80 Historical Photos Of The Greater Manchester Police Vehicles Through The Years

   

These historical photos are from the collection of the Greater Manchester Police Museum and Archive that show vehicles police officers often used in the past.

Four officers of Bolton Borough Police sit astride their motorcycles

 

Officers of Salford City Police pose proudly with their sidecars on a cobbled street, ca. 1920s

 

 
The first car in police use on the region's roads, Bolton, 1925

 

 A Manchester City Police Alvis patrol car along with a motorcycle and sidecar in 1930s

 

 A Manchester City Police vehicle sits outside one of the force's police boxes in the 1930s

 

 
Manchester City Police officers on a sidecar in the 1930s

 

Manchester City Police officers on board a BSA motorcycle and sidecar in Ardwick Green on the edge of Manchester city centre during the 1930s

 

 
Bolton Borough Police officers with a Daimler in 1935

 

The chief constable of Oldham Borough Police watches an inspection of the force's motorcyclists, circa 1935

 

 
An officer of Rochdale Borough Police poses with his motor vehicle outside police headquarters in the early 1940s

 

 Oldham Borough Police's vehicle fleet in the 1940s

 

 An officer of Manchester City Police uses the radio fitted to his Morris J -Type van in the late 1950s

 

 
 Classic police vehicles of the past in the late 1950s

 

Stockport Borough Police officers stand proudly beside their Morris Minor 1000s outside the force’s headquarters on the town's Lee Street in the late 1950s

 

The vehicles of the Oldham Borough Police fleet in the 1950s

 

 
 Officers and vehicles of the former Oldham Borough Police stand ready to be inspected by one of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) on the 24rd July 1953

 

Two Manchester City Police officers pull their BSA motorcycles out into traffic on a wet day in Manchester city centre, 1956

 

Officers of Manchester City Police await review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) at the famous Belle Vue complex on Hyde Road, 1959

 

 
A Ford Zephyr Farnham estate vehicle and an MGA sports car among Lancashire Constabulary police cars of the early 1960s

 

A Lancashire County Constabulary motorway patrol vehicle from the 1960s

 

A Manchester City Police bicycle patrol officer of the 1960s

 

 
A Manchester City Police Mark 2 Jaguar waits at traffic lights while being driven through longsight in the 1960s

 

A Manchester City Police officer using his police radio equipment in the early 1960s

 

A Manchester City Police sergeant stands proudly alongside his Triumph TR4 patrol car in the yard of Longsight Police Station in the 1960s

 

 
A sergeant of Manchester City Police sits astride his police motorcycle outside Minshull Street Crown Court around 1960

 

Classic Jaguar in South Manchester streets, ca. 1960s

 

Manchester City Police Ford Cortina patrol car from the 1960s

 

 
Manchester City Police officers in the yard of Longsight Police Station in the 1960s

 

Manchester City Police Triumph TR4 patrol cars in the yard of Longsight Police Station in the mid 1960s

 

Manchester City Police's Inspector Albert Leach stands beside a Mini Cooper S patrol car sometime during the mid 1960s

 

 
Salford City Police officers proudly display their Hillman Minx patrol cars in the rear yard of their headquarters building in central Salford around 1960

 

The Jaguar Mark 2 is one of the most recognizable and iconic vehicles ever used by the police service in the 1960s

 

Traffic policing in the 1960s

 

 
 Two Manchester City Police officers on traffic patrol in South Manchester in the 1960s

 

Manchester City Police officers pose proudly with some of the force's vehicles outside Platt Hall in the city's Platt Fields Park, 1961

 

A classic Triumph police car in a Manchester park on an icy day in 1962

 

 
A Standard Ensign estate car and police motorcycle of the Manchester City Police fleet in 1962

 

An officer of Stockport Borough Police stands proudly besides his Vauxhall Velox vehicle in Stockport's Woodbank Memorial Park , 1962

 

A Lancashire Constabulary motorcyclist stands proudly beside his Triumph machine in the rear yard of Ashton-under-Lyne Police Station in 1963

 

