I had to watch as I almost forgot about the humberside cossie, it was right around the time I started to like cars as a youngster. A quite a few years later humberside police had a lexus isf for a bit, that was naughty to see a lexus in police livery
Wiltshire police hq in Devizes still have a Burgandy/maroon sapphire. It gets dragged out to a few shows now and again. They keep it with marked Senator.
These two videos make me feel very old. If any of you remember "Max Power" the Magazine, they ran an article when the Police forces "Up North," Started to run the Escorts and stated that the ride height and sump guards etc were all put in place as boy racer catchers (quite right). Now living in North Yorks yet miss the days of the modded RS 500s, Sapphires and Escorts at Lakeside that could do mental things due to mods and torque.
There was a large scrap yard in Newcastle called Norman Marahall's which closed down a good few years ago. We used to go most Saturday's for a good parts scavange. For many years in the late 90's and early 2000's there was a burnt out Escort Cosworth shell sat around the back. The story was it was an ex police car. If the burnt out car you mention was ex Northumbria it could well have been that one.
i remember distincly that a police escort cosworth was stolen in bristol that belonged to avon and somerset police, it was taken from bryan brothers ford dealer in bristol before it was decaled up for police use and was recorvered in a holiday park near weston (brean if i remember correctly) parked outside a caravan. it was reported in the local bristol evening post. Now it may have been taken before it became the property of the police (ive had a weak google!)
Greater Manchester police use to run 3.0S Capri's and then 2.8 injection Capri's in the 80 ,s on traffic patrol these were very popular cars back then , I know as I owned a few 3 litre Capri's and 2.8 s myself back then , be interesting if you did anything on these , Cheers 👍
I wouldn't mind seeing some content on Police Sierra Cosworths since I was pulled by one in Greater Manchester in the early 90s. I must say that I am surprised at how low the mileage seems to be on some of these Escorts given their Police service. Edit: I have just watched your videos from a few weeks ago about the scandal of clocked ex-police cars - I think the Escort Cosworths are probably no exception because I fail to believe that any of them left police service with less than 100,000 miles on them.
M969 PRM was definitely on patrol in the 90's in Cumbria one of my friends his mothers sister was married to sgnt John Cindrey who drove the car and would show us what it could do when we saw him in it! We also used to bomb around in old cavalier sri's with smoke billowing out of the windows! Witch in turn caused us to be pulled over by said cosworth many times! The cumbria force had a sapphire cosworth before that and various other high speed pursuit vehicles as to another comment made on this they indeed had a red unmarked astra GSi.
N693 LNW, I remember it use to wait at Blubberhouses North Yorks, on the A59, myself in a 1.0ltr metro van use to see it parked up, making me think about joining the police force. I never did but I still think of that police car every time I drive that road. Such a shame it was destroyed.
Hi Geoff I've asked my dad's cousin who served in Cleveland force to see if he can rem any Cossies up there, he's making enquiries with other retired colleagues. Keep u posted. Ben
My mate owned cossie number 9 Only found out it’s past after wrong plugs fitted and the pistons died. After he found out he left where he bought from at Jeff Whites in Cardiff
I worked with somebody no doubt he's probably had 1 of the ex plod Escort cosworths, around 94 I bought a J reg Cavalier Gsi 2000, my colleague at work bought his first cosworth the same day by the time I get my next car he had bought 6 Sapphire cosworths 1 Rs500 cosworth a Subaru Impreza WRX then an Escort Cossie. While he had the Escort he left which was 2000/01ish ,I was on a good salary , I'm positive he was on more than me. I've not scene him in 20 years or so but no doubt he's owned quite a few since. He bought everyone of these cars from Well lane Turbos Batley. These aren't all the cars he bought of them either before the Sierras he had several Escort Rs Turbos .
I’ve just subscribed to the channel, I absolutely love this series, it’s original and really interesting to hear about the history of the cars and see the old piccies, if it’s possible you should look into more than just fords, be good to hear about the old senators and omegas too 😃 keep up the great work mate 👍🏻👍🏻
Brilliant loved this .. waiting for the swansea cossy reply.. what about the vauxhall police cars .. the cavalier 4x4 s. And the escort rs 2000s. They were both used as marked and unmarked vehicles.. be nice to do reports on them 👍
I for one would love to know more about lots of the Police Vauxhalls (especially Senators) that were used as traffic cars. On the subject of RS 2000's, the GMP vehicle crime unit featured on X Cars had a few of those. Wonder whether any of them, including the Sapphire Cosworths they owned still exist?
My mate bought a white k reg one back in the late 90ks early 00’s. I can’t remember the Rev but was white. It was bought from a car dealer in Cardiff. It had a service and all,of its history then came to light. It was tuned version running more boost than standard. The engine let go due to a standard cossie plug fitment (too hot a running plug). It went back to the dearer for a rebuild where it came to light it had been reshelled with in its 1st month as a police car although was possible a unmarked one. But I do feel that number 9 cosies new reg rings a bell.
Ah this is amazing. Word is a Cosworth Escort was on the force in Swansea and a dog handler van driver said ‘can I have a go?’ And rolled it within 2 weeks of it appearing on the force. Maybe this was the legendary Swansea Cosworth?!
