I will always love the SSP Mustangs, hailing from an era in highway pursuit that is sadly a distant memory. Muscle cars wearing police liveries, many optioned with a manual transmission hooked up to the venerable 5.0L V8 – those were the glory days of interstate policing. This Mustang SSP is made even rarer for being one of the earlier four-eyed examples, as most of the SSPs we’ve featured recently have been the later models. This example did duty in Florida before retirement and can be found here on eBay with bids approaching $10K and no reserve.
What really stands out to me in addition to the old style headlamps is how original this SSP remains. Many of the Mustangs that provided high-speed pursuit support were stripped back to stock condition, with only the mounting holes left as clues that it once wore a lightbar and spotlight. The Mustang also retains its factory colors for Florida’s highway department, though it may be a respray. The seller says the paint is a seven out of 10 but doesn’t elaborate as to whether it’s due to a poor paint job or simply the rigors of use as a police car.
Impressively, this high state of preservation extends to all of the original police-grade radio equipment and communications devices, along with the roof-mounted lightbar and spotlight on the driver’s side-view mirror. Either someone has sympathetically tracked all of this gear down, or it never lost it in the first place. Most of the time, SSP cars were stripped of all their communications equipment, along with their stickers and lightbars, when they entered retirement and were subsequently auctioned off. The seller notes the carpet and headliner have been changed to black when they should be beige.
In the case of this example, it looks to retain even the super hard-to-find bits like the blue radiator hoses, which have often gone missing by this point simply due to regularly scheduled maintenance within the police department garage or private stewardship. Hoses should be proactively replaced as they age, so to find an SSP Mustang where the original blue hoses haven’t gone missing is truly a treat. The seller acknowledges the engine isn’t numbers matching, but that’s not a big deal on a workhorse like this powered by a mass-produced drivetrain. At the current bid, it looks like a bargain.
Well, there’s certainly no arguing that this is a real SSP. We went to Florida every year, my parents had a time share in Cocoa Beach, and we drove from Wisconsin and I just remember, coming over a rise in Fl., and there sat one of these in the middle “looking at you”. Made quite a statement. I’ve never seen the “not in service” on the overheads, and they probably left the equipment because it’s all outdated. I believe, they phased out the manual early on, as it took away from the officers duties in a chase, and no room for the perp once caught, and another full size squad was needed to haul them in. Some folks like these, and they’re okay, but more than one trooper “lost it” in a high speed chase, and having had one just like this, I can certainly see why. They’re fast, I read an Alabama trooper was clocked at 144 mph but I thought scary “at speed”. Again, hope it doesn’t need a heater core,,,,
The heater core is about an 8 hour job (with A/C),
but not too bad if you just do it,& try not to rush it.
I did one on our ’78 Fairmont wagon (same platform),
& didn’t think it was that bad of a job.
Me and “Mr. Sawzall” reduced that time into half an hour. I was so pissed when I heard the dash had to come out, I chopped a hole in the firewall where the hoses came out, little duct tape, problem solved. PITA,,,without a/c, there was a little access door, but most had a/c and they did away with that access, that and it gave their mechanics more work.
I’ve never seen a four eyed version. I just assumed the Mustang highway patrol began with the 87 Flush headlamp nose job. At first glance of the side profile I thought this was a 5.0 Fox body LTD. Those would have more room for a perp in the back seat.
Looks like someone converted this one to mass air. Nice looking example.
Certainly has that “I mean business” look. As Howard noted, the automatic transmissions became more prevalent as it was one less thing to deal with while driving. I’ve also read that even by the mid 80’s there was an issue with cadets who couldn’t drive a manual.
That sure is a bunch of equipment to shoehorn into a cockpit that wasn’t particularly spacious to begin with.
Are those 4 bolt wheels on a 5.0 HO or just hubcaps ?
All fox mustangs except SVO and Cobra R had 4 lug wheels.
Yes. They 4 bolt wheel
The police equipment looks proper on this one, Federal Signal PA system, main radio appears to be a motorola synthor (never seen beige one) the only problem is the Lidar display- its a big no-no to mount anything to the top of the dash in front of the driver- becomes a projectile during a crash
A pic of the headlights might be an idea
I was in the military during this era and when we’d be bused out west to the Mojave for training, it was always a treat to see these. It was kind of like seeing a coyote in the wild, as not every state had them and they weren’t overly common in the ones who did, but they were legendary to car enthusiasts even back then.
