[Interview]

It wasn’t just on screens that police Capris spelt disaster for criminals. Many real-life UK forces gave marked examples to traffic officers, including ex-police sergeant Geoff Roberts

Words ANDREW ROBERTS Pictures GEOFF ROBERTS/PAUL WALSH/UK MOD/REQUEST STOP PHOTOGRAPHY

The first Capri I used was a MkII 3.0S on the advanced driving course,’ says retired Greater Manchester Police sergeant Geoff Roberts. ‘It had a manual gearbox with no power steering; fortunately, all of the GMP’s traffic unit Capris had power steering.

Away from The Professionals – with its smirking C15 agents, gripping car chases through Amersham and over-acting villains crashing FD-series Vauxhalls – several real-life police forces used the Ford Capri. By the Seventies, British constabularies had long employed sporting cars on traffic duties, from the Daimler SP250 and the MGB to the Sunbeam Tiger and the Triumph TR4. To commission the Capri, therefore, made perfect sense.

Lancashire bought its first MkI 3000GTs in 1971, and they also saw service in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Merseyside, Sussex, and Greater Manchester. Many drivers in Northwest England can still vividly remember the GMP’s liveried Capri 3.0S MkII and IIIs, with twenty last-of-the-line Injection Specials in 1986 marking the end of their association with ‘The Car You Always Promised Yourself’. Ex-sergeant Roberts regularly drove D444 KVM; over the past few years it has undergone extensive restoration to its full police specification.

Ford unveiled the Capri Injection in March 1981, the year Mark One Productions made the last Professionals adventure. It was the first product of Ford’s Special Vehicle Engineering department and combined the Granada MkII’s 2.8-litre fuel-injected engine with modified tyres, suspension and brakes. The five-speed transmission was standardised in 1983, and Ford launched the more luxurious Special in 1984. Production ended in November 1986 with the limited-edition 280.

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