Unhappy with the Camaro’s performance due to camshaft and engine issues at top ,and the hefty size of other pursuit vehicles, the California Highway Patrol reached out to Ford in the early 1980s to use the Mustang as their capable highway patrol vehicle. Introduced in 1982, SSP (Special Service Package) was a lightweight package given to the Fox-body Mustang to use in police fleets.

While any SSP Fox-body is cool in our book, we stumbled across this 1982 SSP Mustang on Craigslist complete with a decent bit of history. What makes this car a little different is that it was built and used as an engineering mule, a pre-production test car and is the second Mustang police car built.

This SSP coupe is the second car ordered by the Fleet Sales Director at Ford. It spent over three years at Ford engineering in Dearborn, Michigan for product development use, Ford fleet customer demonstration, SSP Police Package development and Ford Engineering Product Development. After the car had served its time as a test mule, the original Ford Fleet Sales Director bought it for the hefty price of $1.00. Just two pre-production Fox-body vehicles were used for development and testing, making this a rare gem.

According to the seller, he purchased the car from the Fleet Director and is the second real owner. The factory black on black Mustang is the exact same as when he purchased it. It has the 302 connected to the 4-speed SROD transmission, traction-lok rear, power rack & pinion steering, power disc brakes, tilt steering, factory air conditioning, power locks, leather-wrapped steering wheel, bucket seats, map light and more. If into the Mustang police car hobby, this car is well-known and admired. 

Many SSP vehicles are out there. A total of 15,000 were produced between the years of 1982-1993. Some still aid in law enforcement in one way or another, others are display cars for the D.A.R.E. program while others landed in the hands of enthusiasts, collectors, and/or racers.

History can be yours for just $7,500.00