I was one of the vehicle coordinators on The Bill from June 92 till Sept 95. We were supplied a blue two door cosworth with leather seats from rogers and cowan. A product placement company that supplied all our fords on the series. we were going to use it as a CID car. Because it was not used by the met we did not use it. My last company car was Brownlows MK3 Granada cosworth auto. flip me did that fly.
@@GeoffBuysCars check an episode called Instant Response, a car chase all the way through. A fantastic job with great cast and crew with big challenges at times. Action Vehicles was the company I worked for on The Bill.
I’m very fortunate to have been in a escort cosworth it’s very fast for it’s day it was a Dark blue one black leather interior. I worked for a ford Dealer in the 90s. Not as fast as the lotus carton I Drove once.
I remember the Swedish police had Volvo 850 T5 Yellow (repainted as police cars) and tried to outrun an Opel/Lotus Omega. There was a dash cam video from the police car circulating around early 2000s. Let's just say the Volvo didn't have a chance. Fun to see the police in UK had some fun cars too!
Daaaaamn I loved that!!!! Brilliant thanks Geoff I really enjoyed that I sat and watched these last night after everyone went to bed!! Keep it up mate looking forward to more content on all this!! Also you have a new subscriber!! 🎉🎉👍🏻
i saw a police cosworth chasing a car lights on flat out and it hit a dip in the road, they bent the subframe 4 inches.....apparently 140 mph grindings of the sub frame bends them in half, there is a 90 mph limit on that road to this day, its a dual carriageway on the wilts dorset border...
Had some great general info from my relative in Cleveland. He put out a request on retired police fb site, some quick replies. Firstly there were no Escort Cossies up there, like here in Sleepy (& crime free 😂) West Yorkshire. However there was a Sapphire, registered H572LEF, which survived its police life. Apparently Cleveland tried a Granada Cosworth (that's a 24valve Cosworth head on top of the venerable 2.9 cologne V6) as a demo but it was tail happy, they also tried and wanted XR4x4s but weren't allowed to have them! . They did have a mix of Granadas and 2.0 Sierras and apparently at the height of the joy riding craze when the top car to be stolen up there was the Astra GTE their foil to that was XR3is with run flat tyres!!! Not only were they out powered, the insider story is they had electrical issues with the police radios, and errrr the brakes! Interesting back stories for you! Ben
Had a word with my mate Jase this evening. He thinks the Skipton Cossie was for the pursuit of the many speeding motorcyclists in North Yorks, he mentioned Devils Bridge as a hot-spot in the 90s, & the force was the 3rd highest in the UK for radar traps. The Cossie was replaced by an original Impreza Turbo, followed by the second generation of the same model. To think over in this part of WYP had Cavaliers and Sierras owt fast would have been hard to keep up with. Thinking back to my dad's time, Escort mk 2 populars, Fiesta 1.1s, Avenger cid cars, various astras, mk4 Escort 1.3s and near the end of his time Peugeot 306 Diesels it's a good job. As a Ford fan the run flats on the 3is sounds like a hindrance, but not nearly as much as the radio equipment affecting the brakes!! If the 3i my dad had as his own car fitted Vauxhall "knight rider" dash (based on the C3 Corvette of the time) it would have been fabulous!! Best wishes, Ben
Fantastic video. I definitely found searching up the whereabouts of older cars so interesting you should definitely do that more often. (Not just police cars but any significant cars that seem lost) Now I worked for the police for 16 and a half years starting in the early 2000s and back then they had in house mechanics that serviced all the fleet cars and bikes. They all had a servicing schedule and no matter what or how small maintenance was carried out. I can only assume from the early 90s to the late 90s it was the same. Sometime around mid 2000s they outsourced the contacts and the standard of work wasn’t as good but it was still carried out. All the officers I personally encountered from Traffic where these cars must of been located just like me had a keen interest in cars and bikes and most would’ve been kind to these cars. Sure they would’ve driven them hard but like I said when you have an interest in something you tend to be more respectful of things. That’s just my opinion on what I experienced. All the cars that came to an end were auctioned off at specific auction houses maybe you could try and locate info that way. We were never allowed to buy them directly always sent to auction. However if you had a working relationship with a certain car and knew it was worth buying some people did buy them. My father had an unmarked BMW that only he drove for a number of years and he knew everything about that car. Sadly tho he didn’t buy it but states he now wishes he had.
I’m originally from Bradford and if memory serves me right, the local paper The Telegraph and Argus ran an article on the cars. Two Escort Cosworth’s and two Astra GTE’s we’re deployed in the Bradford area to give the Police a chance of catching all the hot hatches that we’re being stolen at the time. The article reported about the sunroofs and I think alloy wheel, as they weren’t permitted on Police cars at the time.
