Vehicle Gallery - Discussion Thread

Mr Simpson · 12-08-2012 1:06am

Theres a silver focus in Howth, think its an 03, that had someone pulled outside my work. It has no bumper lights or dash lights. It does have alternating headlights and one of the magnetic roof lights. Seriously unmarked, never would have guessed it was a Garda car.

An Udaras · 12-08-2012 12:27pm

I must Admit I do miss the old blue flower pots.. They always reminded me of this... Sigh Childhood memories..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCFVEvZvo3g

CharlieCroker · 12-08-2012 1:28pm

We have a flower pot in one of our unmarked. Only use it at checkpoints though

goldie fish · 12-08-2012 2:19pm

Most are only rated to 80km/h. Terrible having to try and retrieve it from the drivers door after it slides off on a bend.

Mr Simpson · 12-08-2012 4:02pm

Its rare to see them in Ireland, I think the met still use them a lot though.

CharlieCroker · 12-08-2012 4:18pm

Ya, saw a newish passat in London with one last year. Used a lot in Paris as well

Mr Simpson · 12-08-2012 4:21pm

They make sense if you are trying to be inconspicuous, the dash and bumper lights stand out like a sore thumb

Hooch · 12-08-2012 9:07pm

CharlieCroker wrote: »

Ya, saw a newish passat in London with one last year. Used a lot in Paris as well

They were grand for cities where top speed was never an issue. They were down right dangerous where any major speed was got.

Last time I used one (a real fancy strobe one....not like the previous rotating one.....we thought we were the bees knees!!), it flew off onto the passenger door at one stage and ended up attached to the bonnet after a rather quick stop. This was a regular occurrence. Magnets were never good enough. (even if you did feel all starsky and hutch throwing it up on the roof!!)

Davehopper · 12-08-2012 9:13pm

wouldnt it be great if you found one that had fallen on to the road and picked it up , lets all keep an eye out ,
BTW can you paint the orange ones you see in the boot sales or could yiou just put some coloured celophane wrap over one.

Thepredator · 12-08-2012 9:23pm

Davehopper wrote: »

wouldnt it be great if you found one that had fallen on to the road and picked it up , lets all keep an eye out ,
BTW can you paint the orange ones you see in the boot sales or could yiou just put some coloured celophane wrap over one.

Are you for real?

Davehopper · 12-08-2012 9:28pm

Yes I am for real , my ambition is to have a silver or blue (D) reg mondeo . unmarked of course , keepin a close eye on gumtree and done deal for the exact right car ,

CharlieCroker · 12-08-2012 9:38pm

Davehopper wrote: »

wouldnt it be great if you found one that had fallen on to the road and picked it up , lets all keep an eye out ,
BTW can you paint the orange ones you see in the boot sales or could yiou just put some coloured celophane wrap over one.

Davehopper wrote: »

Yes I am for real , my ambition is to have a silver or blue (D) reg mondeo . unmarked of course , keepin a close eye on gumtree and done deal for the exact right car ,

I may get infracted but You are a MORON!!! you've gone from ES to military to aviation and trolled every thread you've posted in!!

If you do happen to be real and actually do something like impersonate a Garda, I hope I catch you because I will nail you!!

POGAN · 12-08-2012 9:42pm

CharlieCroker wrote: »

Davehopper wrote: »

wouldnt it be great if you found one that had fallen on to the road and picked it up , lets all keep an eye out ,
BTW can you paint the orange ones you see in the boot sales or could yiou just put some coloured celophane wrap over one.

Davehopper wrote: »

Yes I am for real , my ambition is to have a silver or blue (D) reg mondeo . unmarked of course , keepin a close eye on gumtree and done deal for the exact right car ,

I may get infracted but You are a MORON!!! you've gone from ES to military to aviation and trolled every thread you've posted in!!

If you do happen to be real and actually do something like impersonate a Garda, I hope I catch you because I will nail you!!

Go on charlie :-)

starviewadams · 12-08-2012 9:42pm

Friend of the family is a detective and he regularly brings home unmarked cars with with no led's on the bumper or grills etc.Even the radio and siren control panels are hid away in a box beside the gear stick.He had an 07 Mondeo home with him last night actually,will get a pic the next time I see it.

goldie fish · 12-08-2012 9:43pm

Hooch wrote: »

They were grand for cities where top speed was never an issue. They were down right dangerous where any major speed was got.

Last time I used one (a real fancy strobe one....not like the previous rotating one.....we thought we were the bees knees!!), it flew off onto the passenger door at one stage and ended up attached to the bonnet after a rather quick stop. This was a regular occurrence. Magnets were never good enough. (even if you did feel all starsky and hutch throwing it up on the roof!!)

Yhe big problem always happened when you tried to get out of the car after and got hung up on its cable.

