As you can imagine, we cover Fox Body Ford Mustangs all the time here on BF. Some, such as this 1985 example, are Special Service Package (SSP) police interceptors. None, to the best of my knowledge however, have ever been located in Ireland, Tipperary to be specific. Well, that’s where you’ll find this one-time resident of California. It’s available here on eBay for an opening bid of $14,000.
The story goes that the owner, a retired Irish police officer, bought this former California Highway Patrol Mustang in 2004, imported it to Ireland, sold it to a local car collector, and then later repurchased it. It has been used for charity events, and car shows, and has spent some time in a police museum (lockup?). Now, it’s for sale, yet again. It’s cosmetically sharp but has experienced at least 147K miles of use. It looks very crisp considering its age and usage with nary a sign of road rash – usually a requirement on a cop car. The seller does mention that it has been detailed, recently, to a very high standard. The only thing that I don’t recognize are the wheels, they look like steelies with center caps. I know when the Florida Highway Patrol used these SSPs in the early ’90s, they were usually equipped with standard 15″ Mustang alloy wheels.
One unhelpful thing is the lack of an image of the 5.0 liter V8 engine. In standard trim, these were 210 net HP units but I don’t know if the SSP version is more robust. A five-speed manual transmission gets the pursuit thing going and the seller adds, “The car runs a little rough, but it was in storage so probably just needs a tune-up. I drove it about 50 miles home when I bought it back in August 2024 and it ran really well then.”
The interior is a bit of a surprise, it looks more like what one would find in a four-cylinder equipped LX Mustang, than an SSP-equipped version – I guess I was expecting something more cop car-looking. The fabric upholstery reveals indications of usage but it has held up well all of these years as has the light-hued cut pile carpet. As for police equipment, the seller mentions that the following cruiser hardware is included in the sale:
- Shotgun rack with correct map light (minus switch)
- Regency touch M100 scanner
- Federal Signal TS100 siren
- Motorola Micor radio (not CHP-specific model)
- Federal Signal Interceptor siren & light control unit
- Rocker switch panel with 6 switches and new adhesive label sheet
These are always a cool find and there is a big following, and demand, for former police cars – especially a manual shift Fox Body Mustang that’s in such fine condition. Now, location, location, location can make or break the deal and Tipperary, Ireland may add a challenge to the sale. But who knows, it got there once so maybe lightning will strike twice, right?
This is what I immediately thought of when estimating the cost to import this Mustang back to the States…
Jim’s last paragraph is a good summary. Cool car. They have a solid following– even for a four eye– but being in Ireland obviously presents an issue for someone who wants it back in the US. In addition to the logistics, “just more money”, I guess.
Sure looks like it is in good shape. I think those wheels and caps are correct for certain four-eye SSP’s.
I agree the wheels and caps are correct for the early SSP Mustangs. My opinion is based on the same year of RCMP Mustangs used in British Columbia and Alberta.
It will likely stay in Europe. There is a cult following of American police cars in Europe, there are even reproduction decal sets for several departments such as Sacramento sheriffs, Google Polish sheriff police car, then images. It’s not illegal to drive around like many parts of the US.
Steve R
Useless from the start. Police never have ever needed high speed pursuit cars, ,just ego boosters for cops, esp these and the Camaros. No car can out run a radio telling cops up ahead to lay down strips in the road. High speed pursuits kill innocent people. They should be outlawed. Cop cars should have standard civilian engines.
Why should they be outlawed? There is a story behind your post, want to tell us what it is?
Here in Washington State our left- leaning legislators outlawed police pursuit in most cases. The result was that criminals would make a run for the border, and virtually none were ever apprehended. After experiencing a dramatic increase in crime, the legislature has pretty much done a flip/flop.
If it wasn’t for police pursuit cars, we wouldn’t have the Mad Max movie.
Dunno if this is true but when I was in high school a friend told me they needed pursuit cars to chase down the bad guys, otherwise they would head out on to the outback roads and disappear.
Call ahead and tell the Canadian border guard. Problem solved. I think the good ol boy mentality in your average cop wants the thrill. Around here, many cops own high performance cars even when they know full well most of that performance use is illegal. Very fine line between a cop and a criminal. Mark, I don’t want to discuss that story. Bad memories. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks.
Ridiculous comment.
Why are you here on Barn Finds? The site is about motor vehicles, and the occasional transportation related alternatives. Perhaps you should discuss your opinions regarding law enforcement policies on another site.