Fantastic update, thank you. Please follow the L255YNL auction and get to know it's future owner. Would love to hear updates about it as well as even more of it's history 👍🏽
I remember seeing one of the Northumbria police escorts driving through my town I was just a young lad I was like what is that so one of these cars it would have been amazing
I've just watched and posted on Part 1, not realising there was a part 2! Great stuff, really enjoyed watching! Thought you might be interested that M982 GAT was the feature car along with the Senator on the TWOC episode of the Blues and Twos TV show, if you can find the episode and want to see it in action. :-)
Further to my first comment on the less powerful Rs2000 and GSi astra area cars, a couple of episodes of Channel 4s "The Nick" can be found on TH-cam. The series is a general overview of early 90s policing in Gipton, a suburb of Leeds, and now defunct Station building just off the A64. As background to the Policing of the time I think its quite eye opening. As, said there are some chases in it,and I think one of the RS2000s is set alight if I recall. Thinking about it now and the type of crimes featured, it sort of makes me wonder why the Skipton cossie was there(the roads are fabulous round there mind!) , when clearly Leeds needed something like it! And yes before it's mentioned Skipton is probably covered by North Yorks rather than West Yorks. Very interesting subject though, i look forward to the Sapphire edition, again recalling another BBC I think documentary on Greater Manchesters unmarked Saffs & let's not forget the fictional, but superb "Spender" series starring a Black Saff Cos, and err Jimmy Nail!
I tried a bit of jellied eel once when a friend had some and was raving about how good they were........ I still feel that this was exactly one time too many to experience that "Substance" ! 🤢
I did post your first video on a classic car Facebook page, it got some good comments. Then it was pulled, with an excuse it was spam 😳. A great update!
Knew you’d fine one. What a nice service to petrolheadness. You’d hate a cop one ‘then’ and now , quite the contry. Cannot believe how well these sit these days.
Here's a thought I wonder how many of these are just unregistered show cars that only get brought out to a show once in a while. Also not dismissing conversions of these cars into rally, rally cross, hill climb or time attack cars either as that may have been the case with these. Might be worth speaking to anyone in those circles to find out.
Skipton /Bradford has another one. had a 2 Volvo estates t series, 5 motorcycle and chopper but 2 cosworths different police markings one L reg and k. In 1997/8. After police picked me and my friend for a post office robbery, 6 hrs in cells until cleared .
Geoff, there used to be a trailer in the car park of the Beehive pub in Brentford, West London that sold jellied eels. It's gone now but if you can track them down then that's where you'd get the jellied eels from!
In 1990s Liverpool I remember car thieves stealing high performance cars just to race the cosworth & other high powered force cars.some with fatal outcomes but it was a thing as the thieves knew the areas cut thrus & other places they could get away.
Something i notice that confuses me in the pictures . The early and late model Cosworths are visually different from the badge placement on the boot lid . The K reg ones have the badges side by side of the number plate but the later M reg ones with the plastic looking engine had the badges above each light . All the ones i spotted on this video had the early badge combo but even the late models . Very strange
Good spot! Yes I thought it was later, small turbo cars had the cosworth logo on the right hand side...? but I'm sure there's some Cosworth geeks in the comments who can correct us both.
I've lost count of what one it was but one of them wasn't road legal for years and was transported from show to show but unfortunately was stolen a few years back with i think another one!? And never been found!
Great to see those Cossie’s miss them thank you for your vid . And I can’t wait to see if there’s part 3 . It’d be rude not to do The original Sierra Cosworth .🇬🇧👍
Some of the most peaceful moments in my adult life have been while slowly squeezing one out. If I had bought all the cars I’d browsed whilst sitting on the throne... well, I’d have a lot of cars 😂😂😂😂😂
IIRC the DVLA where replacing the old blue style V5C registration certificates / log books with the new red type around 2011 / 2012 so that could explain how the stolen Cossie got issued a new log book. IIRC they automatically sent them out to the registered keeper when the tax was due or SORN was renewed.
Further to my theory I just checked a family members current vehicle they bought back in 2005 & it lists a replacement log book issued in 2012 even when no change of keeper details occured.
When the guy got the car back after it was stolen, he requested a new log book for it. The car is still needing to be fixed and until then it won't be back on the road. Thing needs full restoration and I don't think he will ever get around too it so it just sits there in storage.
A mate of mine Mark had a 4x4 escort rs turbo from the factory and the it was for rally all rose jointed underneath and the escort cossie replaced it in the rally but he sold it yrs ago and I never seen it just what he told me and I don't think he would bs me lol
Someone has registered a privacy complaint against this video... someone is sitting on a low mileage Cossie and wants to pretend it isn’t a clocked ex-police car... I don’t know which car, but I do know that there’s nothing in this video that you can’t find with a bit of google and a brain...
As I said in my comment, I found myself surprised at the relatively low mileages you were stating for some of these cars which I would not have expected for ex-police vehicles. And, as you say, you have used no information that is not publicly available from a google search.
@@Twmpa very dodgy
Registration numbers are in the public domain, not private.
@@philtucker1224 Exactly. Otherwise, we wouldn't be allowed to parade around in our cars with them attached to the front and the back...
L255YNL "y not lee" that means something to a group of people.
