how do the lights on the roof work? i'm fairly sure they don't drill a hole and are just held on by magnets but how do the wires go through?

surely they don't drill the roof of every car then go to the trouble of plating it over/filling/painting when the time comes to get rid of it?

somthing i've been wondering for a while you see

 

We have a MONDEO PARAMEDIC car at work at the moment.In for repair.Yes they do bolt to the roof .When they are sold on,they just put gromitts in the holes.Then the person that buys it (usually a dealer ) welds up the holes and paints the roof and also repairs the dashboard as they have a lot of equipment scrwed to them.

Also the electrics are put back to standard before they are sold.The MONDEO at work has 16 switches on the dash that make the blue lights flash,sirens,blue light in front grille and headlights flash e.c.t.

 

My Dad used to have an ex police Range Rover and that had holes everywere for the wires and mounting brackets on the lights.

Thats why it was so cheap to buy, all my Dad did though was rag the engine out and shove it in a Land Rover 90 (along with the axles, gearbox and brakes )

 

yes my GF car is ex police. Its fucked. all the plastics are loose as when they decommision they rip the stuff out. There was live wires hanging out all over the show. The lights AND all the ariels are bolted on and drilled through hence they always have a quick respray on the roof.

 

Hi James,

Sorry havent got back to you, been having nightmares at work and working all the hours under the sun.

The Lights are bolted on to the roof of our cars to stop them flying off. All the wiring goes under the base of the lights and are drilled through the roof skin. With Response cars such as Astra's they have a special panel that fits in the sun roof hole and bolted onto the inside of the car.

Magnetic lights such as Kojak lamps (single flashing light ) are held on with a strong magnet but can only be used to 70mph..although I had one stay on at 90 before flying off down a duel carriagway (doh)

Im hoping to have some answers for u re what we have been discussing by Thursday at the latest.. hope it all going good

Neil

 

ahhhhh i c, cos we've had a few ex-police cars in work recently and the roof's have been mint which has got me thinking how do they do that!?

i know the cars have all the switches in a little in-fill pannel in the space of the airvent, so no holes in the dash. I know the paramedic cars though, jesus christ it's like they just randomly hack the dash up to fit everything they possibly can

Neil, glad your ok, i did wonder! Look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

They generally dont tend to hack the cars about so much these days. In the new Vauxhall Astrays they remove the stereo and put our mobile data terminal in that space and move all the heater control switches down to the center console. U normally have a bank of switches on the main center console and now a big red button that says 999 on it so when u hit it all the lights come on and it allows you to operate the sirens through the horn switch. Because there is no sunroof they remove the handle for it and put the mainset in that space.

What makes me laugh is that they fit all these new fangled things into the cars but dont upgrade the alternators or batteries...we have 56 reg cars being pushed out of the yard because the battery has gone flat.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but on a simaler subject does anyone have any ex emergency service blue lights or siren kit etc? I'm currently building an MSA Rally Rescue Ambulance and they're costing me a fortune!

Andy

 

I can ask the lads who install the gear on our motors if you want. I presume they have stuff knocking about as we are always chopping changing cars

 

i have an astra TD now im sure thats an ex police car its L reg
and very very quick for a 1700 TD

the rear windows have been tinted and it has very odd extra wire's
behind the dash, also a speaker by the driver's head.........

ive also notice 2 cig-lighter plugs mounted in the back of the boot to charge lamp's etc,,,,,,,,,

i would love to know if it was one or not

 

who was the 1st owner on the log book??

 

never looked i will check it and see

 

got a few blue strobes and a couple of blue beacon covers somewhere
sadly the siren burnt out

 

I sold a complete "covert" police car kit to Martin Hadland last year

Those of us who went to the 'Ring in April last year will remember how amusing and police car like it was.

The following kit was on my cossie:

Blue LED Strobes behind the grill (genuine Volvo T5 traffic police ones too )
Alternate flashing headlamps
2 tone air hone siren
wahwah siren
white strobes in the fog lights


I also had a colour camera mounted above the towing eye which was linked to recording equipment

Here is a picture of the control panel for it all - the big red "missile" style switch was a master switch for it all, and each toggle had an LED in the tip to say wether they are on or not




Amazing what happens when you put your mind to it

 

i had a ex police st1100, still had the flashing headlight and the extra switches and reflective tape on panniers and front mud gaurd.....
best fun ever

 

Do you want them? I can collect?

Andy

 

metpol - do you kit out police cars or summin as a job? ALways something i've wanted to do, dont know why though