Garda MkII Granadas - any survivors??

rollcall

Looking for an ex Garda Granada MkII to restore for a Garda museum and also car show use. There were a number in service during the 80s with the registration SSI - going from about 901 up to 920 or thereabouts. Mostly used by Special Branch or as ministerial cars. Other genuine ex Garda cars might also be of interest, I know they dont survive well given the abuse they get, so any information on surviviors or cars with potential would be appreciated! It is hoped that we get a few cars & motorcycles together, perhaps even form an emergency vehicle club in due course. Thanks for looking!

Kevin_Herron

A friend of mine owned an ex detectives car 2.8 GL manual, it had the zips in the headcloth!

There is an ex Garda facelifted Mk2 Granada going to the shows, SSI reg as far as I can remember.
The guy that owns it restored it and is very keen on them.
He has its full history.

It wouldnt be a car that I would have any interest in owning but it is very nice to see one around.

trad

There were also some with a DZL reg. There was a large fleet of them bought in around 80 or 81 and were used for divisional task forces. Some lay unissued for years They were nearly all blue but we had a green one. The SSI regs were around 1984 and were less basic than the earlier fleet. Haven't seen any in a while.

manta mad

theirs an ex toyota camry traffic car in naas ,have the fellas number here somewhere !

and wasent their a pic of a morris minor squad car on here a few months ago ?

Pdfile

ive a mate who has both a cortina and Granada.

they are Very far and few between.

rollcall

Thanks for the 'tipoffs' lads, if you know of anyone that may be looking to sell one of these cars I would appreciate a pm, I have some of the bits & pieces needed to put them back as they were in-service. I bought an ex GS 88 Sierra onetime at the auction in Johns Road, first job was to take out the interior and clean everything. When I went to pull out the back seat base it lifted out (no screws) and there were bits of straw underneath! Guess someone discovered you could fit a bale in the back if you took the seat out! If these cars could talk...

james1410

I have a 1990 sierra sapphire in bright blue the same as garda cars use to be its queit basic and even doesent have a sunroof many people have asked me was it once a garda car but i dont know heres pics of it.

VolvoMan

I'd actually say that is an ex Garda car. The high Dublin reg number gives it away for me.

james1410

Id love to know if she really is! because if she was i may leave her orignal.

galwaytt

james1410 wrote: »

Id love to know if she really is! because if she was i may leave her orignal.

....lose the alloys and spoiler, and add 3 more black steel rims and you're elected.


I daresay you'd still give the odd punter a fright with it !

james1410

Yeah maybe! i may try get a blue light and siren for it to! the spoiler is actualy an orignal sierra sapphire spoiler not an cosworth or RS one so id say it would of been orignaly on them! ive since these pics fitted a boot the same colour as the car ive also converted the engine to 2.0i DOHC

i might leave her all orignal on the outside with either steels or pepperpots.

Pdfile

james1410 wrote: »

Yeah maybe! i may try get a blue light and siren for it to! the spoiler is actualy an orignal sierra sapphire spoiler not an cosworth or RS one so id say it would of been orignaly on them! ive since these pics fitted a boot the same colour as the car ive also converted the engine to 2.0i DOHC

i might leave her all orignal on the outside with either steels or pepperpots.

steels as no real garda car has alloys,

you need the blue blinkers on the dash also with the siren on a loop on a cd....


for " effect "

macroman

Hens Teeth...or Rocking Horse s**t

rollcall

James 1410, are there any signs of plugged holes where ariels were replaced, or wiring for a lightbar came down through the roof if it was a marked car? There could also be holes in the glovebox where the radio might have been mounted. If you are going for the authentic look, keep the cheap wheels and lose the wheel trims as they always came off on patrol! It might also be worth taking out the seats and seeing what may be underneath the carpets, never know what you might find!

carchaeologist

james1410 wrote: »

I have a 1990 sierra sapphire in bright blue

Is the diff welded in it?

james1410

rollcall wrote: »

James 1410, are there any signs of plugged holes where ariels were replaced, or wiring for a lightbar came down through the roof if it was a marked car? There could also be holes in the glovebox where the radio might have been mounted. If you are going for the authentic look, keep the cheap wheels and lose the wheel trims as they always came off on patrol! It might also be worth taking out the seats and seeing what may be underneath the carpets, never know what you might find!

There is a good few holes in the dash and think there is a few in the glove box were something was mounted before i didnt see any holes pluged in the roof but there may of been and possibly filled with filler and repainted as i think the bodywork was resprayed before in places.

altough i think the roof is one of the most odvious signs that it may of been a garda car as neerly all sierra sapphires ive seen have sunroofs.

james1410

carchaeologist wrote: »

Is the diff welded in it?

nope

carchaeologist

james1410 wrote: »

nope

Good stuff,keep it that way!Most saffs these days seem to have welded diffs for doing wreck at crossroads.