L255YNL was used as a pursuit car. It was based in Alnwick in Northumberland. It was driven mainly by Inspector Paul Gilroy who was a neighbour of mine and the photo in your video of it parked outside the brick building was taken by me. It was taken outside the garage of Alnwick police station a couple of weeks before it was being decommissioned and sold. Paul told me it was being sold and I asked him if I could get some photos before it went. I had a RS 500 at the time it was at Alnwick and I have photos of the two of them together. That escort was driven hard by Paul as the area it covered was from Berwick to Morpeth. He took me out in it a couple of times and he knew how to drive it. He is not with us anymore. But it was always in the repair shop as it was always breaking down. Gearbox problems and oil leaks plus turbos. But he loved driving it
I’d love to see the photos of your RS and the Escort! My father now lives up that way and Alnwick is his closest police station. Funny how these things work out. Thanks for contributing! Mr Golroy can’t have been very old then if he’s no longer with us...?
😓 ah man, pulling on my heartstrings dudes.
I LOVE the Es-Cossie series Geoff, hopefully there’s a part 3.
Also, if you do a series on the police Sierras, it’d be 10+ episodes at least 😅
Do you think the cossies would be able to keep up with cars of today?
14:28 been through that arch many, many times, it's Bondgate Tower, Alnwick, Northumberland. If you went to Alnwick when you visited Holy Island you may have gone though it
This channel is a model for journalism. Not what this platform likes unfortunately so it’s no wonder people are not getting notifications. Love this throwback to the early to mid 90s even the jellied eels were a thing back then. Keep them coming 👍
Great compliment, thank you!
You could make this a whole series. Once you've exhausted the police Escorts, you could move on to the Prodrive Imprezas and the Evos that you've mentioned replaced the Escorts.
L76 WRG was my allocated Northumbria Police traffic car On its last day in force I was on night shift heading west on the A1058 Coast Road at Wallsend when the engine blew. It was sold at auction and my understanding was that it was pushed into the auction and still made £15000
My understanding was that it went to the Merseyside area and was involved in a fatal RTC
Regarding L255 - whoever told you it wasn’t used as a pursuit car is wrong. It was. It was based at different times at North Shields and Byker The traffic inspector at Byker (Paul Gilroy) who died a few years ago did try to use the car as a bit of a runaround (so that’s probably where your story comes from) but it was still an operational car
Great comment Gary. I heard a fatal RTC was with a police officer showing off, can you shed any light?
No sorry. Don’t know anything about the RTC Only heard about it third hand
On the subject of ex police cars. I bought a black unmarked 57 plate S40 t5. The first owner was Volvo cars UK. Northumberland police had it from 1 year old. Ive still got the brass dog tag with the reg carved on it. Some of the speakers didn't work. There was a few holes behind the water fall dash and in the boot which I liked to think were for gun racks. 😁
That was obviously the armed response car. There was a matt grey Audi RS6 in our area as the armed response car.
@@bentullett6068 I doubt it to be honest, an S40 is much too small for an ARV.
Really interesting stuff. Just image having one of them steaming up behind you. You’d wanna stop just to have a look at it
Hi Geoff, I was the under buyer at the auction on sat for L255YNL I got out bid but later that day was phoned and told the winner had backed out of sale. Just before I watched your video so decided I wouldn't buy unless really cheap. I offered £30,000 and was turned down. He has decided to keep it. But wouldn't be surprised if it came up for sale somewhere else soon.
Maybe you could do a video about the police Focus mk2 STs? (ST225) I've heard that several police officers were so impressed with them that they bought their own (this influenced my decision to own one). One or more of these used to appear on Police Interceptors in the late 2000s / early 2010s.
I was an apprentice mechanic in a Ford dealership in Dublin. Word went around that the Guards were getting 6 Sierra cosworths, very bad news if you're a young hooligan with a capri. Anyway a few months go by and and while repairing a Garda car got talking to the garda that brought it in. When I mentioned the cosworths he said rather bitterly that they had taken delivery of the 6 cars on a Friday and by Monday morning 2 had been written off, so the other 4 were sent back to ford. I did see the police in Northern Ireland with unmarked Sierra cosworths back in the day.
What a comment..!!!
Not cossie related, but Nottinghamshire Police had a Impreza P1 when they first came out and only a few weeks later I saw them write it off chasing a stolen Calibra Turbo.
When the Calibra lost control and stopped on the high street the Police smashed straight into the back of it. The front end was literally in the Calibra’s boot and the PC got a right bollocking when the Sarge turned up 😂
2 of my favourite cars wrecked together 😂
Recently found your channel, love the videos Geoff
Glad you do!
my dad had an ex-police car escort it had 3 zips on the roof for their maps and then you could see where the light had been cut out and sealed up really good car run to the lat of its days it even got written off and bought back
I'm an ex Hull lad. I remember GAT and the Senator flying past me as a kid on my bike, on Littondale on Sutton Park. The thing was flying and the noise and sight stuck with me. Sadly I never got pulled by the cossie but mates into cars had fond memories. I did however have run ins with the Volvo's and later Subaru's.... the Hull cosssie had WRC spec suspension, brakes and underbody and a mild tune.. Deigned for hopping speed humps at over 100mph. This was confirmed by an ex hull police mechanic.