Thepredator · 12-08-2012 9:44pm

Davehopper wrote: »

Yes I am for real , my ambition is to have a silver or blue (D) reg mondeo . unmarked of course , keepin a close eye on gumtree and done deal for the exact right car ,

Oh I see, can't see a problem with that at all. You should put pictures up when your sorted and let us have a good look.

CharlieCroker · 12-08-2012 9:48pm

Thepredator wrote: »

Oh I see, can't see a problem with that at all. You should put pictures up when your sorted and let us have a good look.

Including the reg!

Davehopper · 12-08-2012 9:49pm

Thanks for that offer to nail me , is that the best that someone that is actually pretending can do .
no self respecting actual Garda would come on a forum and brag about their equipment .
Would love to know what your superiors would think of your internet police antics,

Hooch · 12-08-2012 9:52pm

Davehopper wrote: »

Yes I am for real , my ambition is to have a silver or blue (D) reg mondeo . unmarked of course , keepin a close eye on gumtree and done deal for the exact right car ,

Thats it I've had it with you. I thought if we ignored you that you would stop.

You are a blatant troll and I hope that if you do impersonate a member of AGS that you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

You sir, coupled with your dreams make you a dangerous dangerous fello.

Take a nice long holiday from our little forum. Bon Voyage.

Think we can leave this one rest fellas.

O and I don't condone abuse of a user on this forum at all.....but charlie was right.....

robo10 · 12-08-2012 10:47pm

Did any of you guys see the 2007 silver marked vectra estate Garda car on rte news tonight it was in cork i think. I thought only some of the newer cars where silver?

goldie fish · 12-08-2012 10:56pm

I've not seen that before.

POGAN · 12-08-2012 11:22pm

robo10 wrote: »

Did any of you guys see the 2007 silver marked vectra estate Garda car on rte news tonight it was in cork i think. I thought only some of the newer cars where silver?

Call back of unmarked car I would say

goldie fish · 12-08-2012 11:50pm

POGAN wrote: »

Call back of unmarked car I would say

Radio workshops used to use them. Must have had low mileage.

Mr Simpson · 13-08-2012 12:18am

Theres a couple of 07 silver focuses around as well that are newly marked up.

POGAN · 13-08-2012 11:49am

robo10 wrote: »

Did any of you guys see the 2007 silver marked vectra estate Garda car on rte news tonight it was in cork i think. I thought only some of the newer cars where silver?

That car was from gorey in Wexford

13-08-2012 4:15pm

robo10 wrote: »

Did any of you guys see the 2007 silver marked vectra estate Garda car on rte news tonight it was in cork i think. I thought only some of the newer cars where silver?

Saw that too. There was a silver saloon done around Mullingar too. It featured in a recent story about eastern europeans having a big fight.

The job took a load of silver and white unmarked cars from the current fleet and marked them up to save them from buying new ones!

highdef · 19-08-2012 4:00am

Hooch wrote: »

Thats it I've had it with you. I thought if we ignored you that you would stop.

You are a blatant troll and I hope that if you do impersonate a member of AGS that you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

You sir, coupled with your dreams make you a dangerous dangerous fello.

Take a nice long holiday from our little forum. Bon Voyage.

Think we can leave this one rest fellas.

O and I don't condone abuse of a user on this forum at all.....but charlie was right.....

Very unfair ban of davehopper! Don't know him at all but he seems to have hit a sore point here. Have you seen the impersonate police cars in the states? What davehopper talks about is nothing compared to there. A lot of you seem very over protective of what may be said here. I'm sure the emergency services section was set up because of demand so if someone says something that is not in complete agreement, you can't just go and ban them.

source · 19-08-2012 8:23am

highdef wrote: »

Hooch wrote: »

Thats it I've had it with you. I thought if we ignored you that you would stop.

You are a blatant troll and I hope that if you do impersonate a member of AGS that you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

You sir, coupled with your dreams make you a dangerous dangerous fello.

Take a nice long holiday from our little forum. Bon Voyage.

Think we can leave this one rest fellas.

O and I don't condone abuse of a user on this forum at all.....but charlie was right.....

Very unfair ban of davehopper! Don't know him at all but he seems to have hit a sore point here. Have you seen the impersonate police cars in the states? What davehopper talks about is nothing compared to there. A lot of you seem very over protective of what may be said here. I'm sure the emergency services section was set up because of demand so if someone says something that is not in complete agreement, you can't just go and ban them.

He's been banned from multiple forums across the site, not just ES, so no I wouldn't say he's been treated harsh here.

Also if he was looking for information on old out of service equipment for reenactment/ car shows, then I'm certain there wouldn't have been a problem.

The issue is the stuff he is trying to collect would put him in a very sticky or dangerous situation, and in certain circumstances could get him killed.

Also impersonation of a member of there defence forces and gardai, is a serious offence.

