Does it still exist.

[Simon H]

It appears that SMW20 is currently on a 125cc Yamaha motorcycle.

[Eric R]

reminds me that Mrs Thatcher supposedly insisted on saloons rather than coupes to see and be seen and more graceful stepping in and out of (or was that political bias!)

[PeterMadden]

I think all the government cars were saloons and coupes wouldn’t have been an option.

I can tell you that Mrs T much preferred the Rover P5 to the Jaguars that followed as she preferred the access on the Rover.

[richardlamsdale]

For a moment I thought you might have solved the mystery of my car, but probably not! It's a 1968 Coupe (Silver Birch over Admiralty Blue with Buckskin leather), but it was first registered in London in 1986 (yes, 1986 - not a typo). There's no history before 1986, and I've been unable to find any record of its first 18 years. Looking at the video though, mine doesn't have wing mirrors, so unless the front wings have been replaced (possible, but unlikely) it's not the car in the video.

Shame, as my wife would like the car more if I could tell her the Queen Mother had been it!

[PeterMadden]

Do you have the heritage certificate, or the DVLA history? They might tell you more, my heritage certificate told me which dealer the car was delivered to.

[richardlamsdale]

Hi Peter, DVLA have no record of the car before 1986, and the Heritage certificate just shows it delivered to Henlys in London in 1968, so no luck. Its strange as it has a correct G-plate, so either something went wrong in the DVLA records (they definitely show it as first registered in 1986, but there's no owners listed before 1986) or it was registered somewhere else 'till 1986 then managed to get a period plate allocated. Maybe even it was on a diplomatic plate, but they'd be unlikely to keep a car 18 years! It would be great to know more, but I've tried everything I can think of.

[richardlamsdale]

I agree - highly unlikely, but it would make a great story! Mine has the roof aerial and front headrests (annoyingly they have the straight blade for later seats rather than the 'cranked' blade that early cars need, so they sit too far rearwards to be useful), but no badge bar and no holes in the front bumper. The front wings don't have mirrors or a 'flag pole' either, but I'll check to see if they've been patched.

[nz]

I'm not familiar with UK numbers, but that 'W' seems very narrow compared to the other letters at 0:55 secs. Could it be a 'V' ? Paul.NZ.