Great anecdote!!
Devon & Cornwall Police bought up most of this fleet of cars so they could chase Butterflies off the A roads
Another great video Geoff. A friend through my eldest daughters horse riding hobby, who drives a Subaru remembers the Skipton Cossie on patrol. I mentioned your video a couple of days ago, I'll see what else he can remember.
K338FEW being wrapped around a pole in Swansea sounds very Swansea-ish 😂
I remember as a kid seeing L75 WRG and L76 WRG parked side by side in Morrison’s car park fairly often when we would nip across from high school (John Spence) for lunch. My jaw was always on the floor as I walked passed. Loved seeing those cars!
What a sight that would have been!
Would love to see some Sierra Cosworth content to go with this. Imagine the scoobie and evo era has some good stories waiting to be be unearthed too…!
Ha ha Geoff! That final comment letter that you read out was the most fantastic and clever nonsensical diatribe I have ever heard and the writer clearly has special literary skills. I hope he/she doesn’t waste them 👍🙏👌
Sadly I didn't write that, it was purely brilliant...! I hope they appear in my comments again.
I sat in one of the Northumbria cars when I was 14 the police officer was at a petrol station right next to my parents house in Newcastle (wallsend) I was absolutely obsessed with cosworths 30 years later there still one of my favourites, great videos 👍
I've enjoyed part 1 and 2, your vid popped up in my feed. I had to watch as I almost forgot about the humberside cossie, it was right around the time I started to like cars as a youngster.
A quite a few years later humberside police had a lexus isf for a bit, that was naughty to see a lexus in police livery
Welcome to the channel! Thanks for stopping by
Wiltshire police hq in Devizes still have a Burgandy/maroon sapphire. It gets dragged out to a few shows now and again. They keep it with marked Senator.
Oh I didn’t know this....
Great investigation work !
These two videos make me feel very old. If any of you remember "Max Power" the Magazine, they ran an article when the Police forces "Up North," Started to run the Escorts and stated that the ride height and sump guards etc were all put in place as boy racer catchers (quite right). Now living in North Yorks yet miss the days of the modded RS 500s, Sapphires and Escorts at Lakeside that could do mental things due to mods and torque.
The photograph of cossie,s L75WRG / L76WRG was taken just outside of the arch in Alnwick outside the town centre on ( Alnwick without ) on the B6346 .
Just to correct my self ie photos they were taken in outside Alnwick
(Bondgate Without )
There was a large scrap yard in Newcastle called Norman Marahall's which closed down a good few years ago. We used to go most Saturday's for a good parts scavange.
For many years in the late 90's and early 2000's there was a burnt out Escort Cosworth shell sat around the back. The story was it was an ex police car.
If the burnt out car you mention was ex Northumbria it could well have been that one.
Geoff, this $#1T is epic, please keep it up.
i remember distincly that a police escort cosworth was stolen in bristol that belonged to avon and somerset police, it was taken from bryan brothers ford dealer in bristol before it was decaled up for police use and was recorvered in a holiday park near weston (brean if i remember correctly) parked outside a caravan. it was reported in the local bristol evening post. Now it may have been taken before it became the property of the police (ive had a weak google!)
Greater Manchester police use to run 3.0S Capri's and then 2.8 injection Capri's in the 80 ,s on traffic patrol these were very popular cars back then , I know as I owned a few 3 litre Capri's and 2.8 s myself back then , be interesting if you did anything on these , Cheers 👍
Geoff where do we find the jellied eels… great content, Keep the detective work coming… what about Lotus Carlton 40RA?
Great videos parts 1 & 2. Also its a definite yes on the sapphire cosworth video from me and my son.
Just joined the channel after seeing the first video. Really enjoying it, keep up the good work and hopefully more info turns up!
I wouldn't mind seeing some content on Police Sierra Cosworths since I was pulled by one in Greater Manchester in the early 90s. I must say that I am surprised at how low the mileage seems to be on some of these Escorts given their Police service.
Edit: I have just watched your videos from a few weeks ago about the scandal of clocked ex-police cars - I think the Escort Cosworths are probably no exception because I fail to believe that any of them left police service with less than 100,000 miles on them.
Yes, take the escort YNL for example... coming up for sale at the NEC but comments on my videos suggest it’s closer to 280k miles...!
M969 PRM was definitely on patrol in the 90's in Cumbria one of my friends his mothers sister was married to sgnt John Cindrey who drove the car and would show us what it could do when we saw him in it! We also used to bomb around in old cavalier sri's with smoke billowing out of the windows! Witch in turn caused us to be pulled over by said cosworth many times! The cumbria force had a sapphire cosworth before that and various other high speed pursuit vehicles as to another comment made on this they indeed had a red unmarked astra GSi.
Hey Geoff, nice content. You should read up on 6 degrees of separation. It may help you track down more Cosworth's.
N693 LNW, I remember it use to wait at Blubberhouses North Yorks, on the A59, myself in a 1.0ltr metro van use to see it parked up, making me think about joining the police force. I never did but I still think of that police car every time I drive that road. Such a shame it was destroyed.