Used to see ’em all the time here in Florida in the ’80s and ’90s. I recall a
time when a hungry trooper stopped
by the Taco Bell where I was working
back then. Luckily for me, I was the
Dining Room Manager and one of my
duties was to clean the parking lot of
any litter left by customers as they left
our store. Granted, I took a bit too long
outside but I got to see one up close.
As Howard said earlier, that even standing still, these things meant
business! After a good long look, I went
back inside but not long afterwards, the
trooper came back outside and got back
in it. That guy was 6 foot 4 and weighed
230 at least. How he got into that car I’ll
never know. Add to that, his uniform was
just as spotless when he came out as it
did when he came in! That’s hard to do
when you order a couple of Encheritos
and a couple of tostadas for lunch!
Would this be legal to drive on the road ?
On the road where? In the states? Sure! Just make sure you have collector plates or antique plates, and dont touch the lights or the PA.
In order to impersonate a pace officer not only you have to look like one (so wear something non police like- hawaian shirt, or them.hippie colorful tshirts) but you also have to perform an action like trying to pull someone over etc so dont touch the lights and siren (going code 3 is another crime alltogether).
Now some muncipality police have really low requirements for cops so one might still give you problems just to be a douche but if youre wearing plain clothes and not playing with the “fun switches” there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a collectable vehicle like.this.
Not legal to operate in Florida. The paint schemes on these vehicles, as is the case with ALL marked FHP vehicles in Florida, per Florida state law can only be operated by the Florida Highway Patrol. They have to be repainted after being purchased from the auction. Otherwise, they must be trailered when restored and put on display at a car show in the State of Florida.
Fastest donut delivery in town.
I spoke at length with a guy who had a fully restored police car. He told me that he had to cover the lights on the roof and in some state he had to get a permission letter to drive through the state. He also mentioned that sometimes he would get pulled over just because the cops wanted to take a look at the car.
Drum brakes on the back?
Can u drive around with police equipment like that ON THE DASH?
I guess put some ducttape over what’s on the fenders, else i guess 1 could wind up with a VERY expensive ticket, a tow/impound, & some time in the slammer. lol
In Nevada an out of service sign on the doors is all you need. (been driving police cars a lot over the past 35 years)
My experience is that only about 20% were automatics.
You can still buy the blue hoses. They can be purchased in a kit that comes with the heater, bypass and radiator hoses.
Yes Howard is correct, at high speed the notch backs are a hand full. I personally have never had one over 135 mph. And when I was there! I was REALLY busy!
The cars never come out of the factory with all the lights, radios, etc. They may come to the dealership with that stuff installed. But that just means the cars made a stop to a business that installs that stuff. We had the ones that we sold to the Nevada Highway Patrol delivered to our dealership “naked”. We installed the spotlights and a couple of other items and a local shop installed the roof lights and radio gear. (Each department has it’s favorite light and radio setups. So the factory would “never” be able to supply the correct setup.)
1986 was the last year for the steel wheeled SPP cars. After that the only wheel available was the alloy wheels. (In my opinion, with the large (read heavy) tires on the steel wheels with only 4 lugs at a bolt circle of 4.25″. There was too much wheel flex. (these were SPP wheels only, not available to the general public) I had a set of these wheels on a ’79 Turbo 4 cylinder Mustang and thought that they were fine. Until I switched to alloys. The switch made a huge difference in the responsiveness of the car. (These wheels look really cool when using the little screw on chrome center caps from a Mustang II and install chrome trim rings. I can’t count how many compliments that I had on those wheels.)
Wayne, you’re right on the money. Police car upfitting is a business all it’s own. There are some companies that have facilities near the manufacturer’s assembly plants and the cars are shipped through them direct from assembly. Others are done locally, usually by the Mayor’s brother-in-law. All kidding aside, there are numerous equipment manufacturers and everybody has their favorite combinations. Check out the website for Kerr Industries. I’ve done business with them many times. That will give you an idea of what is available.
My department has a Central Auto Shop (where cars and trucks are repaired, maintained) from my experience the cars come from the factory with the spotlight but the rooflights and harness are installed at the Central Auto Shop.
