At a glance, these two 1982 Ford Mustang notchbacks for sale on Hemmings.com don’t look too remarkable, aside from the 5.0 badges and a few other visibly non-stock details. However, as the seller illustrates, both are not only California Highway Patrol-issued Special Service Package Mustangs – some of the most revered examples of the four-eyed Mustang – but are also the first two SSPs: the prototype and the development mule. Neither has been restored, and only one is currently running, but it appears all the documentation to prove the cars’ places in history is in order. From the seller’s description:
This pair of 1982 Mustangs includes the Original 1982 Special Service Package (SSP) Prototype Police Mustang assembled in December 1981 and the 1982 Mustang SSP Police Engineering Mule assembled in April 1982. These 2 Mustangs are the only 2 Pre-Production Mustangs built by Ford to develop, engineer and test the proposed Special Service Package Police option for the 1982 Mustang.
The first 1982 SSP Prototype Mustang built and modified in December 1981 and was given to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for testing and evaluation as a high speed traffic enforcement vehicle. CHP Unit # 851963. At that time in 1982 this Mustang was the only vehicle tested by the CHP that would accelerate to 100 MPH in a given time frame, stop in prescribed distance and have a top speed over 125 MPH. The results this extensive of testing by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) at the CHP Training Academy in Sacramento in January/February 1982 with this original 1982 Mustang SSP prototype was the first fleet order, production and delivery to the CHP of 400 Special Service Package SSP equipped Mustangs. This Mustang is the Mustang that started it all as the first Mustang police car!