10:41 high suspension no splitter and finally was great thanks
Hi Geoff I've asked my dad's cousin who served in Cleveland force to see if he can rem any Cossies up there, he's making enquiries with other retired colleagues. Keep u posted. Ben
Cleveland police only Lent Humberside Cossie the gat one in this video. It was a quiet two weeks while they had it.
My mate owned cossie number 9 Only found out it’s past after wrong plugs fitted and the pistons died. After he found out he left where he bought from at Jeff Whites in Cardiff
I worked with somebody no doubt he's probably had 1 of the ex plod Escort cosworths, around 94 I bought a J reg Cavalier Gsi 2000, my colleague at work bought his first cosworth the same day by the time I get my next car he had bought 6 Sapphire cosworths 1 Rs500 cosworth a Subaru Impreza WRX then an Escort Cossie. While he had the Escort he left which was 2000/01ish ,I was on a good salary , I'm positive he was on more than me. I've not scene him in 20 years or so but no doubt he's owned quite a few since. He bought everyone of these cars from Well lane Turbos Batley. These aren't all the cars he bought of them either before the Sierras he had several Escort Rs Turbos .
Unfortunately don’t know where any are, but loving the vids on them. And you definitely need to do some vids on the Saph ones.
Will do!
I’ve just subscribed to the channel, I absolutely love this series, it’s original and really interesting to hear about the history of the cars and see the old piccies, if it’s possible you should look into more than just fords, be good to hear about the old senators and omegas too 😃 keep up the great work mate 👍🏻👍🏻
GAT, the reg being a tongue in cheek reference to GATSO speed camera's.Nice work Geoff.
Brilliant loved this .. waiting for the swansea cossy reply.. what about the vauxhall police cars .. the cavalier 4x4 s. And the escort rs 2000s. They were both used as marked and unmarked vehicles.. be nice to do reports on them 👍
th-cam.com/video/fu3Qd-pfv7o/w-d-xo.html
Gsi footage here
I for one would love to know more about lots of the Police Vauxhalls (especially Senators) that were used as traffic cars. On the subject of RS 2000's, the GMP vehicle crime unit featured on X Cars had a few of those. Wonder whether any of them, including the Sapphire Cosworths they owned still exist?
My mate bought a white k reg one back in the late 90ks early 00’s. I can’t remember the Rev but was white. It was bought from a car dealer in Cardiff. It had a service and all,of its history then came to light. It was tuned version running more boost than standard. The engine let go due to a standard cossie plug fitment (too hot a running plug). It went back to the dearer for a rebuild where it came to light it had been reshelled with in its 1st month as a police car although was possible a unmarked one. But I do feel that number 9 cosies new reg rings a bell.
Ah this is amazing. Word is a Cosworth Escort was on the force in Swansea and a dog handler van driver said ‘can I have a go?’ And rolled it within 2 weeks of it appearing on the force. Maybe this was the legendary Swansea Cosworth?!
K434 CAX is for sale with wbandsons. They state that it was originally registered as K338 FEW.
They claim 35(!) were used by various forces.
I was one of the vehicle coordinators on The Bill from June 92 till Sept 95. We were supplied a blue two door cosworth with leather seats from rogers and cowan. A product placement company that supplied all our fords on the series. we were going to use it as a CID car. Because it was not used by the met we did not use it. My last company car was Brownlows MK3 Granada cosworth auto. flip me did that fly.
Pop me an email over I bet you have some stories! Geoffbuyscars@gmail.com
@@GeoffBuysCars check an episode called Instant Response, a car chase all the way through. A fantastic job with great cast and crew with big challenges at times. Action Vehicles was the company I worked for on The Bill.
I’m very fortunate to have been in a escort cosworth it’s very fast for it’s day it was a Dark blue one black leather interior. I worked for a ford Dealer in the 90s. Not as fast as the lotus carton I Drove once.
Bold statement saying it was the most important hatchback😅
I remember the Swedish police had Volvo 850 T5 Yellow (repainted as police cars) and tried to outrun an Opel/Lotus Omega. There was a dash cam video from the police car circulating around early 2000s. Let's just say the Volvo didn't have a chance.
Fun to see the police in UK had some fun cars too!
Loved this video and the first one ,it's great to have a car that's got such a great story like these cossies 👍👍😁
Daaaaamn I loved that!!!! Brilliant thanks Geoff I really enjoyed that I sat and watched these last night after everyone went to bed!! Keep it up mate looking forward to more content on all this!! Also you have a new subscriber!! 🎉🎉👍🏻
Ah thank you and welcome! Check out my McLaren f1 and ‘cars of need for speed 2’ videos if you liked the Cosworth ones.
Geoff where are the jellied eels!! Awesome video!! I have subscribed to your channel through these videos! So glad I came across this. Awesome mate.
i saw a police cosworth chasing a car lights on flat out and it hit a dip in the road, they bent the subframe 4 inches.....apparently 140 mph grindings of the sub frame bends them in half, there is a 90 mph limit on that road to this day, its a dual carriageway on the wilts dorset border...
You’re clearly in the know and should email me some juicy stories....