I gotta chime in. Curts comment made perfect sense to me, the second one to. I think your comment is about your love of high performance cars in general. Two different opinions, both have the right to be expressed. Blanket comments trying to shame someone to post somewhere else is elitest.
Sounds like you did something stupid, Curt.
And stupid needs to hurt. That’s how you learn lessons.
Fine line between the Police and criminals?
I’m surprised it left service with its government plates, I thought CA kept these plates to keep private owners from impersonating cops. Looks like a cool car.
The original plates would have been removed. The problem is every state and local government vehicle has a pair, there are 10’s of thousands floating around, which means you can buy them on the secondary market. If you search “California exempt plate” on eBay you will find several dozen currently listed or sold within the last 90 days, you see them at swapmeets and flea markets too. It’s not hard to find dealer plates, though the hardest plates to find are black and yellow manufacturers plates.
Steve R
Looks sharp but need some undercarriage and underhood pictures.
I leased the ’83 and ’84 lx 5.0 new with the needed, new Holley 4 barrel upgrade. I really enjoyed them but for 1985 here the 5.0 had the roller cam/lifter engine upgrade.
1985 also brought upgrades to the with Borg Warner T5, 5 speed transmission (now the “World Class”) with new roller / needle bearings for crisper shifts.
SSPs in this year are uncommon and this one looks good. I had these seats in my ’84 and they are not supportive enough. Needs a real good look over of records and in person to see what else was missed besides a tune and tailpipe repair.
I 2nd that police officers should chase in slow cars for safety sake lol ok not really give them the best our very lives might depend on it
A lot of good police hot rods will do when the pursued is riding a crotch rocket. We had a few incidents here where somebody was fleeing down a main street with traffic lights and intersections at over one hundred miles an hour.
Rather than focus on the rare high-speed chase, consider the ordinary pursuit of a car going 15-20 mph over the limit. A highway partolman once told me it could take three miles to catch a speeder in his 85 mph malaise patrol car. He could catch the same speeder in less than a mile in his Mustang. You decide which is safer.
15 or 20 MPH isn’t life threatening, it is for revenue. Instead of sitting in wait sucking down donuts behind a billboard, maybe cops should flow with the traffic so they could witness the real problems, and speed isn’t it. Try the drunkards, inattentive driving, elderly people going far to slowly, the fools dangerously swerving in and out of lanes, and the left lane hogs. You never see that in a speed trap, but of course they are not for public safety, they are for the money.
No engine pictures. I noticed only one exhuast pipe in the rear.
If you read the listing detail, you’ll learn that the missing tailpipe broke off but the seller has it.
JO
Cops stopped using Mustangs as patrol cars because they caught fire. This problem was fixed???
Officer…..Jack me’ovf ??
Had the displeasure of being pulled over at the genius age of 17. We were doing 120 and that red cherry came out of nowhere. After telling a buddy to SHUT UP (he had asked what the problem was, duh) and after quite a bit of yelling and writing me up for 90, this gentleman CHP actually apologized for yelling at us. He explained he was tired of peeling idiot kids like us off the sides of highways thinking we know how to drive. And he said, “you made me spill my yogurt! I still laugh at that but on the ticket ( I still have most of them) he wrote chased for 2 1/2 miles . This was highway 280 in SF Bay Area
Caught at 120 by a cop and your old man let you keep driving? When I was 17 I would have been terrified about my old mans reaction to that, not the fine. I am surprised at 17 you didn’t lose your ability to legally drive. Maybe you did and you didn’t care. Obviously didn’t learn anything because you had more tickets.
59 now and yes I had a meeting in an office with some type of cop in a suit in San Jose PD HQ at a later date. He in fact looked at my driving record and said he needed to do something, so he asked for my license.
I produced it and he took it and said “come back and see me in 3 months”
I will never know if it was suspended or not because I didn’t get pulled over the next 3 months. I lived with my Mom and not even sure she knew, I always bought my own cars but it was one of the buddies in the car that owned that Buick. With all of this being said and I admit I still drive fast, speed and giving DL’s to people who do not deserve one are the biggest cause of accidents. In Sac they just arrested a guy (after chasing briefly) for blowing stop signs and over 70 in a school zone. Just let ’em go? BS
Back before the world turned to crap there was a lady CHP that patrolled the lonely interstate highway out west of Needles California that dove one of these. Back then I asked her for a speedometer check when she was running radar and she graciously supplied one. Those were the good old days
These cars come with beefed up suspension to withstand the abuse.