Back when the police drove convertible Porsches

There was a time when the police didn’t use only nondescript, high-performance saloons to bring highway lawbreakers to task. In the 1960s, police stations across Europe used Porsche sports cars in active service – including this 356 cabriolet…

Blue lights and sirens... on a convertible Porsche?

On 23 November 1960, Porsche delivered a white 356 cabriolet kitted out in special equipment to the police in Düsseldorf. The 75HP Porsche was henceforth used by the autobahn patrol, capturing 160,000km on the odometer (and undoubtedly numerous crooks) before its well-deserved retirement in 1966. It subsequently remained static for 25 years before being discovered and brought back to life as part of a restoration completed in 2000. It was then kept in a Belgian collection.

Fleet of 40

But it wasn’t only in Germany that Porsche 356s could be seen in police uniform. In 1960, when a new, 500km highway network was opened in the Netherlands, the Rijkspolitie were left wondering how they would catch aggressive or unsafe drivers. Their German colleagues, from the land of unrestricted motorways, recommended the purchase of a fleet of cars from Zuffenhausen. No fewer than 40 356Bs made their way from Stuttgart after a few test miles – one such car, one of the first batch delivered, was recently sold at a Bonhams auction. Only specially trained officers were allowed to drive them, with further stipulations that they should be at least 25 years old and married, preferably with children.

Wet day at the office

Of course, there were special requirements of the cars, too. They were given flashing blue beacons, a loudspeaker, ‘stop’ signs, a larger fuel tank, radio telephones and antennae, twin internal rear-view mirrors, stickers, control buttons… and a water-repellant interior coating. Since the officers wore helmets and the 356’s headroom isn’t exactly generous, the fabric roof was kept down in all weathers – the only protection in its place being standard-issue caps, goggles and raincoats. In the 1970s, European police forces adopted more practical 911 Targas alongside their Ford Capris – an alternative explanation for the ‘safety cabriolet’ concept, perhaps?

The car pictured is a 1960 Porsche 356 Cabriolet used in period by Westphalia Autobahnpolizei, and currently for sale via German dealer Early 911s.

Photos: Rémi Dargegen for Classic Driver © 2015. 

You can find plenty of civilian Porsche 356s for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

Market | Cars

1960 Porsche 356 - CABRIO POLIZEI

P.O.R.

Long-term review: ICON 1000 Elsinore Boots

Review by Marlon Slack.

Of all the items of motorcycle apparel available, I find it hardest to get excited about boots. Jackets? Easy. Gloves? There’s a dozen pairs I want at the moment. There’s even a good variety of Kevlar jeans that don’t look like they’re designed for my Gran. But protective motorcycle boots usually look like a cyborg’s leg sprouting tumours – with lurid bits of plastic and obnoxious logos hanging off at all angles. And for a long time boots like these were the only real option if you wanted to protect your feet and ankles. But then there’s the Icon Elsinore 1000. Modelled after motocross boots of the 1970’s, the Elsinore 1000 tries to combine traditional styling with modern safety features. I think they look fantastic, but if you think that they look like ridiculous steampunk accessories there’s no helping you – you’re probably not the target market for the Elsinore’s anyway. But if you like the look of them, you should seriously consider buying a pair. Here’s why.

At first glance it’s easy to assume the boots are just a styling exercise aimed at the undernourished inner city hipster set rather than legitimately protective boots. But as soon as you pull them out of the box you’ll realize that they’re solid, well-made units. They have full grain leather uppers and the sole is replaceable. The sole also has a steel shank running through it, it has malleolus protectors, a hard plastic shin guard with its thick leather the whole thing just has a sturdy kind of feel to it. This continues when you strap them on – getting your feet in is easy enough using the zipper (the buckles are just there for adjustment, you ‘set and forget’ them) but when you’re all zipped up they firmly lock your feet and ankles into place. Which is great, because it’ll prevent twist and rotation during an accident and bad – because it’ll make you walk a little like you’ve got an acquired brain injury. To be fair they are comfortable enough to stroll around in, but the protection offered by the heft and stiffness of the boots means that extended walks can be a clumsy experience.

