The Cooper Works, later The Traffic Police Garage In Surbiton

[mab01UK]

The story behind the Police Garage TDV and their Mini Cooper Police cars - The Metropolitan Police's 'V' Division Traffic Garage, formerly the Cooper Works in Surbiton, Surrey until the 1970's.



"Charles Cooper moved into 243 Ewell Road Surbiton in 1934. This was a corner shop at the Junction with Hollyfield Road, to the rear was the site that would become TDV. At that time it was a corrugated building, with a small stream 'out back'. It is rumoured that Charles kept ducks on the stream. The Cooper family would for awhile live in the flat, above the corner shop. The site was first known as Cooper's Garage and it operated a 24hr breakdown service. Later it would also posses a Vauxhall dealership.
Having the police station across the road, turned out to be an added bonus. Because as the Ambulance came down the hill (from the ambulance station) they would ring their bell, to inform the police station, they were attending an accident, on the Kingston By Pass. It is said that at this sound, Charles would crank up his breakdown truck and follow the emerging police car (before JPG was even born)!!
The growth of the Cooper company into a Formula One team is a story in it's self and very much involves Charlie's son John. Anyone wanting to know more should, purchase a copy of Doug Nye's excellent book Cooper Cars. The above picture was shamefully copied from this book, although he has subsequently agreed to its use.
By the end of the sixties the Cooper Formula One team was no more. For a while the site was used as a Cooper Cars Sales dealership. In the seventies it would become TDV."

The Austin Mini YOK 250 used as the Cooper prototype alongside a Cooper Formula Junior race car outside the Surbiton works.


Clive Abrahams adds, "I joined TDV Traffic Unit at its location at Hampton in November 1967. We moved into our new garage at Hollyfield Road, Surbiton on 1st April 1968. The new garage premises were owned by and leased to the Metropolitan Police by one John Cooper. The same john Cooper of Formula 1 fame, and the originator of the now famous Mini Cooper Car. The first Mini Cooper’s were converted from the standard machines at the premises now occupied by us."

In August 1968 we were supplied with the two Mini Coopers index numbers PYT767F and PYT768F, these replaced Wolseley 110’s, which were being phased out, these had the standard car for very many years. The remainder of our fleet at this time consisted of,

A Daimler Dart
A Sunbeam Tiger
Rover 2000TC’s
Triumph 2000’s
Land Rover 109 long wheel base
Jaguar 3.4s Type ‘s


This later car was destined to be the workhorse of Traffic Division for many years to come. However it had one major draw back. This related to the Area, which our Traffic unit patrolled. This consisted of the outer very rural parts of Surrey with fast open roads

Where the car ruled supreme and also the very urban inner part of Greater London such as Tooting, Balham and Wandesworth, where the manual clutch proved to be very hard on the leg muscles.

To this end the Mini Cooper was brought in to see if it would fill the niche as a more suitable vehicle for the inner London areas.

The main difference was how the vehicles would be used. Normal patrolling practise was for double manned cars. The mini’s would to be single manned with two vehicles patrolling the same area previously patrolled by one. Thus Whiskey 11 became Whiskey 11 and 12.

The vehicles were purpose built for single manned operation. The centre boss of the steering wheel, now redundant as a horn button, was replaced with a speaker / microphone with a small remote transmitter switch on the steering column. This enabled the car to be driven at speed without hands being removed from the steering wheel to transmit messages.

The vehicle had two-tone air horns and a winkless bell all under the bonnet. The standard AT calibrated speedometer head was fitted in place of the standard mini speedometer. Other then that the vehicle was more or less completely standard. We Carried minimum kit in the boot and in the area that would normally have been the rear seat which removed there was a single rotating Blue light fitted. This was mounted on a raised plinth of about 4inches; as to mount it on the roof directly would have been blow the required height for it to be legal. A single Ariel was mounted behind the Blue light. There were POLICE signs front and rear, which could best be described as number plate style. The front can be seen; the rear was above the rear number plate illumination/ Boot handle.

We kept the vehicles for about two years. There were teething trouble with gear selection and brake fade, they eventually moved on to our Traffic Unit at Bow (near the City of London) and then to disposal.

To the best of my knowledge no others were purchased despite an original order for 12.in those days policemen were much larger and taller then today so the were somewhat cramped, but extremely enjoyable to drive through heavy traffic situations.

The picture below is from the Daily Mail and it shows is Eric Molyneaux (who was 6’3”) with Edward Spinks (about 17 stone) who was about to retire after 30 years service. You can see why both were chosen for their physical attributes.





Gift Set, featuring the two Mini Coopers loaned to TDV in 1968. It is a limited edition of 2000 and were manufactured to mark the 75 years of The Metropolitan Police Traffic Division. They are supplied in a transparent presentation case, with a numbered certificate of authenticity

More here:
http://www.tdv.org.uk/cooper.htm

Photos of Cooper's Garage in Surbiton, Surrey 1962 and today.......


