Remembering the Fox Mustangs of the NYPD

After a street racing sting operation, these Mustangs went to work for Johnny Law.

Just about everyone knows about the Mustang Special Service Package (SSP), a factory lightweight Mustang intended for law enforcement duty. However, the Mustangs you see here actually started out as civilian models. Both were modified for street racing before “switching sides” and becoming law enforcement vehicles.

As YouTuber The718Motorpool explains, New York City had a well-earned reputation for crime in the 1980s and early 1990s, with half a million felonies in 1990 alone. When Rudy Giuliani was elected as mayor in 1994, he made it is mission to snuff out crime. Giuliani appointed Bill Bratton as NYPD commissioner, who understood that handling low level petty crime actually had a major impact on curbing more serious crime.

To Protect And To Swerve

Some of that “lower level” crime included illicit street racing. Back in 1985, Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens became a hotbed for such activity after it was repaved. After a spate of fatal accidents, efforts were made to shut down the ad hoc action on Franny Lew. Several street racers were arrested and their cars were seized. Two of them were modified Fox Body Mustangs, both 5.0 GT hatchbacks. They were painted in an NYPD scheme and put to work performing public relations duties, while a third ex-street racer Mustang hatchback would be added later. Ironically enough, one of the previous owners of these Mustangs would later become an NYPD cop himself. We doubt he got assigned to his old Mustang, though.

While the more heavily modified car, a 1988 GT that was reportedly equipped with a supercharger and nitrous, survives today, the 1992 hatchback was eventually scrapped by the department. The third car remains missing. The 1988 was purchased by a retired officer, restored, and now resides in the Mustang Museum of America in Odenville, Alabama. It serves as a symbol of New York’s turnaround from crime-ridden mean streets into the tourist-friendly metropolis it is today. That’s a suitable retirement for a machine that served the public interest for many years. It’s also proof that any Mustang looks great in Grabber Blue.

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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