AUTONEWS

The Curious Case of the Australian Police Officer Who Fell in Love with His Patrol Car

Australia isn't a place we Europeans usually hear about. But from there, we've heard the curious story of a car that was originally intended to belong to a private customer, but by chance, it ended up sharing hours and miles with a police officer who ended up 'falling in love,' if we can call it that.

Australia isn't a place we Europeans usually hear about. But from there, we've heard the curious story of a car that was originally intended to belong to a private customer, but by chance, it ended up sharing hours and miles with a police officer who ended up 'falling in love,' if we can call it that.

It's a Holden Commodore SS-V Redline VG Series II. In case the brand doesn't ring a bell, or if you've heard of it before but can't quite place it, it's a manufacturer originally from Australia that belonged to General Motors and closed its doors permanently (although brands can resurface years later) in 2020.

In 2017, the year the car was manufactured, the Australian state police ordered three V8-powered Holden Commodores as "pursuit vehicles." It was what they needed: cars with 408 hp capable of going from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds. But a mistake by those ordering the fleet meant that three cars with automatic transmissions arrived at their destination in Canberra, when manual transmissions had always been used because they were more effective and faster, and the order was to buy manuals. That, so the story goes, sparked the ire of some police sergeants to the point that they were ordered to abandon those automatic cars and order three more versions, this time manual. But they got a "no" for an answer: as it happened, the request came just after Holden had stopped producing the Commodore, so they had no choice but to search among the remaining units at dealerships.

The last three...Luckily, it turned out, there were only three examples left like the ones they were looking for in the entire country: two at a dealership in Western Australia and another in the north of the island. And they were also the last three high-powered units to roll off the assembly line. They had a 6.2-liter V8 engine, manual transmission, and Brembo brakes, and were painted in Nirate Silver, Heron White, and Light My Fire Orange. The police officer who co-stars in this story confesses that "the day they arrived, Billy, one of the traffic sergeants, walked us to the parking lot while smoking a cigarette and asked me and two other drivers of the pursuit cars: 'What color do you prefer, guys?' For me, it was an easy choice: metallic gunmetal orange was and still is a standout color, and I was lucky enough to get his keys."

Driven by car enthusiasts... As this police officer acknowledges, both he and his colleagues are car enthusiasts, and only if you have certain driving skills do you get to drive a pursuit car in Australia. In fact, the entry point into what we might equate here with the Guardia Civil's Traffic Group consists first of taking a six-week motorcycle pursuit course, which, he confesses, "is a rite of passage to becoming a car driver and it's not easy to pass." The proof is in its very high failure rate, with classes of six students often resulting in only one or none graduating. And those who pass must spend at least two years on a motorcycle before getting behind the wheel of the pursuit cars.

Since the Holden Commodore, which the police officer eventually dubbed "Bronze," was so visible thanks to its color, it was designated as a "sweeper" vehicle for official visits by national or foreign dignitaries. That is, it had to travel at unreasonable speeds at the front of the processions to "clear" the ground.

Driving and caring for it... And when his job was done, and given that staff shortages are common in all areas and countries, the only police officer driving Bronze had to take care of the car and take it periodically to be cleaned or to undergo the service maintenance stipulated by the manufacturer, just as he would have done if he were its owner.

But after a few years (and a few miles), the time came when the police had to "retire" Bronce. It was as if the only officer who had ever driven it was being forced to part with his own car, and that unsettled him. So he investigated what they were going to do with the car, learned it was going to be auctioned, and bid heavily to win. And he won.

So, the officer was left with "his" car. It was missing the added features (lights, radio) he'd always driven it with, and with some scratches on the sides and where the light bar is mounted on the roof. But now, finally, he could truly say it was his.

Mundoquatrorodas