See Page 257 of Nye 'Cooper Cars' (World Champions series) Osprey.
Photo says 1962, and inset of Cooper special 1936.
Corner showroom window says "The Austin Super" and a weird squiggle... "Austin for Luxury"
Full caption of the picture:-
"The Cooper empire after 25 years’ effort, depicted in this montage promotional photo ; Charles and John supposedly blocking Hollyfield Road with their Mini-Coopers, No 243 Ewell Road on the corner with the family flat above where first Mr & Mrs Cooper Snr then Mr & Mrs Jr lived before buying properties elsewhere ; the corner showroom where Stirling Moss spotted his first Cooper 500, where Owen Maddock studied the ThinWall Special and from where Ian Burgess and Andrew Ferguson used to run the Drivers’ School. In the background is the rebuilt production factory, now with the drawing office housed in the penthouse extension, while Major Owens had taken over the old drawing office behind the ‘Esso’ sign. Inset, the Cooper Spl ‘TI’, John up, in the Brooklands paddock."

[mab01UK]

Some Pathe film of the earlier Cooper Garage in Surbiton here:

Speed Car To Invade America AKA The Cooper… 1949
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/sp...cooper-car-aid

[mab01UK]

More recently discoved Pathe film of Cooper from 1946
Yet another historic film among the Pathe Film clips recently uploaded to YouTube, showing John Cooper "testing" an early Cooper single-seater on public roads including the A3 Kingston By-Pass near Tolworth, Surrey. The Cooper garage was at 243 Ewell Road, Surbiton, Surrey.
If you look carefully at the last few frames of video you will recognise the corner shop showroom and steps leading up to the Cooper flat above as seen in the photos above.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBekmexzyA

[mab01UK]

Some screenshots from the film:



















The corner showroom shop.....(compare with modern photo above)


A3 - Kingston-By-Pass, Surrey near Tolworth

[mab01UK]

Update:
Mike Cooper was being interviewed about the Cooper building at the 'London to Brighton Mini Run' this morning. Apparently it's still owned by the family, and now the police have ended their lease there are plans to turn it into a combined museum of Cooper memorabilia and a shop selling Cooper goodies.

[Alan Morgan]

Fascinating stuff!

[Neil Duke]

Picture from the official launch of the Mini Cooper.

[Neil Duke]

Originally Posted by Neil Duke

Picture from the official launch of the Mini Cooper.

I give up.

[Neil Duke]

Link to picture
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...+Cooper+launch

[mab01UK]

Originally Posted by Neil Duke

Link to picture
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...+Cooper+launch

Thanks for posting.....I would like a high res scan if possible?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Alan Morgan

Fascinating stuff!

My thoughts exactly!

[John Turner]

Yes, really good stuff.

The police had some pretty tasty cars in their fleet in those days too!

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Yes, really good stuff.

The police had some pretty tasty cars in their fleet in those days too!

with bells on!

[macca]

Scenes from the 1966 MGM film "Grand Prix" were shot inside the Cooper building.

For those who remember it, the scene where Pete Aron signs to drive for Yamura and is photographed shaking hands was in the drawing office, and the characters then go downstair to the race-shop floor for a seat-fitting.

However all the cars visible were Lotus, not Cooper! Either Lotus 25/33 or Lotus 20, all disguised as 'Yamuras'.

I look forward to being able to visit the building - is there any access at present?

Paul M

[mab01UK]

Originally Posted by macca

Scenes from the 1966 MGM film "Grand Prix" were shot inside the Cooper building.

For those who remember it, the scene where Pete Aron signs to drive for Yamura and is photographed shaking hands was in the drawing office, and the characters then go downstair to the race-shop floor for a seat-fitting.

However all the cars visible were Lotus, not Cooper! Either Lotus 25/33 or Lotus 20, all disguised as 'Yamuras'.

I look forward to being able to visit the building - is there any access at present?

Paul M

Thanks for posting the Grand Prix film information.
No access inside the building yet but hopefully sometime soon if the Cooper shop/museum plan happens.

[mab01UK]

Re-Launch Of Cooper Conversion Kits & Accessories for Mini's
The Cooper Car Company was founded in 1946 by Charles Cooper and his son John Cooper. They began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in Surbiton, Surrey, England in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s, they reached auto racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars altered the face of Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and their Mini Cooper dominated Rally racing.

The small company took the big guns on and in 1959 won the coveted Formula 1 World Championship, Jack Brabham becoming Champion and the Cooper T51 taking the honours. Success followed in 1960 with Jack winning the title and Cooper's the manufacturers tittle.

Thanks in part to Cooper's legacy, Britain remains the home of a thriving racing industry, and the Cooper name lives on with BMW in the MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper S and MINI John Cooper Works

Mike Cooper
http://www.coopercarcompany.com/home

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by mab01UK

Thanks for posting the Grand Prix film information.
No access inside the building yet but hopefully sometime soon if the Cooper shop/museum plan happens.

The building is now a Porsche etc dealership...

[MagnetON]

Large chunks of the original post including images etc. appear to be taken from here: http://www.tdv.org.uk/

Our thanks go to Andy Lambert for the original information.

[275 GTB-4]

Brilliant!

[mab01UK]

[mab01UK]

[mab01UK]

[mab01UK]

"Unique ultra low mileage 1986 Austin Mini 1275 John Cooper Prototype. It is in truly outstanding condition throughout and has only travelled just over 2800 MILES from new £39,950.
https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-...rce=ios_social

[chunterer]

Fabulous stuff, thankyou for sharing with us...