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Dubai police flex it: world’s fastest cop cars

14 February, 2015

In the first world, you’re probably thinking of Dubai as a Middle Eastern Las Vegas — all bright lights, brand-new skyscrapers, and a lot of money floating around. The city whose huge annual gross domestic product (GDP) is made up primarily from the construction, trading, financial, and tourism sectors is a globally recognizable hub of activity.

Despite Dubai now possessing a large foreign debt burden, thanks primarily to the global economic recession of 2008, Dubai’s police force has managed to acquire an enviable garage of pursuit vehicles. They’ve even made a short film showcasing the fleet and though they’re likely promotional items to boost tourism, rather than actual pursuit vehicles, it’s still interesting watching.

Looking like a Need for Speed, or Middle Eastern Fast and the Furious trailer, we spied some mighty impressive vehicles in there — the star-studded line-up includes a Bugatti Veyron, Nissan R35 GTR, McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, Bentley Continental GT, Mercedes SLS AMG, Brabus-fettled Mercedes G-wagen, Audi R8, and a BMW M6 Gran Coupe.

Even though these things are probably there more for show than go, it’s still entertaining to watch, and a bit of food for thought for the speedsters among us — imagine if Kiwi cops’ cars were faster than ours!

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

16 August, 2026

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.

The other Q car

12 August, 2026

Say the word ‘bond’ to anyone in the street and around 80 per cent straight away think of pop culture’s least-secret secret agent. The other 20 per cent may think of the wad of cash required to secure a flat or hire equipment that one gets back providing the fixtures and fittings stay much as they were.
However, mention ‘bond’ in specialist classic car circles and people will spin a very different yarn. If you dig deep enough, you will find an eccentric British carmaker that, throughout its 23 years in business, spawned some quirky and charming little cars.
The company was founded by Paul Sharp in 1922 under the name of Sharp’s Commercials Limited. However, the company did not start producing cars until 1948. The first car to carry the Bond name was the Bond Minicar. A three-wheeled, soft-top, two-cylinder eco car, the Minicar was a big hit at the time as the desire for an economical urban runabout that didn’t attract four-wheel car tax was strong in post-war Britain. All in all, 34,285 Minicars were produced over 26 years in a variety of variants.