NZ Police reveals fully restored Mitsubishi ‘Flying Wedge’

The New Zealand Police has pulled the covers off its newly restored 1988 Mitsubishi V3000, a model otherwise known as the ‘Flying Wedge’ thanks to its angular shape.

Work began on bringing the old patrol car back to its former glory in October last year, with Mitsubishi Motors NZ offering to restore the better of two wedges in the Police Museum collection.

The task at hand was carried out by retired Mitsubishi Technical Services Manager Lloyd Robinson, the same man responsible for putting the V3000 patrol cars together when they were originally built in Porirua.

This particular car began life as part of the Ministry of Transport’s Traffic Safety Service (TSS) before being handed over to the Police in 1992. By 1994, the Mitsi was laid up after being used for training exercises at the Royal New Zealand Police College.

It took Robinson four months to strip the Mitsi down, shine everything up, and put it all back together again, with every part of the process documented by the Police Museum on social media.

By the end of 2023, the car was ready to be fired up for the first time in 12 years and subsequently drove out of the workshop under its own steam in January 2024.

“Of course, Lloyd having been there at the time, at the original fit-out, and him wanting to actually do the work on it, has meant the world to us,” says Museum Director Rowan Carroll.

For Robinson, he says the project was “quite a delightful journey” thanks to how well-kept the car was initially. “I really enjoyed the challenge,” he said.