1988 CHP

[Va 5.0]

This 1988 CHP arrived a few weeks ago from Oregon. The shipping process was a little sketchy, but it made it to Virginia.

[Va 5.0]

Another shot...Keegan was excited to have a new Mustang.

[28HopUp]

That looks like a great car for the price. Congrats on the new SSP. :)

[Rhino]

Cool! This the one that John snagged at the tow yard?

[nighthawk756]

Congrats!! I was REAL close to getting that car and backed out. Glad to see another member ended up with it! John's a great guy to deal with!

[Va 5.0]

Yes, it is. John was nice enough to keep it until I could arrange shipping.
Here is a pic with it back on ten holes and the pinstripe delete.

[Va 5.0]

2920 donated its old steering wheel replacing the after market wheel.

[mac88chp]

Good deal, great this one is back in capable hands and into the hobby. :thumbsup:

[Va 5.0]

I put a drivers window and a drivers side 1/4 window in. The trunk springs were a pain in the #@$$$ to get back in. I shot some color on the black passengers side pieces, it will look better when it is all one color and i find some tailpipes for it.

[chp1982]

Quick progress. Looks good.

[Va 5.0]

Thanks go out to John for saving this one. The car number remains a mystery. The drivers door was replaced at some point so no unit # there. No unit # on the rear seat or front plate bracket. I sent for a vehicle ownership history to the California DMV, but I struck out there also. The report only said pending registered owner and only displayed the last owners name. I may send them another one asking for owner as of date and put 12/01/1988.
Does anyone have a list of VIN's and car #'s for the 88 CHP mustangs?

[John10608]

Jack,

What an improvement with the correct steering wheel !
Coming along great ! Glad you are restoring it and bringing it back to life !

I can imagine the car is relieved to know it isn't in the hands of that tweeker any longer !!! lol

If these cars could only talk LOLOL

Keep up the good work ! Love the progressive pictures !
John

[dcompson]

Nice work on the car, may i ask where you got the trunk springs? I need some.

Dave

[Mustang Kid]

Cool! I wish I could have bought it :D

If you never find out the unit #, you could just give it a # off of a car with in service pics!

[28HopUp]

Thanks go out to John for saving this one. The car number remains a mystery. The drivers door was replaced at some point so no unit # there. No unit # on the rear seat or front plate bracket. I sent for a vehicle ownership history to the California DMV, but I struck out there also. The report only said pending registered owner and only displayed the last owners name. I may send them another one asking for owner as of date and put 12/01/1988.
Does anyone have a list of VIN's and car #'s for the 88 CHP mustangs?

Jack, we do not have as much info on the 88s as we do on some other year CHPs. Presently, we know there is a confirmed DSO batch starting at JF221389 thru JF221626, which spans 238 VINs. There are probably as few more CHPs on either side of those VINs, but we do not know what the Unit Number range is for that year.

[Va 5.0]

A pic of the quarter window out. A picture of the No Smoking label on the instrument cluster.

[Va 5.0]

Struck out with the CA DMV for a second time. I wrote them a letter letting them know that I was the registered owner in Va. I asked them to run it for the owner as of 12/01/1988. I was hoping maybe they would dig a little and possibly find the old plate #, but all I got was a reply :no history data available for 12/01/88. And a second page = pending registered owner.

I did find some interior kick panels, some a/c lines ,a stock radio , an original upper and lower intake and an interior door handle at the junkyard. Found a jack and owners manuals on EBay.
I plugged an exhaust leak at the back of the heads where the welds failed on the attempt to delete the smog pump lines.

So, I made a little progress on the Oregon CHP car.

[John10608]

Jack,

Sounds like you are coming along great with the car ! Glad you have it !
I would have loved to have fixed it up, paint it all black and black 10 holes with a whip antenna, but just no time for it.

Just glad someone wanted it to keep it as it is and not drag it or part it out.
It is a good car, just needed some TLC !!
Sounds like it went to the perfect home !

John

[Va 5.0]

The 1988 CHP has a new exhaust in the garage. A flowmaster system from LMR, $50 off on black friday I could not pass it up. The whole system from headers back is going on as soon as it warms up.

[Va 5.0]

Interior is looking a whole lot better.

[Va 5.0]

I found an old pic online. The Saleen side skirts would explain why the rockers and sides were still painted black.

[kapracing]

Jack,
The cars came a long way!! Looking good :2thumbs:

[chp1982]

What a difference you've made. That poor car looked rough. Aside from the exhaust, what is next for it?

[John10608]

Jack,

The car is really looking nice ! Great work !
lol had to laugh at the old photo. I remember looking at this car when it was sitting. In fact I added the vin # for the VIN project on this site.

Where did you find that picture ? Yes it was a pile when I first saw it.
Then the one kid bought it, cleaned it up real nice and was driving it.
You know the rest of the story from there lol

Too long to type on here !! lolol

Glad that you are making it look nice again. Even I feel good seeing the improvements !!

Great job !
John

[nighthawk756]

Man, huge difference! Glad it's in the right hands finally!:2thumbs:

[Va 5.0]

John,

Jeff the guy in Medford had the old pictures posted on a Saleen site.

Next on the agenda is to do a compression check and see if the motor is good or needs a rebuild, I am putting a stock intake back on it, and then some body work and some paint. I can't decide black or maybe dark grey.

[John10608]

Yeah, Jeff is a good guy. If anyone needs fox body, saleen or SSP parts, he has about everything. He has a lot of cars and parts.
He's been trying to get rid of a lot of it though.

He has or had a couple Oregon SSP's in his yard also. Seems I got the vin #'s for the vin project for those as well.

Yeah, your car has come a LONG way ! really looking nice ! It fell into the right hands !!
Great job !

[Va 5.0]

Unfortunately, I ended up selling the 1988 CHP. After putting a lot of work into it, I sold it for less than what I had in it. I did replace it with a 1995 Cobra that I can drive. I liked that the Cobra was the last of the 5.0 Motors, had GT40 heads, with antilock disk brakes, airbags and working a/c.

[28HopUp]

Sorry to hear that, Jack. Post up some photos of your 95 Cobra when you get a chance. You can do that in the daily chat thread (http://www.specialservicemustang.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5588), if you'd like. We have a 94 Cobra that has been a great car for us (technically, it is our son's car - we only helped him a little with the in-house financing).

[FlyinTiger]

I had a '95 Cobra. It was a great driving car, just not one for the hot south. I quickly found out that the whole interior is held together by velcro, after the glue started to melt. Most comfortable Mustang I have owned.

[Va 5.0]

The day I sold it. I saved my black rims.

[mac88chp]

Hope it returns as a CHP car someday.