Nearly half a century ago London had a speeding problem. ‘Road hogs and ton-up hooligans’ littered the streets, driving with no care or consideration for anyone else. To combat this most disrespectful of crimes, the boys in blue bought a Daimler SP250 and set about showing what they could do in their 130mph roadster pretty fast for the capital’s highways 50 years ago and far faster than the standard cop cars of the day although the Ford Cortina and MkII Jaguar were no slouches.
This chase car that London’s Metropolitan Police will come under the hammer at the latest Surrey auction by Historics at Brooklands on Saturday October 22nd. When 670 ELL saw active service it was driven roof-down through the mean streets of London by two fully-uniformed police officers, the idea being to give the crims a chance to spot the cops and change their ways before being chased down and banged up. It comes with a four-speed automatic gearbox with a natty little cable that allows officers/drivers to cling on to intermediate gears during a particularly high-speed chase. The Met was so impressed with 670 ELL’s performance that another 25 were signed up to the Fleet.
Just as the world began to breathe again after the resolution to the Cuban missile crisis, on 1st November 1962 Scotland Yard took delivery of a powerful law enforcement weapon of its own, in the shape of 670 ELL, a sleek, jet black, right-hand drive, 130mph soft-top Daimler SP250.
Recognizing that their normal patrol cars weren’t a match for 100mph speeders and getaway cars of the day, police drivers relished the performance of their new, foot-down acquisition. The Daimler’s 2.5 litre V8 engine developed 140bhp, fed through an automatic gearbox, complete with a cable-operated device that enabled intermediate gears to be held longer whilst on the chase.