Land Rover 109

Simon kindly agreed to me featuring his interesting Land Rover 109 on the site, thanks!

"I found your web site and have been looking through the classic car pictures. I have noticed you have some classic police car pictures. I own a 1977 MET Police Land Rover which I am currently restoring, and although I am good with the mechanics of it, when it comes to the classic part I am not too good. Would you happen to know of any features that a late 70's police car would have had? I have been able to obtain a genuine bell for the front, a set of 2-tone horns and a late 70's beacon complete with orange and blue lens, however when it comes to the specifics like the type of radio it used, or the equipment it carried I am at a loss.

I have been able to find out that my Land Rover was used mainly to clear the roads of cars if there was an accident, to keep the traffic moving around London. Its registration is YUU 199T, which is a SETAC (Specially Equipped Traffic Accident Car) number plate. Fortunately the Land Rover hasn't been messed about with too much after it had been stripped of the police stuff. Unfortunately someone had driven it through a destruction derby. The gearbox was smashed, the engine was knackered, the rear diff was on the verge of exploding and the brakes didn't work at all. The front diff wasn't too bad but the axle was shot.

I have been restoring it now for about a year. I have a new chassis for it (the old one was absolutely shot), rebuilt an engine, rebuilt a spare front axle/diff and repaired the rear diff. This weekend I was able to mount the gearbox on the engine and place them both on the chassis. I ran the engine for the 1st time as well. Only took 3 hours to start (bad distributor). But once it did start (after borrowing the dizzy off my other Land Rover, which doesn't run right now) it ran perfectly."

Alongside are some of the photos showing the Land Rover registration YUU 199T. Also shown is a black and white image of sister Landy YUU 197T, which shows the spec of these Met Land Rovers when new in the late 1970s. If you can help Simon with researching the equipment that would have been fitted in this classic 4x4, please drop him a line either via this site, or else Simon's website, link below.

More photographs of Simon's Landy can be found here.

Other stories about cars owned by visitors to oldclassiccar can be found on the car stories page, including this account of a 1972 Land Rover.

Links to other police car websites:

Police Vehicle Enthusiasts Club
Classic Cop Cars
Modern Police vehicles
Restored Volvo 121 Police estate car
History Police cars & vans
Lamborghini Gallardo Police Car (!)
Police Cars across Europe (inc Land Rovers)
Rover & Land Rover Police Cars

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