Police Cobras.

[titan performance]

Thought I needed to share this interesting story with you guys, and see if anyone knows any more about it?
We have been approached by a writer from an English paper in Malaysia, to asist with a bike related article. This guy has found three 68 Cobras in a barn, (I guess they must have barns even in Malaysia), and it seems they were used by the Royal Malaysian Police Force back in the day.....here are the pictures I have so far, hopefully more pics and info will follow.

[oldjapanesebikes]

Now that is interesting !

[celt_rock]

How cool!

[Fritz500]

I was on holiday in Singapore in 1973 and met a traffic cop riding a T500. When I told him I had one back home he seemed very surprised. I must see if I can find a photo.

[titan performance]

Since my last post in this thread, Tim and I had the pleasure of meeting Han, the co-owner of these bikes, and writer of the following article. He was on a trip to the UK last week, so we arranged a meet. He is very excited about his find, and extremely enthusiastic about restoring the bikes.
We will definitely be staying in touch with Han, so hopefully we can provide the occasional up date on the restorations.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2 ... mbers.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[oldjapanesebikes]

Good article !

[titan performance]

This is Han, the writer of the article, pictured outside our workshop, and below, another shot of the T500s in action.

[argo1974]

Paul, did the owner provide any information about VIN numbers?
I ask this since those police Cobras have later type frames incl. bottom yokes (and oil tank/side panels, clutch/brake lever perches, 32mm carbs, etc.) rather than Cobra frames.

[Pete O'Dell]

have you also noticed the headlamp/speedo units?? they seem to be a mish mash of parts which is what most jap manufacturers used to do with minor markets use up loads of left over kit, and of course being fleet bikes they would have used whats available for repairs.

[titan performance]

Argo....maybe I will get Han to send us a note of the numbers as a matter of interest.

Pete, I had spotted the headlamp/instrument set up, I had a 69 Invader many years back with the same style all in one head lamp. What do you reckon they borrowed it from? Did the 250 ever have that style head lamp? I'm sure the T200 unit would look too small on a 500.

I shall post up more pics as and when I get them.....

[argo1974]

Little update to police Cobras:
T500P wrecked in "Jing cha gu shi III: Chao ji jing cha" (Police Story 3: Supercop):
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_383321-Suzuki-T-500-P.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"
E.g. at 69:28 http://kinomusorka.ru/en/directors-dire ... -chat.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"



Another T500P dropped in "Nora-neko rokku: Wairudo janbo" (Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo):
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_241455-Suz ... -1968.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"





As commented by RB2:
"This is definetly a T500P. Here in Australia the NSW police used Cobras as police bikes and there was 1 only ever T500P imported by Melbourne motorcycles in Melbourne for police evaluation..
The main differences to any other T500 was the Cobra front end geometry with a Cobra tank (chrome sideplates) Titan oil tank and LHS cover and Titan swing arm. The other variations were the Document case and barwork over the reaer guard and crashbars. It also has a cable driven siren operated by a second "clutch" lever under the left handlebar and different handlebars.It was also fitted up with a perspex windscreen. I ended up buying it and had it for some years. I was surprised to see someone else even knew about them."

[oldjapanesebikes]

Interesting tank, side panel and tail piece in the upper photo - likely the film prop's department just tried to make the two look similar ?

[jabcb]

That movie database is an interesting find: http://www.imcdb.org

In the 1970 movie (lower pics) they wrecked the T500P.
In the 1992 movie (upper pics) they wrecked a newer four-stroke bike.

[argo1974]

Interesting tank, side panel and tail piece in the upper photo - likely the film prop's department just tried to make the two look similar ?

I had the same question ... old T500 and Yamaha XS500 chime in just few seconds before the impact to save newer police Hondas. While making the two look similar to each other and the Hondas, why to write "Suzuki" onto the tank?

I believe these tanks may have been replaced by police forces to extend the vehicle's range rather than by film crew.

[oldjapanesebikes]

That movie database is an interesting find: http://www.imcdb.org

That is a great resource ! I notice that the Wild 7 series that aired in Japan between 1972 and 1973 isn't listed. It had a model J, something hauling a side car equipped with rocket launchers and also at least one T500 in it, or maybe smaller. Dave might recall.