28HopUp

As background info, I bought an 85 Mustang SSP (Special Service Package) at the end of October 08, which I was able to identify as CHP #8395. The 4-eye car came with 10-holes, which were needed to clear the larger 87-up brakes. The car has been slightly modded, but is fairly decent. Rather than restore it back as a black & white with its in-service markings, I planned to resto-modify it into an unmarked SSP for occasional daily-driver use. Since then, I've been driving the car as often as possible, and my SSP learning curve has been very steep!

A few days ago at a SSP forum, I learned about the SMPV's (Specially Marked Patrol Vehicles) that the CHP used/converted for commercial traffic enforcement. They converted an estimated 25-50 1985 CHP's, like this one -



So it got me thinking about my new SSP. On the two SSP forums I asked about how someone would go about trying to confirm if their 85 CHP was one of the units made into a SMPV. The reason I asked is because I found something very interesting about my car. Some time after the CHP marked it as a black and white, the body (but not the doors) was painted silver. A subsequent paint job made the entire car (including door jams) dark "Toyota" gray.

This morning, in the body doorjam, I used a pocket knife to pull off a small area of the top coat of paint. Although the revealed color was black, the underside of the dark gray paint chip I had stuck on the knife was SILVER! Also, the plastic push button door striker is painted silver, having not been masked off when the body was painted silver (but masked up when the dark gray paint was applied). I also found a paint chip in the rocker panel, which revealed silver paint. However, the silver was not found on the doors under the gray paint. My car also has an unusual feature - the window trim is blacked out. And as stated, the car has 10-holes.

So now I'm thinking about my car in a whole new way. At present, NONE of the SMPV's have been located and documented/verified. If it is indeed a SMPV, then how do I proceed with it? How do I verify its authenticity? I was only planning to rebuild it as an unmarked daily driver, but that may not be the best plan of action for this car. Frankly, I hadn't had any desire to own a marked SSP, but this car MAY be a SMPV. If it is, then it deserves to be fully & properly restored. If so, then am I the one to do it? Would I be better off selling/swapping the car with another SSP enthusiast who would restore the car properly?

I'm kinda at a loss at this point. Any advice?

PRO50SC

That's pretty interesting Bill. I think if it were me and it is what you think it may be, if I had the means, I'd have to restore back to it's original state. Even if you don't plan on that, I would still keep it as it is still a rare model.

28HopUp

Thanks Bernie for the input! I was planning on a repaint this winter, but now I need to rethink things. The best evidence of what the car MAY be is underneath the top-coat, and doing a repaint would destroy that proof. I'm just kinda floored - Who'd a thought a Fox body would be worth a total restoration?

Demon 340

those VINs have to have been documented when purchased..no?

28HopUp

CHP documentation is like assembling a puzzle without having all the pieces - you can get an idea what the picture is, but it's not complete. The DSO for my car indicates that it is an SSP that was delivered to the San Jose, CA area where a large number of SSP's were delivered to the CHP. All of the data tag codes line up with another verified car, CHP #8397, whose VIN is only 49 digits apart from mine (and Ford didn't build the SSP's consecutively - they spaced them apart by several vehicles). There should be a 2nd buck tag at the radiator, but mine is missing. It was reported that all CHP's had their unit number marked with a paint-pen in the doorjam above the data tag, but mine has the number written in the rearward side glass on the driver's side. CARFAX puts my car in California until the previous owner bought it from his brother in 1999.

In terms of SMPV verification, those CHP files are long gone. The only way to document my car would be to find an in-service picture of it with the license plate showing. The number would have been E408395

Shelty

thats pretty neat. too bad your buck tag is missing.

pretty cool history none the less... I mean, how many people can say they own an old mustang cop car?

nitrous_bob

**** just cuz it's a notch makes it worthy of total resto IMO

they all had 10-holes for the record, and you should get a GMP '85 cop car... would be sweet. i have the '85 from cali and the '92 from Michigan

here they are if you have never seen them

check on ebay, you can find them cheap... they were about $125 each when they first came out

Portmaster

When I was tearing down my 85 coupe I found the extra tag on the radiator support to indicate it was an SSP car. Because the tag gave no referance as to what state it was assigned to. with some reserch I found that it may have been used by maybe the FBI or something like that. The trunk release under the left side of the dash got me curious and other that the special service tag on the radiator support there is no other clue that it was an SSP car. I had absolutly no interest in bring it to it's original status. Its never had a shot gun rack, radio or any holes through the floor. I doubted it's validity for a while but it had some huge sway bars, factory oil cooler(that had been disconected and stuff up front, factory trans cooler, PS cooler and huge shock isolators but it has manual windows and door locks. I wish I could have found more info on the car but just out of curiosity sake.

ajbgsxr

hey guys new to the site although ssp cars on the east side of the U.S. are pretty damn rare i have a 1990 ssp south carolina car that i have been restoring slowly it was a unmarked car either undercover or FBI car im not totally sure but thiers only a total of 50 VIN# produced for the state of south carolina i had my car painted the original color and it pretty much stock except a small cam and full exhaust and no smog

ajbgsxr

IMG_20130314_111826_647.jpg
IMG_20130314_111751_661.jpg
IMG_20130314_112557_213.jpg
IMG_20130314_111804_359.jpg
IMG_20130310_155029_593.jpg