But for the majority of the time I’ve worn them on the bike they’ve been incredibly comfortable. They offer good feel on the controls and have great grip when putting your feet down. But it’s important to realize that they’re not an all-weather boot – they might hold off rain for a little while but in a heavy downpour they’ll become soaked through pretty quickly. But if you’re riding in that kind of weather it’s probably time to give up any plans of looking good and break out the Gore-Tex marshmallow man suit and lined boots anyway.

One thing potential buyers should be aware of when looking at the Elsinore 1000’s is the bulky cut of the toe box, which means that some riders might have problems using the shifter on a bike. I’ve had no problems on my Bonneville, or on a W650, DR650 or a host of other bikes I’ve ridden while owning the boots. But on the Royal Enfield Bullet I’m unable to get my foot underneath the shifter to change up a gear – I’m forced to use the outside edge of the soul to pick at the lever. Sometimes it works (praise Jesus!) and sometimes it doesn’t. This offers something different to worry about when riding a Royal Enfield – a welcome change from the worry of a catastrophic gearbox explosion or terminal piston separation. So if you ride a Royal Enfield save yourself $245USD and put the money towards quality fasteners, a proper chain and sprockets or psychotherapy.

As well made as Elsinore 1000’s are mine haven’t been perfect. There’s a metal cap on the heel of the boot secured by four screws. In my first week of owning the boot one of these tiny countersunk screws made a jump for it somewhere between Melbourne and Sydney. I wrote Icon an email asking for a replacement and a customer service representative said sure, just send us a self-addressed envelope and we’ll mail you off a replacement. No. It’s a 2 cent part and it’s fallen out in the first week of ownership. Just send me a new one, mmmk?

In the scheme of things this is pedantry and I think this is an exception to the experience that most customers have had with the Portland-based Icon. There’s a few stories floating around on the internet about early production Elsinore’s that had the buckles break within a few weeks of ownership. And that’s a huge problem – but to Icon’s credit they went out of their way to track down every customer affected by the defects and replaced the boots for them. That’s nice.

I’ve had my Elsinore 1000’s for 18 months of constant commuting and touring across all kinds of terrain and through all kinds of weather. They’ve held up better than any other boot I’ve owned and with a bit of wear and tear on them now I think they look even better than the day I bought them. They’re really comfortable on the bike and in the event of a spill I’ve got no doubts they’ll go a long way towards protecting my feet and ankles. If you’re looking for a good pair of motorcycle boots and if you think they look more On Any Sunday than Wild Wild West, I can’t recommend the Icon Elsinore 1000’s enough.

[In the interest of being transparent, ICON is a sponsor of Pipeburn. On this occasion the reviewer purchased the boots using his own hard earned clams. We have been sent the new ICON 1000 Prep boots and will do a review as soon as we have done enough milage in them.]

via PIPEBURN

Special editions for Land Rover Defender’s final year

In order to mark the iconic Defender’s final year in production, Land Rover has revealed a trio of limited-edition models…

So versatile is the Defender that Land Rover’s designers weren’t able to define a single identity for a special model that represented its character, so they made three instead: the Autobiography, Heritage and Adventure editions.

Autobiography 

The most exclusive is the Autobiography, which sports duo-tone paintwork, Windsor leather upholstery and a boost in power from 122HP to 150HP, among numerous other interior and exterior flourishes. Available only in a ‘90’ bodystyle, it will cost £61,845 and be limited to just 80 examples in the UK.

Heritage

Next up – and by far the Classic Driver office favourite – is the classy Heritage edition, which takes its design cues from the earliest Land Rovers. Wearing Grasmere Green paintwork with a contrasting Alaska White roof, it has a heritage grille and HUE 166 graphics, referencing the numberplate of the first pre-production Landie, nicknamed ‘Huey’. Priced at £27,800, production will be limited to 400 in the UK.

