Florida Highway Patrol Mustang Takes a Lap at Homestead-Miami
Part of FHP’s Retro Fleet, 1993 Mustang LX packs a 5.0 V8 under the hood, classic police car looks, and more in one little pony.
For a good while through the start of the Eighties, the Mustang’s role in law enforcement was relegated to a ’68 Highland Green fastback on the silver screen, and a handful of ’71 through ’73 Mach 1s exported to Japan for civic duty there. It wouldn’t be until 1982, when the California Highway Patrol asked Ford to build a pursuit car to nab criminals until the Fairmonts and Crown Victorias of the time rolled up to haul them away. Thus was born the Mustang SSP.
From ’82 through ’93, 60 law enforcement agencies bought the Mustangs to serve their individuals purposes, including the second-biggest user of the pony, the Florida Highway Patrol. YouTuber Nick Perez (a.k.a. Nick OFF Duty) recently got a chance to check out one such example with FHP Lieutenant Alex Camacho at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.
Homestead-Miami/Florida Highway Patrol Relationship
“I bet you’re wondering, ‘How in the world are you standing where you’re standing right now at the Homestead-Miami Speedway?'” said Perez. “‘How did you get in? Did you sneak in?’ Well, no. The Florida Highway Patrol agency has a great working relationship with the Homestead-Miami Speedway. They were kind enough to allow us to showcase the vehicles that we’re gonna be seeing today at a NASCAR stadium.”
The FHP Retro Fleet includes a quartet of cars from the organization’s 80-year history, beginning with one of the first Ford Deluxes issued to the first class of patrol academy graduates in 1939. There’s also another pony car in the mix, in the form of a Chevy Camaro, and the classic authority figure of the modern day, a 2011 Crown Victoria. But none of us are here for them.
Mustang 5.0—SSP Style
“Next up in the fleet, 1993 Ford Mustang 5.0 LX SSP — Special Service Package,” said Camacho. “These cars at the time, it gave law enforcement more of a high-performance, better-handling option to overtake some of these high-performance vehicles at the time.”
The Mustangs wore 15-inch rotary-dial wheels, whose brushed silver complimented the FHP tan-over-black livery, with later models equipped with an integrated light bar/siren on the roof in place of the blue-light specials of earlier FHP units. The cars had a pair of rear-mounted blue strobe lights inside the rear window. And of course, they all had the 5.0-liter V8, good for 205 horses, and for chasing down bad guys.
“The Florida Highway Patrol, back in 1983, they actually decided to add the Ford Mustang SSP — Special Service Package — to their fleet,” Camacho said. “Again, at the time, it gave us a more high-performance, a better-handling option compared to some of the other cars that were being used as patrol vehicles.”
Camacho adds that, because the Mustang SSPs the FHP chose came equipped with a five-speed manual over the four-speed automatic, potential drivers not only had to be trained and certified to handle the pony’s performance, but also to learn to shift their own gears if they didn’t know how already. Combined with the radio, siren, and emergency light controls, the chosen drivers certainly had their hands full.
These days, the Ford you’ll likely (hope not to) see in your rearview is the Police Interceptor Utility, based on the Explorer. Perhaps one day, there will be another Mustang SSP ready to help bring in perps. Until then, there are museum pieces like this ’93 to gaze upon.
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