From 1982 until 1993, the Fox-body Ford Mustang was sold to police departments across North America. The Mustang SSP, which stood for Special Service Package, was a Fox-body Mustang specially modified for law enforcement agencies, such as local police departments, the FBI, DEA, Border Control, and even the US Air Force, which used them as chase cars for the U2 spy plane. Most of the SSP Mustangs are long out of service and sometimes they come up for sale.
The Smoking Tire's Matt Farah purchased this particular 1988 Mustang LX Special Service Coupe you're looking at back in 2014. It was used by the California Highway Patrol from 1988 until 1994. However, it didn't always look as cool as it does now. Instead of preserving it in its original condition, Farah embarked on a significant resto mode project that saw a huge list of upgrades.
He decided to sell the completed car in 2018 and now it's up for sale again by its second owner on Bring A Trailer. Its next owner will inherit a completely reborn muscle car. One of the biggest changes was the suspension. Instead of the original live axle, it was replaced with an independent rear suspension ripped out of a 2004 Ford Mustang Cobra for better overall handling. Bilstein shocks and springs, a roll bar, wicked cool riveted fender flares, three-piece 18-inch HRE wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are just a few of the additions. Under the hood lies a 302 cubic-inch Ford Racing V8 crate engine with a total of 268 horsepower sent to the rear wheels through a Tremec-sourced five-speed manual transmission.
The interior? It looks pretty wild with those Recaro seats and multi-color custom upholstery. We also dig the Momo Prototipo steering wheel and the aftermarket gauges. The most recent records indicate the car is currently registered in California and has not been involved in any accidents on or off the track. There are, however, a few chips in the paint and windshield. Such is the price of usage.
As of the writing, the auction was already off to a hot start with the highest bid at just below $25,000. The auction ends next week so we fully expect to see the price climb.