I found both videos were very interesting Geoff....many thanks.
Very interesting fearure. Would be nice to see another on the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth. Avon & Somerset Police used them.
GMP had marked and unmarked sapphire cosworths. Plus XR4x4’s they had plenty
Had some great general info from my relative in Cleveland. He put out a request on retired police fb site, some quick replies.
Firstly there were no Escort Cossies up there, like here in Sleepy (& crime free 😂) West Yorkshire.
However there was a Sapphire, registered H572LEF, which survived its police life.
Apparently Cleveland tried a Granada Cosworth (that's a 24valve Cosworth head on top of the venerable 2.9 cologne V6) as a demo but it was tail happy, they also tried and wanted XR4x4s but weren't allowed to have them! . They did have a mix of Granadas and 2.0 Sierras and apparently at the height of the joy riding craze when the top car to be stolen up there was the Astra GTE their foil to that was XR3is with run flat tyres!!! Not only were they out powered, the insider story is they had electrical issues with the police radios, and errrr the brakes! Interesting back stories for you! Ben
Cheers for this Ben...! Yeah an XR3i isn't really much cop. See what I did there?!
Had a word with my mate Jase this evening.
He thinks the Skipton Cossie was for the pursuit of the many speeding motorcyclists in North Yorks, he mentioned Devils Bridge as a hot-spot in the 90s, & the force was the 3rd highest in the UK for radar traps. The Cossie was replaced by an original Impreza Turbo, followed by the second generation of the same model. To think over in this part of WYP had Cavaliers and Sierras owt fast would have been hard to keep up with. Thinking back to my dad's time, Escort mk 2 populars, Fiesta 1.1s, Avenger cid cars, various astras, mk4 Escort 1.3s and near the end of his time Peugeot 306 Diesels it's a good job.
As a Ford fan the run flats on the 3is sounds like a hindrance, but not nearly as much as the radio equipment affecting the brakes!! If the 3i my dad had as his own car fitted Vauxhall "knight rider" dash (based on the C3 Corvette of the time) it would have been fabulous!! Best wishes, Ben
You’ve got to do the sierra next , maybe a bit more info will pop up on the escorts along the way
I never saw the Gwent police one my mates did just once . Because it was written off after a few days.
I do know the unmarked cars in Leeds were grey because a friend used to taunt them on his motorcycle but they never gave chase.
Fantastic video. I definitely found searching up the whereabouts of older cars so interesting you should definitely do that more often. (Not just police cars but any significant cars that seem lost)
Now I worked for the police for 16 and a half years starting in the early 2000s and back then they had in house mechanics that serviced all the fleet cars and bikes. They all had a servicing schedule and no matter what or how small maintenance was carried out. I can only assume from the early 90s to the late 90s it was the same. Sometime around mid 2000s they outsourced the contacts and the standard of work wasn’t as good but it was still carried out.
All the officers I personally encountered from Traffic where these cars must of been located just like me had a keen interest in cars and bikes and most would’ve been kind to these cars. Sure they would’ve driven them hard but like I said when you have an interest in something you tend to be more respectful of things.
That’s just my opinion on what I experienced.
All the cars that came to an end were auctioned off at specific auction houses maybe you could try and locate info that way.
We were never allowed to buy them directly always sent to auction.
However if you had a working relationship with a certain car and knew it was worth buying some people did buy them.
My father had an unmarked BMW that only he drove for a number of years and he knew everything about that car. Sadly tho he didn’t buy it but states he now wishes he had.
Great comment thank you!!
I’m originally from Bradford and if memory serves me right, the local paper The Telegraph and Argus ran an article on the cars. Two Escort Cosworth’s and two Astra GTE’s we’re deployed in the Bradford area to give the Police a chance of catching all the hot hatches that we’re being stolen at the time. The article reported about the sunroofs and I think alloy wheel, as they weren’t permitted on Police cars at the time.
I was living in Bradford when I owned L255 YNL
Loving these police cossie videos. Cheers geoff
thoroughly enjoyed them there eels
Fantastic update, thank you. Please follow the L255YNL auction and get to know it's future owner. Would love to hear updates about it as well as even more of it's history 👍🏽
Great couple of vids, really enjoyed hearing about these cars
I remember seeing one of the Northumbria police escorts driving through my town I was just a young lad I was like what is that so one of these cars it would have been amazing
I've just watched and posted on Part 1, not realising there was a part 2! Great stuff, really enjoyed watching! Thought you might be interested that M982 GAT was the feature car along with the Senator on the TWOC episode of the Blues and Twos TV show, if you can find the episode and want to see it in action. :-)
Re the low miles do bear in mind they have a 5 digit odometer and will wrap around at 100k.
