NZ Police Museum to display restored 1980s Mitsubishi police car ‘the legendary Flying Wedge’

A vintage police patrol car, dubbed “the legendary Flying Wedge”, is set to be revealed by the New Zealand Police Museum after four months of significant refurbishment and rejuvenation.

The 1988 Mitsubishi V3000 patrol vehicle’s career began with Upper Hutt’s Ministry of Transport (MoT) traffic safety service in 1988.

“This vehicle, licence plate number NX710, in the MoT colours of black and white and with New Zealand Police branding, is quite special,” a police statement read.

It is set to be displayed at Mitsubishi Motors in Todd Park, Porirua from Thursday and will join two other Mitsubishi cars in the police’s museum collection, both of which were part of the Ministry of Transport fleet that came across to New Zealand Police in 1992.

“The merger of the two enforcement agencies is historically significant,” police said.

The Mitsubishi V3000 patrol vehicle’s career began with Upper Hutt’s Ministry of Transport traffic safety service in 1988. Photo / NZ Police

New Zealand Police Museum director Rowan Carroll said “the legendary flying wedge” represents the story of the people, cars and motorcycles that came across to New Zealand Police from the MoT in 1992.

“It wasn’t just a physical transition but a challenge for traffic officers to become police officers, and likewise a challenge for police to learn and effectively enforce road rules and safety,” Carroll said.

Carroll added Mitsubishi Motors approached the New Zealand Police Museum at the end of 2023 to view the Mitsubishi vehicles in police’s historic vehicle fleet.

“Mitsubishi suggested they would like to refurbish the car and the New Zealand Police Museum team were eager to accept their generous offer,” said Carroll.

The vintage patrol car was fitted out by Mitsubishi team member Lloyd Robinson back in 1988, the same long-time employee who oversaw its recent restoration.

“Having spent 42 years working on Mitsubishi vehicles, including engineering details for the local assembly plant, made this job a real pleasure for Lloyd Robinson, our recently retired technical services manager,” said Mitsubishi Motors NZ president and CEO Warren Brown.

The V3000 model had been significantly stripped and cleaned over the course of four months to refurbish it into a high-quality museum display artefact.

“The car has deliberately been left to reflect its genuine front-line workload for the police while being presented in near new condition,” Brown said.

Carroll added that it was quite fitting that Robinson was the man to “bring the car back to life”.