Representations were made to the Chief Constable Sir Douglas Osmond and in early 1965 following a series of meetings the Deputy Chief Constable Mr Broomfield instructed the Chief Inspector, Traffic Division, Len Pearce, to undertake a project to produce an Accident Emergency Vehicle. It had to be capable of carrying a large amount of equipment to be used at accidents, but in all other respects had to remain a normal Traffic patrol car.
Chief Inspector Pearce formed a team of people to assist him and these included Inspector Jack Hamblin DFC and Sgt Les Puckett of the Traffic Division, the Transport Officer Tommy Atkins, the Workshops Admin Officer Cliff Thorn and the Workshops Foreman Jim Fraser. Between them, these people held a wealth of knowledge and experience on car design, engineering and performance. They looked at the various options open to them in the estate car market in the UK at that time and found that most were either too small or vastly under powered. They ended up with just three contenders; the Series 3 Humber Super Snipe estate, with its six cylinder, three litre engine, the Citroen DS19 Safari estate, at sixteen feet in length and powered by a four cylinder, two litre engine and the Volvo 121 estate, with a four cylinder, 1780cc engine.
Arrangements were made for demonstrator vehicles to be supplied for road trials and a blue Volvo 120 Amazon (as they were commonly called) was borrowed from Rex Neate Volvo Distributors at Botley, near Southampton. Volvo’s in 1960’s Britain were about as commonplace as South Korean cars were in the 1990’s and there weren’t that many people who knew much about them. Cliff Thorn also managed to acquire a sample gearbox from Ken Rudd, another Volvo supplier in Southampton. It was examined very carefully and was described as a masterpiece in engineering and was finished to a very high standard.
After a few weeks trial period, the big Citroen DS Safari was found to have the capacity, but not the weight carrying capability. It was also unstable at high speed when fully loaded and so this car failed to make the grade. Everybody liked the Volvo, but its 1800 engine lacked power. A second 120 estate was obtained, in white this time, because Volvo didn’t have a black one. It had a Ruddspeed conversion fitted to the engine and this consisted of twin carburettors, high lift camshaft and a four branch manifold exhaust and this helped the acceleration and top end. On a quiet dual carriageway, with three passengers on board, Inspector Jack Hamblin DFC, a former RAF Lancaster bomber pilot took the Volvo past the 100 mph mark and on to a claimed 116 mph. According to legend, only Jack Hamblin was allowed to drive the car at this speed, because he was the only person within the Hampshire Constabulary who had ever travelled at over a 100 mph on a regular basis, whilst thundering down the runway aboard his Lancaster!
In all departments the Volvo won hands down. It was a good quality, solidly built motor car that had a good turn of speed and handled well, even when fully loaded. The mechanics liked working on it and it was good value for money. But it was foreign. No Police force had ever bought foreign cars before and Hampshire knew that they would probably be criticised for even thinking about it. Nervously, the team approached the Chief Constable Sir Douglas Osmond with the result of the trials and requested permission to buy the Volvo. His reply was “You’re the experts, if it’s the best car for the job, then go out and buy it”.