The racing car that was one of the first police cars

By: Alex Forrest

Watch Alex meet Jim to discuss his 1930 ex-WA police Bentley Speed Six and take it for a drive.

Equipping the Western Australian Police Force with Bentley patrol cars would be a rather ambitious idea in 2025.

But in April 1929, it was decided that WA should indeed have two Bentley police cars.

The rationale was that two high-performance vehicles equipped with two-way radio communications would be a more efficient way of covering large swathes of the metropolitan area than opening 10 police stations.

So in May 1930, two Bentley Speed Six chassis arrived in Perth. They were sent straight to Bryan’s Motor Body Works in Hay Street, Perth, for the sedan bodywork to be built on the chassis.

Average vehicles on WA roads during the 1930s included Ford Model As and Chevrolet Tourers, and the huge size and power of the Bentleys compared to them was noted in a 1932 article in The West Australian newspaper:

“The Bentleys are the police wireless patrol cars – veritable police stations on wheels – wheels that can turn at 120 miles an hour if necessary.”

Perth enthusiast Jim Runciman and his wife Glenys have owned one of these two Perth police cars since 1978. Theirs is chassis 24322, and they’re just the second private owners since the car was retired from police service in 1947.

The other WA Police Bentley now resides with an owner in Victoria.

Jim said he and Glenys were initially offered a half share in the Bentley by the previous owner in 1978 and then subsequently purchased the car outright.

He said the car was quite well worn immediately after its time in the police force, but it was nonetheless pressed into service by the second owner as a delivery vehicle for his engineering business.

By approximately 1951, Bentley Speed Six chassis 24322 was retired as a delivery vehicle, and it sat largely untouched for 27 years.

The restoration Jim undertook was lengthy and thorough, taking from 1978 until 1996. That included replacing the old bodywork, which was tired and tatty, with the tourer-style body it has today.

Since its restoration, Jim and Glenys have used the car extensively throughout Australia, plus two rallies in South Africa. They also drove it 4500km from Melbourne to Port Douglas.

Riding in this legendary vehicle with its still very proud and doting owner, it’s the effortlessness torque of that huge, low-revving 6.5-litre engine that is so striking.

It still feels like it can cruise all day at highway speeds, something Jim and Glenys have proven time and again during their ownership of this majestic, 95-year-old piece of WA history.