Further to my first comment on the less powerful Rs2000 and GSi astra area cars, a couple of episodes of Channel 4s "The Nick" can be found on TH-cam. The series is a general overview of early 90s policing in Gipton, a suburb of Leeds, and now defunct Station building just off the A64. As background to the Policing of the time I think its quite eye opening. As, said there are some chases in it,and I think one of the RS2000s is set alight if I recall. Thinking about it now and the type of crimes featured, it sort of makes me wonder why the Skipton cossie was there(the roads are fabulous round there mind!) , when clearly Leeds needed something like it! And yes before it's mentioned Skipton is probably covered by North Yorks rather than West Yorks. Very interesting subject though, i look forward to the Sapphire edition, again recalling another BBC I think documentary on Greater Manchesters unmarked Saffs & let's not forget the fictional, but superb "Spender" series starring a Black Saff Cos, and err Jimmy Nail!
Geoff, where do we buy the jellied eels? It's incredible how much information on these Cosworths.
I know nothing about Jellied Eels. but I know I liked this. cheers.
I tried a bit of jellied eel once when a friend had some and was raving about how good they were........ I still feel that this was exactly one time too many to experience that "Substance" ! 🤢
I did post your first video on a classic car Facebook page, it got some good comments. Then it was pulled, with an excuse it was spam 😳. A great update!
A lot of those groups are ran by people with no life who’s entire ego is tied up in running a Facebook group 😂😂
@@GeoffBuysCars I didn't question it, I left the group. I did put a link on your FB page thinking it might be removed!
Knew you’d fine one. What a nice service to petrolheadness. You’d hate a cop one ‘then’ and now , quite the contry. Cannot believe how well these sit these days.
Here's a thought I wonder how many of these are just unregistered show cars that only get brought out to a show once in a while. Also not dismissing conversions of these cars into rally, rally cross, hill climb or time attack cars either as that may have been the case with these. Might be worth speaking to anyone in those circles to find out.
Congrats on 27k that went up quick.
Another awesome videos on these beasts. Please bring out the sapphire one soon. Cheers big ears 🤙😎🇦🇺
Another great vid Geoff, thanks!
I mean technically that poor lad's cossie was stolen... by the police
That last story was wild too!
I'm totally engaged in the comments
Full commitment!
Skipton /Bradford has another one. had a 2 Volvo estates t series, 5 motorcycle and chopper but 2 cosworths different police markings one L reg and k. In 1997/8. After police picked me and my friend for a post office robbery, 6 hrs in cells until cleared .
the M982 GAT was used in hull me and my mate pulled over 94-95 in his Q plate rs turbo convertible
Good work, very interesting, Sierra vid sound good, you just gained a sub
Geoff, there used to be a trailer in the car park of the Beehive pub in Brentford, West London that sold jellied eels. It's gone now but if you can track them down then that's where you'd get the jellied eels from!
All these comments and you're the first person that's told me where to find some, ha ha!
@@GeoffBuysCars Glad to be of service
In 1990s Liverpool I remember car thieves stealing high performance cars just to race the cosworth & other high powered force cars.some with fatal outcomes but it was a thing as the thieves knew the areas cut thrus & other places they could get away.
Something i notice that confuses me in the pictures . The early and late model Cosworths are visually different from the badge placement on the boot lid . The K reg ones have the badges side by side of the number plate but the later M reg ones with the plastic looking engine had the badges above each light . All the ones i spotted on this video had the early badge combo but even the late models . Very strange
Good spot! Yes I thought it was later, small turbo cars had the cosworth logo on the right hand side...? but I'm sure there's some Cosworth geeks in the comments who can correct us both.
I've lost count of what one it was but one of them wasn't road legal for years and was transported from show to show but unfortunately was stolen a few years back with i think another one!? And never been found!
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I've never been chased by the Rozzers in Cozzers!
The Swansea car was the demo on the A465, If I ever get back off the sick I'll find out.
Great to see those Cossie’s miss them thank you for your vid . And I can’t wait to see if there’s part 3 . It’d be rude not to do The original Sierra Cosworth .🇬🇧👍
TH-cam suggested this while i was on the loo.
I gave myself a hemorrhoid, but you got a sub out of it!
Proper interesting stuff cheers!
Some of the most peaceful moments in my adult life have been while slowly squeezing one out. If I had bought all the cars I’d browsed whilst sitting on the throne... well, I’d have a lot of cars 😂😂😂😂😂
@@GeoffBuysCars sometimes its the only way to get any peace!
IIRC the DVLA where replacing the old blue style V5C registration certificates / log books with the new red type around 2011 / 2012 so that could explain how the stolen Cossie got issued a new log book. IIRC they automatically sent them out to the registered keeper when the tax was due or SORN was renewed.
Further to my theory I just checked a family members current vehicle they bought back in 2005 & it lists a replacement log book issued in 2012 even when no change of keeper details occured.
When the guy got the car back after it was stolen, he requested a new log book for it. The car is still needing to be fixed and until then it won't be back on the road. Thing needs full restoration and I don't think he will ever get around too it so it just sits there in storage.
A mate of mine Mark had a 4x4 escort rs turbo from the factory and the it was for rally all rose jointed underneath and the escort cossie replaced it in the rally but he sold it yrs ago and I never seen it just what he told me and I don't think he would bs me lol
What about those 24v Cosworth Granada Police Cars, sold a lot of those.
We need a video on what happened to the northern Ireland armoured police snatch land rovers I think they were called tangi or hotspur,