MercMad

That Sierra is definitely a Garda car. I used to service the Opel Vectras for many North Dublin stations and all had numbers in that batch 90D 385XX

I have seen the SSI Granada at the shows too, looks well.

VolvoMan

MercMad wrote: »

That Sierra is definitely a Garda car. I used to service the Opel Vectras for many North Dublin stations and all had numbers in that batch 90D 385XX

I have seen the SSI Granada at the shows too, looks well.

And if you check the next car before and after it on cartell, they are both Ford Sierra's as well.

james1410

I did it on my wheels.ie and yes the cars before and after all come up as blue sierras and 1.6 cool!

carchaeologist

james1410 wrote: »

I did it on my wheels.ie and yes the cars before and after all come up as blue sierras and 1.6 cool!

Thats a nice bit of history filled in on that car!

james1410

yeah im definatly going to restore her to her former glory now with 2 exception im not changing the engine back! and the car will be lowerd but not much as the rear of the car sits to high!

sogood

I used to own a 2 litre Sierra automatic that was an ex Garda Car registered to Phoenix park. It was a WZS reg, 1985 if memory serves me right. It was resprayed white, with body kit and alloys when I bought it and had a 2 litre engine in it as opposed to the 1.6 as shown on the log book. Whenever I taxed it, the tax office would only take the fee for a 1.6 as thats what the log book said. Same thing would have applied if the reverse were the case. However I had it insured as a 2 litre, rather than take any chances with any potential claims. Insurance company had no problem taking my word for it, or my money! Have some pics somewhere which I will post.........

granadamad

i know of one garda mk2 laid up, had a few in the past. they all had type 5 gearboxes

Silvera

I know of a guy who has c.6 Granadas parked up at the rear of his house. They range in years from 1985 up to c.1992.
He just parked them up when they failed and bought another. He has a Scorpio estate atm.

The reg's are .....ZG reg, 88 reg, 90 reg etc. etc
Dont think any are original ex-Garda cars, but would be a good base for replica ex-'state/branch' car!

granadamad

they woudnt be mk2s though except maybe the first one as they stopped producing mk2s in 85

easygoing39

sogood wrote: »

I used to own a 2 litre Sierra automatic that was an ex Garda Car registered to Phoenix park. It was a WZS reg, 1985 if memory serves me right. It was resprayed white, with body kit and alloys when I bought it and had a 2 litre engine in it as opposed to the 1.6 as shown on the log book. Whenever I taxed it, the tax office would only take the fee for a 1.6 as thats what the log book said. Same thing would have applied if the reverse were the case. However I had it insured as a 2 litre, rather than take any chances with any potential claims. Insurance company had no problem taking my word for it, or my money! Have some pics somewhere which I will post.........

Did you buy it from a bloke in Raheny??

sogood

easygoing39 wrote: »

Did you buy it from a bloke in Raheny??

The guy I bought it from lived in Swords. Thats not to say he didn't move at some stage. This was in 1990 or 1991 or thereabouts.

Silvera

There is a blue Sierra hatch parked in a persons front yard near Croke Park (trying to recall the name of the road I walked down? was a few months ago). It looked in great condition....I posted a pic here back then if anybody cares to search for it.

sogood

Silvera wrote: »

There is a blue Sierra hatch parked in a persons front yard near Croke Park (trying to recall the name of the road I walked down? was a few months ago). It looked in great condition....I posted a pic here back then if anybody cares to search for it.

You sure it wasn't a wine/maroon one? I posted a note about it just recently, mentioning the fact that I put up a pic during last summer on the "abandoned classics" or "What I saw today" forums. The one I saw was parked, nose in, in a driveway on Clonliffe Road, not too far from the junction of Jones' Road, heading up towards Drumcondra road, on the left hand side. It would be almost opposite Holy Cross College.

sogood

This is the maroon Sierra mentioned in the above post.

Silvera

sogood wrote: »

You sure it wasn't a wine/maroon one? I posted a note about it just recently, mentioning the fact that I put up a pic during last summer on the "abandoned classics" or "What I saw today" forums. The one I saw was parked, nose in, in a driveway on Clonliffe Road, not too far from the junction of Jones' Road, heading up towards Drumcondra road, on the left hand side. It would be almost opposite Holy Cross College.

Sry..ur right. Thats the one I saw!
Looks very solid!