Trick Pony
| 01 June 2005
Trick pony? That’s right, the column this month is about a trick pony rather than a pony trick. This particular trick pony came to life in 1982 and went to pony heaven in 1993. It was a Fox Body iteration known as SSP, SSP being the acronym for Special Service Package. In countless local, state, and Federal jurisdictions, it became the law enforcement vehicle of choice. And it was even used by the Air Force for a very special application. In all, it’s estimated that more than 15,000 units were built during the 12-year period.
It was affordable; it was reliable; for its time, it could be called a high performance car; and it enjoyed a great deal of success as a high speed law enforcement cruiser. But despite those attributes, much of its fame and success were based on a mind game. Ford and law enforcement perpetrated the mind game on the general public based on Mustang’s reputation. They wanted you to think the SSP machine was very different from what you and I could buy. But, truth be known, anyone could buy a Fox Body with much of the same equipment found on the SSP. Mind you, the SSP itself wasn’t for sale to the public (even though a few fell through the cracks) but it had the same power train and the same suspension that could be yours from any Ford dealer in the country. Just specify the 5.0-liter HO, select the appropriate transmission, choose the rear gear and you got essentially what the cops got. Rumors to the contrary, DNA of the SSP cars didn’t include grossly understated horsepower, 4-wheel disc brakes, 351 engines, ram air, or tweaked EEC chips. Sure the SSP had some special law enforcement equipment that you couldn’t get, equipment designed to help law enforcement do its job and/or help the vehicle stand up to law enforcement use/abuse. Examples included silicone hoses in some years, external oil coolers in some years, a calibrated speedometer (140mph 1982 through 1988 and 160mph after that), upper rear control links recalibrated with higher durometer bushings (1992 and 1993 only), and others. But throw out the law enforcement “stuff” and there was little difference between your ride and the cop’s ride.
Even though you could buy what the cops drove, the success of the SSP was not diminished. The mind game worked because the car could do the job. And it worked because success lead to a certain element of deterrence. But in the early years, another component was probably at work in the minds of those of us who enjoyed the muscle car era before safety concerns, emission control, and the gasoline crisis conspired to deny us our high performance playthings. Many of us had memories of the performance Mustangs from the early era with horsepower figures considerably above the 157 HP rating of the SSP, albeit gross (brake) horsepower prior to the changeover to net horsepower in 1972. Those memories and a certain mystique associated with (new for the time) 5.0 badging on the Fox Body conjured up thoughts that screamed “performance.” It was a reputation that couldn’t be ignored.
Many memories from the 1st generation of Mustang fostered the performance reputation. The HiPo for one. B-Production racing Mustangs for another. Or maybe it was Bob Tasca “inventing” the Cobra Jet and convincing Ford to build it. How about drag racing or, dare I say it in a family newsletter, street racing? Although under the radar in this country, some of us also remembered the successful rally Mustangs fielded for Ford in Europe by Alan Mann Racing. Lots of memories all helping to build a performance reputation for the first generation cars.
Almost from the beginning, part of the Mustang mystique came from a wild side that was sometimes just below the surface and sometimes right up in your face. Not all Mustangs had that trait, of course, but it was easy to dismiss the non-qualifiers. Sure the little daily-driver grocery getter was an interesting piece in its own right but performance was where it was at. The link between the name Mustang and the word performance was strong enough to spring instantly to mind when I saw my first SSP. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the car but I was sure it was a formidable machine. I suppose in some ways I wanted it to be a formidable machine because it was time to get back to Mustang’s performance heritage.
Most of us could tell a story or two about our introduction to Mustangs and what its reputation meant to us. For the gear heads among us, many stories would bring the Mustang performance image to the forefront. My own story fits that description.
It was on a Saturday morning outside the post office in Langhorne, PA. The car wasn’t there when I went in to mail a package but when I came out, there it was parked across the street from my 1965 Fairlane A-Code 3-speed straight drive. It was a Shelby GT-350, the first one I’d seen. While I was looking it over, the driver showed up. He said he worked for Shelby and was traveling around the country promoting the 350. Of course, he thought I should get one immediately to replace the Fairlane. As appealing as the thought was, I needed a family car and the Shelby wouldn’t do. So I’d have to be content with a vicarious Mustang relationship based on magazine articles and trips to the track. There were numerous trips to the drag strip in Atco, NJ, annual trips to the road course in Lime Rock, CT, and an annual camping pilgrimage to the road course in Watkins Glen, NY.
Atco Raceway was conveniently close to home so it was good for weekend diversion. Lime Rock was a beautiful facility and in 1969/70, it was a treat to watch the Trans-Am series including Parnelli Jones in the no. 15 Boss fielded by Bud Moore. But for me, Watkins Glen was the best. Two days of racing at the famous Upstate New York track always culminated in a showdown among the big guns in A-Production and B-Production, both classes on the track at the same time.