An officer of Manchester City Police test the radio on his Norton Atlas police motorcycle in the yard of Longsight Police Station prior to going out on patrol, 1963

 

 
An experimental motorway patrol involving forces from the Manchester area in 1964

 

An officer of Bolton Borough Police sits astride his BSA motorcycle in central Bolton, 1964

 

The classic 1965 Wolseley 15.60 alongside some of GMPs fleet of motorway patrol Range Rovers at their base at Birch on the M62, 1965

 

A Manchester City Police cadet under motorcycle riding instruction on the roads of Manchester in 1966

 

 
 Manchester and Salford Police mobile incident unit, 1968

 

Manchester City Police Mini Cooper undergoing a certified speedometer check on the Force's rolling road at Longsight Police Station in 1968

 

A Ford Capri sits in the yard of the Crescent Police Station in Salford during the late 1970s

 

A Ford Granada of Greater Manchester Police's Motorway Unit sits beside the carriageway in the mid to late 1970s

 

 
A Ford Transit police van overtaking a number 77 bus on a North Manchester road in the early 1970s

 

A police officer stands proudly beside his Morris Marina police car in the yard of Stretford Police Station sometime in the mid 1970s

 

 Vehicles of the Greater Manchester Police motorway fleet from the mid 1970s

 

A traffic officer stands beside his Rover P6 V8 vehicle as he chats to colleagues out on foot patrol, 1973

 

 
 Two police officers travel in one of the most famous British cars ever to take to the road, 1973

 

A Greater Manchester Police officer parks his Mini outside the famous Manchester Town Hall in 1974

 

A very early example of a vehicle converted to be used in a public order surveillance role sits in the yard of Longsight Police Station in Manchester, 1974

 

Vehicles of the newly-formed Greater Manchester Police dating from 1974 or 1975

 

 
A Greater Manchester Police Ford Mk 1 Transit van in 1975

 

A police sergeant stands beside a classic police vehicle of the era in February 1975

 

The Bay City Rollers, Mud and Showaddywaddy may have been riding high in the charts but it was just another day on patrol for this Greater Manchester Police officer back, 1975

 

 
A police officer stands beside one of Greater Manchester Police's Land Rovers on 1 July 1976

 

A Greater Manchester Police officer and his Mini patrol car outside part the Granada Television complex on Quay Street in Manchester, 1977

 

 
A mechanic works on a Greater Manchester Police Ford Capri in the Force's vehicle workshop in Openshaw, 1978

 

 
 
At the Airport in 1979

 

 
A Ford Capri sits beside a motorway in the region in the 1980s

 

A Ford Capri sits in the yard of the Crescent Police Station in Salford in the late 1980s

 

 
 
A Greater Manchester Police traffic officer poses with his Ford Granada in the early 1980s

 

 Greater Manchester Police officers with the Sunbeam-Talbot, 1980

 

One of Greater Manchester Police's mobile incident units of the late 1980s

 

 
Police officer with his Ford Granada in the early 1980s

 

Traffic area support services - Lotus Sunbeam fleet in 1980

 

A Greater Manchester Police officer and her Ford Capri vehicle in Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1982

 

 
A Range Rover of Greater Manchester Police's Motorway Unit overtakes a Dodge lorry while on patrol in 1984

 

A Greater Manchester Police Range Rover attends the scene of an incident near Barton Bridge in 1988

 

A Greater Manchester Police Incident Unit sits on the forecourt of the Greater Manchester Exhibition and Event Centre - commonly known as GMEX - in the early 1990s

 

 
A Greater Manchester Police Motorway Unit Range Rover is at speed during the mid 1990s

 

A Greater Manchester Police Range Rover stands ready to escort an army convoy through the regions motorway network in the early 1990s

 

Greater Manchester Police officers patrol on off-road bikes from the early 1990s

 

 
The last Ford Capri alongside the Ford Sierra Cosworth that replaced it on Monday, 13 April, 1992

 

The last Ford Capri to see service with Greater Manchester Police alongside the Ford Sierra Cosworth that replaced it on Monday, 13 April, 1992

 

A range of Greater Manchester Police vehicles on display in 1998