Adventure

The Adventure edition boasts additional under-body protection and rugged Goodyear tyres, along with unique decals and a leather-trimmed cabin for exploring in style. Also included is a roof rack, snorkel and rear-access ladder; it’s available in both ‘90’ and 110’ bodystyles, with the former given the same power upgrade as the Autobiography. Limited to 600 examples in the UK, it’ll cost £43,495 and be available with Corris Grey, Yulong White or Phoenix Orange paintwork. 

Also marked by a 1km ‘sand drawing’ using six Land Rovers on the same beach that Maurice Wilks first sketched the iconic shape 68 years ago, 2015 will be the final year of Defender production in the UK. However, unconfirmed reports suggest it could live on in countries with lower production costs and less strict emissions laws, much like the VW Type 2 did in Brazil until recently.

Photos/Video: Land Rover

You can find numerous Land Rover Defenders for sale in the Classic Driver Market.

DEEP CREEK ITALIAN BASTARD

“Deep Creek Italian Bastard” – When that title pops up one can be forgiven for expecting an aggressive, attitude packed, neighbour scaring brute of a machine to be revealed in the pictures, but not so. This elegant, gentlemanly Guzzi from Kris at DeepCreekCycleworks is so damn charming that the neighbours would more likely invite you over for tea and crumpets, or rather espresso and biscotti. So why the vicious moniker? As refined and simple as the finished product appears, the effort and journey to get it to this state was anything but, this Guzzi was a bit of a bastard to build.

We first encountered Kris Reniers when he submitted his Ducati M900 “Green Machine” to the ‘Shed. He is a graduate in Electro-mechanics and works as a technician in a steel plant but is currently back at school honing his already advanced skill set with the aim of building motorcycles full time. The owner of this Guzzi V7 750 Special from ’69 recognised the talent and seized the opportunity to have Kris work on his bike, and so the “bastard” build began.

“The owner wanted his bike to be restored, a bit altered but not much. He came to me with a sad story of his bike – a dude began to strip the bike, when everything was in bits and pieces the thing went on hold. Years later the owner wanted his bike back, the bike was still in bits and pieces. So he came to me, asking me to start and finish this thing. I got a frame, engine and 2 wheels, 3 boxes of stuff and thats it.”

The problem Kris had was that he had never before seen a complete V7 of the vintage and was unsure if the boxes contained everything he needed. Predictably, they didn’t. Kris guessed there was a boxful that had gone awol so the owner gave him carte blanche to get whatever he needed – he just wanted to ride his Guzzi again.

The process of collecting the pieces together began. They came from all over the world, this model Guzzi saw service as police bikes in the US so that became a prime source of the parts Kris required, the rest came from Italy – “Thank God for eBay.” The ambition for the build was for the bike to go back in time, it needed to be simple and clean, lower, black and white with a dose of chrome but not too much. Kris wanted a small seat leaving the deeply valanced mudguards to steal the show.

Dime City Cycles were the providers of many key parts; the shorter rear shocks, lights, handlebars, levers, grips and switches along with the look defining whitewall tyres all came from there. Kris inevitably has nothing but praise for Dime City, “They have a great shop and the service is excellent”.

For help with the seat Kris looked closer to home, to the gentleman of MotoKouture in his native Belgium. “I needed the seat to be exact because of the frametube, I welded a baseplate and some mountings and then went to MotoKouture for the leatherwork, they did a great job.” Kris dispatched the frame for powder coating and that was the end of the outsourced work as he set about the paint job himself – and what a job.

“An engine overhaul was needed so I did that. Everything on this bike I did myself, the billet (frontfork) was handmade so I could fit the original speedometer in it, it looks slick now! The back of the frame was cut of and altered so that it bends along the fender. The battery was replaced with a smaller one and new wires were put in place.”

We are seriously unsure if Kris really needs to be back at school…

Tracking down the bits and pieces may have been a bastard of a job but in putting them together Kris has created a classic gent of a machine. Restored beyond its former glory and singing through those fishtail pipes the owner must be revelling in finally riding his Guzzi again.

Kris has shown great versatility of style with the two builds he has shown us so far at the BikeShed, we look forward to seeing what he sends us next, complete with Deep Creek Cycleworks elegant email sign off – Peace and Grease…

via The Bike Shed