I still have vivid memories of B-Production ponies at the Glen, thundering up the back straight toward Fast Bend at WOT. Their song arrived several seconds before they did as they headed toward you on the first lap. It was intermixed with another small block song from B-Production Corvettes, both marques playing to a heavy back beat from the A-Production big block ‘Vettes. It was enough to give you chills. Which one would be first to crest the rise at the end of the straight? You stood there at the entry to Fast Bend and waited. Usually a big block machine was 1st but not always. Sometimes a Mustang with its nose high and still accelerating had a length or two on the General’s top gun. If not, it was usually running a few feet back in 2nd place with the closest small block plastic car breathing hard somewhere behind.
When the drivers started setting up for the corner, the nose would drop as the brakes bit, the cars would turn in and dance through the corner, and then they’d be gone. Now for a couple of minutes you could breath normally and gloat over Ford’s pony car showing the General how to get it done at the Glen.
But soon enough in the distance, you’d hear the V-8 exhaust notes grow louder as the machines picked up the throttle coming out of the chute and onto the back straight again. Another charge toward Fast Bend and suddenly there they were, setting up for the next dance through the corner. If a pony was showing the way, it was a great day. If it was leading in B-Production, it was still a great day. Lap after lap you waited for the sound of the pony’s raw power at full gallop and to see the machine arc into the corner.
I’m sure you get my point. The reputation was building. Mustangs could be bad. Mustangs could be raw. Whether those characteristics transferred to street-going Mustangs was immaterial; it didn’t matter. If you’d seen the cars perform on the track, you knew what they could do. It left an undying impression.
Reputations being what they are, imagine how the car crazy freeway flyers in California felt when the CHP brought in 406 SSP machines in 1982. Their purpose was high speed enforcement, replacing the General’s defective-camshaft Camaro pretenders. Reputation alone was enough to give you a good shot of adrenalin if one of the new patrol units suddenly appeared when you were experimenting with a speed limit of your own design, one with little correlation to the arbitrary numbers posted on rectangular signs alongside the highway. When the dust settled, the SSP Mustangs were so good at corralling speeders that their use spread across the country and they wrote their own chapter in the Mustang biography. The Mustang reputation continued to grow.
Beginning with model year 1994, When the Fox Body underwent serious modification and became known as the SN-95, the SSP Mustang was dropped. But now after an 11-year absence, the story may reinvent itself. We all know that Ford has another hit on its hands. The S-197s are selling faster than the blue oval guys can bolt them together. Will Ford and law enforcement resurrect the mind game and put a modern-day version of the SSP on the road. Time will surely tell but in the meantime, the police department in Stallings, NC isn’t waiting. Sgt. John Flynn drives a red 2005 GT patrol car fully equipped with police gear and (surprise) it’s being used as a traffic enforcement unit. According to police chief Lark Plyler, some of the traffic scofflaws unfortunate enough to be stopped by Sgt. Flynn hurriedly sign off on their tickets so they can get a close up look at the patrol car.
Reputations are strange things!
Between 1985 and 1993, SSP Mustangs were also purchased by the US Air Force for a very specific function. Although fewer than 20 SSP cars were ordered over the 9-year period, they were so good at their specialized task, that at least one remained in service until late 1999. What were these pony cars doing? They were serving as chase cars for U-2 spy planes.
A U-2 chase car runs with each plane when it takes off and again when it lands. Apparently, the U-2 is a very difficult aircraft to land and equally difficult to take off. It has a long nose and a 63 foot wingspan. The long nose challenges the pilot when it comes to making accurate estimates of ground clearance and the long wingspan makes it difficult to keep the wing tips from digging into the ground. After several accidents, the Air Force began using chase cars in the 1950s. A qualified U-2 pilot drives the chase car and stays in radio communication with the pilot in the aircraft. SSP Mustangs were among the best chase cars ever used.
The Air Force repaints its vehicles with their trademark Strato Blue. It’s a quick and dirty paint job with almost no attempt to avoid orange peel or other unusual textures. Although few Air Force SSP cars are available for restoration, one has undergone the procedure including emulation of the rough paint. The owner notes that the “poor” paint job always draws comments at shows.
Over a lifespan now entering its 42nd year, Mustang has carved a reputation from large portions of both fact and fiction. The SSP chapter is no exception. And as the marque's biography takes its sometimes odd twists and turns, we wouldn’t want it any other way. May Ford continue to build trick ponies and may the pony’s final chapter never be written.
(Thanks to Ed Milano for providing information about U-2 chase cars. MCA, via the April 2005 edition of Mustang Times, was the primary source for COP-car information. [Ed.])