Hong Kong Police Series III
Long-wheelbase Series Land Rovers served the Royal Hong Kong Police in their hundreds from the 1960s into the 1990s, painted in the force's post-1967 dark navy blue with the Royal crest, bilingual POLICE signs and roof-mounted loudspeakers; the Series III 109 was the fleet standard of the 1970s and 1980s.
Factory colours
- Hong Kong Police Navy Blue
Codes on hover. Hex values are representative approximations of period paint unless a source states a measured value.
History
The Hong Kong Police, a very British colonial force in its uniforms, equipment and vehicles, painted its post-war fleet in battleship grey. After the force was granted the 'Royal' title in recognition of its conduct during the 1967 disturbances, the livery changed to a dark navy blue carrying the Royal Hong Kong Police crest, and that navy blue became the signature of the force's Land Rovers for the next quarter century.
The long-wheelbase 109-inch Land Rover was the workhorse of district policing: the force ran hundreds of them, from Hong Kong Island and Kowloon out to the outlying island communities. Vehicles carried district markings - 'Western District' lettering, or plates such as 'KT' for Kwun Tong - alongside bilingual English and Chinese POLICE signage, with twin roof-mounted loudspeakers for public address and crowd control. A typical patrol crew was a constable driver with an inspector or sergeant alongside. The Series III, introduced by Land Rover in 1971 with its all-synchromesh gearbox and revised dash, succeeded the Series IIA in the fleet and served through the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1990s the force's liveries diversified - white and navy schemes, navy with white roofs, and white with a red stripe and blue pinstripes - and the Series III patrol vehicles gave way to Land Rover Defender 90, 110 and three-axle models, which continue the Land Rover tradition in the renamed Hong Kong Police Force. The Series III is now listed as retired from the fleet, and the type survives mainly in photographs, models and film appearances from Hong Kong's cinema boom years.
Imagery
Registry record
- Manufacturer
- Land Rover (British Leyland)
- Manufactured
- Series III production 1971-1985; RHKP service into the 1990s
- Engine type
- 2.25 L petrol inline-four
- Production run
- hundreds in Royal Hong Kong Police service
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Status
- retired from Hong Kong police service; replaced by Land Rover Defender models
Catalogue data
- Record kind
- Named model
- Model line
- Series III
- Wheels
- 4
Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.
Sources & citations
Researched sources
- Police vehicles in Hong Kong (livery history and Land Rover fleet) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-09)
- 1971 Land-Rover 109'' Series III Station Wagon HK Police in 'Winners and Sinners' (1983) ↗ — Internet Movie Cars Database (accessed 2026-09-09)
- RHKP Land Rover Series III (colonial force character; hundreds in service; district markings; typical crewing) ↗ — YanPictures (DeviantArt) (accessed 2026-09-09)
- File:Royal Hong Kong Police Landrover - Kwun Tong Police Station.jpg ↗ — Wikimedia Commons (accessed 2026-09-09)
Drive it
This vehicle is playable in the Difflocked racing game.
RACE THE HONG KONG POLICE SERIES III ↗Registry record updated 2026-09-09T10:08:23.740Z · status: researched