Matchbox 20e; Range Rover Police Patrol

The original name was 'Police Patrol', with no mention of Range Rover, which makes you wonder whether British Leyland refused to licence it. Later releases have 'Range Rover' printed on the box. As part of the Rollamatics range it has a simple mechanism on the wheels which turns the beacon.

Police Patrol stayed in the range for a long time and can be found in a number of finishes, by no means all of them Police cars. You will find Police, Ambulance, Military Police, Military Ambulance, Paris-Dakar Rally Security, Site Engineer, County Sheriff and possibly other versions. The beacon generally matches the colour of the interior, usually orange or blue.

Police Patrol (20e) was first released in 1975 and it remained in the range right up to and beyond the bankruptcy of Lesney in 1983. It is most commonly found as a white Police car. Expect to pay a little more for the Paris-Dakar, Site Engineer, Military or orange body versions. However there are a lot of these and you will need to make careful reference to Ramsay to be sure of what you are buying. The green one below is interesting as it was made in Hungary, it sold for a lot of money too.