MEET THE OWNER – DAVID BUTLER AND HIS 1965 LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE WOLSELEY 6/110

London-set British films and television programmes of the 1960s usually featured a regular cast of vehicles. There would be an Austin or Morris LD ‘Wandsworth’ ambulance, a double-decker bus (usually an RT rather than a Routemaster), Austin FX3 and FX4 taxis and, of course, a black police Wolseley. The mighty 6/99 or 6/110 enforced law and order in Gideon’s Way, the Edgar Wallace and Scales of Justice B-films, Quatermass and The Pit, Seven Deadly Pills, Carry On Cabby, The Sorcerers, The Fast Lady and countless other titles. Many of these fine vehicles belonged to Action 99 Cars, driven on screen by the ace stunt drivers Joe Wadham and Jack Silk.

However, CYK 371 C is a genuine London Metropolitan Police Wolseley 6/110 Mk. II – and the only surviving example in the world. Its custodian David Butler recalls:

I bought the Wolseley at a vintage police vehicle committee meeting in 2001. It was offered for sale In ‘Any other Business’ with another genuine Wolseley 6/90 Metropolitan Police Area Car. I always wanted a Wolseley 6/110 police car, and I bought it there and then (over the ‘phone) for the sum of £1,500.

I subsequently contacted a friend at the Met Police Museum, and he gave me its fleet number - 670T. He also told me it was based at the Traffic Division S District in North West London and commissioned in May 1965, and de-commissioned in March 1969. The 6/110 covered the A406 North Circular Road, maintaining speed enforcement at the Ace Cafe. It also attended the murder of three police officers in Braybrook Street in Shepherds Bush in the summer of 1966.

In terms of special equipment, the Wolseley has a public address system with a roof-mounted speaker and the famous police bell – officially known as the ’Gong’. David notes it also carried “six cones, three blue flashing street warning lamps, and three information signs - ‘Police Accident’ ‘Police Slow’ and ‘Police Diversion’. There is also a ‘Scene Lamp’, a shovel, a tow rope, a fire extinguisher, two first aid kits and a blanket. It had no blue light or siren”. After the Met. sold the 6/110 at auction in 1969, it was fitted with a towbar and travelled around Europe with a caravan for six months.

The Wolseley remained in different ownership until a police enthusiast purchased it 40 years ago. He refitted it with police equipment and showed it at classic car shows. The 6/110 also spent time in a museum called The Galleries of Justice in the Midlands – from which David acquired it. “The Wolseley didn’t have a petrol tank, but after I sourced one, serviced it and with fresh fuel, it fired up on the 3rd go after about ten years of being idle. It was introduced to the Goodwood Revival in 2003 and became the lead police vehicle in the track opening parade for many years”.

Naturally, the 6/110 is a great favourite with the public. In David’s words, “It brings back memories of the Miss Marple films and Heartbeat more recently. It has to be one of the most iconic police vehicles of all time, and it is instantly recognised as a police car. It’s done many weddings, proms and funerals of retired police officers - and it is the only genuine police Wolseley 6/110 in the world!”.

With Thanks To: David Butler