Then the car goes to a Mobile Radio Shop where the PA, UHF radio, VHF radio, Lidar and AVL (automatic vehicle location) are installed by a full time staff of 5 state employees. All this equipment is budgeted differently than the fleet budget therefore its not retired with the car after 4-6 years but its removed and then reinstalled in a new car.
And that’s another of doing it. There are many ways.
Interesting that these were modified for a high speed chase but they left the base LX seats in. I would think they would want to add the GT seats at least for those high speed maneuvers. Not much support if you need to turn at 100 mph.
These, and other police vehicles are spec’d to bid. This is government you’re dealing with. Cheaper is better.
JCA, regular seats barley work with all the paraphernalia that officers carry on their belts. (Gun, mace/pepper spray, handcuffs, knife, etc) A highly side supportive seat would just not work. Not to mention the accelerated wear factor that the “belt equipment” causes.
Maybe, officers should have high speed chauffeurs that could act as backup when needed?
Wayne, maybe you can do a little research before you attempt to add something useful to this discussion? These Mustangs were “SSP” cars, which stands for “Special Service Package”. That means they were special ordered for a specific job, NOT as a regular cruiser used for everyday patrol. Don’t you thing the 5 spd, lack of rear doors and tiny back seat was a little more inconvenient than a marginally better driver’s seat might be? These cars were made solely to chase down sports cars on the highway so it makes sense to me. Ford even marketed them that way using the slogan “This Ford chases Porches for a living”in advertisements. And some departments even ordered these with roll bars. Don’t you think a roll bar sticking out past a seat may be inconvenient when wearing a bulky belt?
Some outfit on eBay is selling a 6-piece set of blue radiator hose pieces for the mustang and says they’re silicone (rubber I assume.) Price is $63.64. Yah. I know, it’s eBay, let the buyer be wary….very wary!
I just looked and there’s one used set for $350 and one NOS set for $495. The real deal isn’t cheap anymore but they will nearly last forever.
JCA, I don’t need to do research. I lived the ordering of the Mustangs that we sold/delivered to the Nevada Highway Patrol. Besides also having sold many police vehicles to municipalities. Sales Advertising is one thing. Reality is a whole different ball game. I don’t even recollect that the “high performance” seats were an option. Having had over 25 Fox Body Mustangs and Capris ( of which many had the “high bolster” seats like my SVO and several GTs) These seats in police duty would look like crap (as in high wear through) in a very short time. All SSP Mustangs that I have ever seen, both in person ( easily over 150) and in magazines and selling places like Barn Finds, BAT and EBay . I have never seen one with the high bolster seats.
In many states like Nevada, there is a spicific mileage when they turn over the cars (Go to auction) and resale value is a concern, just as keeping the initial purchase price. So overall cost of ownership is a HUGE consideration.
Several of the reasons you see many pickup trucks and SUVs as police vehicles are the room, the reliability (truck based heavier standard equipment like brakes, suspensions, heavier cooling systems available, etc. ) BUT, one of the main reasons if what the vehicle is worth at the end. I won a bid on 50 Highway Patrol pickups (for the DOT officers). These were needed because of the space requirements for hauling around portable scales. The state was very happy with the vehicles because of the reliability. But they were ecstatic when they turned them over at auction. The state received almost half of the base vehicle cost because of the condition of the trucks. They stood up to the abuse, and still looked good. (well power door lock actuators were the most problematic issue)
I have never seen a 150,000 mile plus Fox Body car with the “GT” seats that the seat wear was not an issue. Also, officers will not stand for a vehicle that is cumbersome to get in and out of. It is tough enough with all their gear.
Also mant police pursuit vehicles are equipped with “taxi style” seat upholstery to be able to stand up to the riggures of law enforcement duty. It is not only for appearance, but also for officer’s comfort. Once the top layer of seat coverings go away. The seating surface deteriorates quickly, which makes the seat uncomfortable.
In ordering police vehicles where there is a possibility of different trypes and coverings of seats. I have never had a municipality not send over a trusted member of the force to “check out” the comfort and the possible wear characteristics of the selection of seats. This is a very critical part of their daily office and they are very tuned into that detail.
So no, no research is required on my part in regards to this situation.