Hooch · 19-08-2012 5:49pm

highdef wrote: »

Very unfair ban of davehopper! Don't know him at all but he seems to have hit a sore point here. Have you seen the impersonate police cars in the states? What davehopper talks about is nothing compared to there. A lot of you seem very over protective of what may be said here. I'm sure the emergency services section was set up because of demand so if someone says something that is not in complete agreement, you can't just go and ban them.

Infracted for breach of charter, no further comments on this please.

O, and this user was site banned last week.

maglite · 25-08-2012 12:28am

Mycroft H · 19-09-2012 11:36pm

Well lads,

Quick question, am I seeing NAS using standard body vans on emergency work? I saw what I thought was Merc Sprinter (van, not the box wilker body) on a call coming out of Enfield a few days back, though I could be wrong on the make, it was lashing rain at the time. I'm sure it said ambulance service on the side (definitely wasn't a private vehicle). Any pics?

Mr Simpson · 20-09-2012 12:49am

Sounds like that may have been a Medicall or similar ambo. I havent seen any NAS ambos like that, they may have some.

Mycroft H · 20-09-2012 8:49am

mmcn90 wrote: »

Sounds like that may have been a Medicall or similar ambo. I havent seen any NAS ambos like that, they may have some.

Definitely wasn't medicall, they've a funny battenburg on the side of their vehicles.

Mr Simpson · 20-09-2012 11:20am

BX 19 wrote: »

mmcn90 wrote: »

Sounds like that may have been a Medicall or similar ambo. I havent seen any NAS ambos like that, they may have some.

Definitely wasn't medicall, they've a funny battenburg on the side of their vehicles.

That they do, oddly enough I've seen them flying around stillorgan on blues an awful lot lately.

20-09-2012 1:07pm

They are driver training vehicles.

Capri · 26-09-2012 8:26pm

US cop car vids

Dodge Pursuit
https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/fleetcda/portal?pageid=dbbe365479fe6110VgnVCM100000e9261c35RCRD&ptitle=Charger%20Police&sectionid=fb66cce1be7f5110VgnVCM10000091f4e735RCRD

Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrMJtAQr500 go to 1.40+

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnDLi0o3hWM&feature=fvwrel go to 1.30+

Florida Mustang polis car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFQOLfQboGs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6c0EpVDXaKU&feature=endscreen

Lights demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=tPxIEEmdXc4

kub · 26-09-2012 11:10pm

Just a thought, the way the Garda fleet is going we will soon be able to do one of two things, these being;

1. A spot a patrol car photo competition.

2. The vintage patrol car collection.

Any thoughts?

Capri · 27-09-2012 12:32am

Pearse St has it's old gold 02(?) Avensis h/b, a 99 or 00 (?) black Camry also's going around

Mister Jingles · 28-09-2012 10:36pm

Those old toyotas can go on forever, maybe the reason why there still around ?

kub · 28-09-2012 10:51pm

I had no idea that the AGS fleet was so bad until I was speaking with a chap from one of the main dealers which service a lot of their fleet in the local division.
He as telling me that on average cars come in every 3/4 weeks, they are literally plastered together and that the money spent on repairing them is nobodys' business.
He thought there are two budgets, one for maintenance and the other for purchasing, so he reckoned that if a bit of thought was used, a new car could be purchased every 3 months instead of putting good money into running repairs on cars which should not be really used for police work.

Well at least that particular dealers service dept is busy.

Hogzy · 28-09-2012 11:21pm

kub wrote: »

I had no idea that the AGS fleet was so bad until I was speaking with a chap from one of the main dealers which service a lot of their fleet in the local division.
He as telling me that on average cars come in every 3/4 weeks, they are literally plastered together and that the money spent on repairing them is nobodys' business.
He thought there are two budgets, one for maintenance and the other for purchasing, so he reckoned that if a bit of thought was used, a new car could be purchased every 3 months instead of putting good money into running repairs on cars which should not be really used for police work.

Well at least that particular dealers service dept is busy.

No matter how much milleage they do, they should be able to get at LEAST a year and a half out of a car. Otherwise they need to be driving tanks.

kub · 28-09-2012 11:53pm

Hogzy wrote: »

No matter how much milleage they do, they should be able to get at LEAST a year and a half out of a car. Otherwise they need to be driving tanks.

This was not a Toyota garage, I am not saying Toyota's are perfect. This guy was talking about cars with over 250,000 km on them, so need I say more as to what make they are.

Sorry i might be causing confusion, I do not mean that cars should be replaced every 3 months. Just consider how many cars have been taken off the road over the last while because they have over 300k on them. So instead of spending the bones of 2k on repairing cars with over 200,000 km on them every few months, just put the money aside for a new vehicle.
I am not sure though if this will work at this stage considering the amount of cars that are gone from the fleet.

Strumms · 29-09-2012 8:30pm

coming from a member of the public I gots a question.... Not a million miles away from me up in Finglas a good few years ago a young Guard was killed in a traffic accident while persuing another car. From what I recall (I am open to correction) the subsequent inquiry found that one of the main contributing factors if not THE factor was that he was basicially driving an old heap of **** unmarked patrol car which several defects and afterwards several policy changes were made in terms of condition that was acceptable in the fleet. Considering the usage, strains and milage etc that is put on any Garda car, would they not have a certain standard now say equal to or higher than the NCT and to keep that vehicle to that standard until it comes uneconimicly viable to do so and if so what is the standard after all these are not some run of the mill family cars they need to be fit for a certain purpose ? I'm just wondering because say my 5 year old civialian mondeo vs the equilivent in the Garda fleet which will have much more milage, wear and tear on all mechanical aspects. Basicially the angle I'm coming from is for guys going out doing that job deserve the best and at the very least 'up to it' cars and whatever equipment. Any thoughts from the professionals ? care to offer an insight ?

kub · 29-09-2012 10:55pm

Strumms I agree with you, God help any Garda involved in an RTA in one of the classic patrol cars with silly mileage on them. I am surprised that the GRA have not brought this concern up.
I know that the greatest two words that have ever been invented either to/or not, something is/not done, are the words 'Health & Safety'.....surely these apply in AGS.

guttenberg · 02-10-2012 10:13pm

Just looking at KKV's brilliant photos from Salou. Is it only the police that have blue lights? Is the Ambulance lights a different colour just to differentiate that it's an ambulance or do they not have the same emergency light privileges that the police have?

03-10-2012 5:51pm

guttenberg wrote: »

Just looking at KKV's brilliant photos from Salou. Is it only the police that have blue lights? Is the Ambulance lights a different colour just to differentiate that it's an ambulance or do they not have the same emergency light privileges that the police have?

While I personally don't really know much at all about the Spanish emergency services, I can only say that I have seen only ambulances in Salou/Lanzarote/Reus, etc. with amber (and sometimes amber + red) lights. I haven't seen any with blue lights (though a Google image search reveals that there are some).

Perhaps it's a tiered system? Amber lights are for local and non-life-threatening issues and blue for emergency calls?

I'm fairly sure I seen a Fire jeep passing by one of the days, which also had amber. That said, I've seen only blue on Police and Civil Guard stuff.

I wouldn't mind knowing more about this kind of thing myself.

One thing I will say though, is that all of the Police cars I seen look the same - Pristine. They all look like they've just had their decals put on the day before and are fresh out of a car wash. Not a dent, tear, scrape or bump on any of them (not that I'm saying they don't exist, but they seem much harder to find).

And their livery is quite elaborate, for what it is, too.

The state of a lot of Garda cars in comparison is shocking (not that I blame the Gardaí, obviously, but more the lack of money to fix this sort of stuff).

It's a small thing, I know, but I think most people subconsciously take the Police in a country like Spain a lot more seriously when they see the tougher looking uniform, gun holster on the utility belt, and spotless police vehicles.

Mind you, I suppose it's not the most economical way of spending. I'd rather my local station had 10 cars with ripped livery and bumps than 5 cars in (aesthetically) immaculate condition.

searescue · 04-10-2012 1:02am

Wiki;

In Spain, the law allows only the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, Guardia Civil, Policía Local and autonomous law-enforcement agencies to use blue lights, so in contrast with convention in Europe, civil defence, ambulances (Ambulancia) and fire engines (Bomberos) have to use yellow/amber lights (the only other color authorized, in contrast to convention in which these color lights are used to denote slow vehicles). However some Autonomous Communities have allowed other colors, such as blue, red or white (the latter two of which is used by SAMUR in Madrid), which however, would be technically illegal to use throughout Spain. However, also yellow/amber lights are used in wide-load trucks and their accompanying vehicles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_vehicle_lighting#Europe

10-10-2012 1:44am

Wasn't gonna post this in the gallery thread (I'll stay away for a short while, as I've practically taken over it lately) but here's a (terribly poor) video of the SJA jeep on the beach (and before anyone attempts to watch it, it's just the jeep sitting still with the lights on, there's no action stuff of it driving on the beach or anything, and the camera's shaking all over the place due to the wind).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=472005249506261&notif_t=video_comment

Mr Simpson · 10-10-2012 2:19am

If you have more photos, please post them there. Its nice to see new photos and nobody else seems to be posting any. Don't worry about having a few consecutive posts, everyone here loves to see your photos.

10-10-2012 2:52pm

mmcn90 wrote: »

If you have more photos, please post them there. Its nice to see new photos and nobody else seems to be posting any. Don't worry about having a few consecutive posts, everyone here loves to see your photos.

What he said.

Vehicle Gallery - Discussion Thread

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