Here's another rare bird, the 1983 Georgia State Patrol SSP that Bobby recently found -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info188933.htm

Can't wait to see/add more pictures! :D

We ordered a few more Marti Reports yesterday, which should come in by the end of next week. Hope to comfirm blocks of SSPs from DSP, FHP, GSP, NC, OK, and TxDPS. :)

Nine of the fifteen requested Marti Reports came back (I'm sure the others will arrive soon). There were a few minor disappointments:

I was hoping to confirm three blocks of 1985 SSPs from North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. Although all three cars came back with the SSP option, the DSOs were different than earlier cars within the same batch of VINs. So we cannot verify the batches (yet).

On a positive note, we confirmed an entire batch of 100 VINs as being 1988 GSP cars. There were already five SSPs confirmed in the batch, but we now know the first and last VINs assigned in this DSO of 1988 GSP Mustangs. Thanks to Bobby for these specific reports, which are attached as PDF files. I will add these cars to the project once I sort out my new laptop.

Attached is the Marti Report that I was hoping to match up to a confirmed 1985 North Carolina SSP. This is from the same batch as FF251154, but has a different DSO. :(

What are the options on the earlier, confirmed car?

I'm not sure Mike. All we have is the Buck Tag from the Craigslist ad.

there were multiple orders on different DSO numbers for 1984 Oregon State Police Cars. Isn't it entirely possible that any agency could have multiple orders placed for the same year, hence several different groups of vins?

Yes. Texas DPS did that most years, too.

I ordered a Marti report for my cars, I will post a picture as soon as I get it.

PERFECT way to verify your car as an SSP. Once you get it post up a copy so we can attach it to the vin in the vin project pages.

VIN project
 

I sent Bill my marti report so it can be added.

I am back in business in terms of setting up the new laptop for FTP access to the site. Here are a few notable mentions for new/revised pages:

• Bobby's 1992 GSP - added a cool in-service picture.
• xxtrpr's 1985 NC - added it to the Project (with Marti)
• willyb93's 1993 Ford Test Car - now added to the Project

That's just a short list of recent changes. There were also a number of cars REMOVED from the Project. After a few days of discussion, we decided that some of the documentation being used for certain cars was not really a sufficient form of verification for our Project. For instance, the Texas DMV pages only confirmed that a car had been titled in Texas, but the information did not confirm prior police history, agency use, or confirmation that the car was equipped with the SSP option (despite being sandwiched in-between other documented SSPs). So those pages were pulled. We also went through and removed the pages with AutoCheck paperwork. Although some pages indicated prior police use, the AC information did not meet our collective standards for inclusion in the Project.

Ongoing, we will concentrate on documenting suspected VIN ranges with Marti Reports (there are a bunch of FHPs that fall into this category), without worrying about trying to fill in the blanks for cars in-between. We will also be taking a critical eye towards other cars to make sure the information is reliable, and that wording is consistent. This way, the Project will be a credible resource for those looking to confirm SSPs in the future.

More Cars Removed From Project!
 

In an effort to put out quality information, we took a critical look at some of the CHP Mustangs in the Project. In particular, we gave a lot of thought to cars which were verified only with CA Smog Site information (without any matches to e-plate numbers). It was a similar situation to the cars we removed this week with only Texas DMV information. These CHP cars had no documentation about prior police history, agency use, or the SSP option, so we removed their links in the Project. With all of the recent changes to the Project this week, the final result by year is as follows:

1982 . . 22 SSPs
1983 . . 34
1984 . . 70
1985 . .246
1986 . .127
1987 . .388
1988 . .255
1989 . .427
1990 . .269
1991 . .147
1992 . .190
1993 . .377
-----------
. . . 2,542 SSPs Total in Project


We will continue to add SSPs to the Project when we can document them as such. :) As always, THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the effort here. :D

The Texas cars would not show Police use on the Title. Just Texas Department of Public Safety. Plus they have purged files up to a certain year and the original info will be lost. I hope that the cars that are in the ranges of the VIN I provided will be noted as being Tx DPS cars when they are in between cars. I wasnt able to make al the Auction those years.


Tom

Tom, you bring up a good point. We are still considering how we want to handle those "in-between" cars which are part of a batch of VINs with documented SSPs at a starting and ending point (with the same DSO #). The special-paint cars no doubt were ordered/used by that particular agency, but some of the regularly painted SSPs may have been ordered by one agency but used by another, or perhaps were never used in-service (some of the OSP and SC cars are good examples of this latter situation). Those SSPs are tougher to confirm. So we are considering the best ways to identify these cars without over-reaching the documentation we presently have available. And we want to get everything decided beforehand so we do not need to make mass revisions later.

Doug sent in quite a few more pictures to help document his 1993 NCSHP car, as seen here:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info198380.htm

THANK YOU! :D

Here is the situation which caused us to re-evaluate how we publish information in our Project. Although those "in-between" cars are most likely SSP Mustangs, it is impossible to know for sure unless new documentation surfaces. For example, the 1984 CHPs (so far) all have the same DSO, but they are contained in two blocks of VINs which are separated by over 1,000 regular cars. Technically speaking, those 1K cars are "in-between" VINs since they are grouped between batches of confirmed SSPs with the same DSO. If we expand this, it means a civilian car could be part of a block of VINs where we have solid documentation which confirms a matching DSO for the first and last car in the batch. Below is an example of this situation with some 1991 TxDPS cars confirmed with auction records:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...screenshot.jpg


The link for that non-SSP goes to its Marti Report, which does not list the SSP option. For whatever reason, Ford built that red coupe inside a group of Texas DPS cars. We are sure there are plenty of other anomalies we haven't discovered yet. So unless there is some type of supporting documentation about an "in-between" car, then we cannot assume that it is part of that DSO.

Have you gotten Marti Reports on the 91 Tx cars? They should not be SSP's just LX Sports.


TOM

Tom, I have not yet gotten Marti Reports for those 91s, which was commented on earlier in this thread -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...&postcount=371

I had ASSUMED those were SSPs (and we know what happens when I ASS-U-ME). Now you've got me wondering about quite a few things... :headscratch: We can fix those 91s in the Project if you are certain that they are LX Sport models. Do you know of any other instances where auction paperwork may be for a LX Mustang and not a SSP?

I just remember seeing the 16 inch wheels on them at the Auction. They could have a DSO attatched to them. They did not use them for patrol but DPS Undercover.


Tom

MF140240 spent it's whole life in TX. Looks like it is still alive today. Latest event was registration renewal in Burton, TX on Dec 1, 2012.

That whole batch of eleven could have been a 'regular' DSO order, without any special-order items and therefore only a 'regular' two-digit DSO, but still used by the TxDPS.

Perhaps some vehicle title histories can be run?

http://txdmv.gov/forms/doc_download/...le-information

Since the DPPA (Driver's Privacy Protection Act, 1994) went into effect, "research" is a legit reason for requesting vehicle title histories in many states, Texas being one of them...

The problem with Texas is that have purged some of the Micro Fiche up to a certain year. So some may not get the full history.

Tom

Tom, thanks for the add'l information. I went in and changed those three 91s to remove the SSP notations I had given them. We're good. :)

Bobby contacted the seller of that burned-out 88 car in Las Vegas, and received pictures of the VIN label and Buck Tags. The car not only is a confirmed Utah Highway Patrol SSP (now added to the Project)...

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info275834.htm


...but it also has the same DSO as two other SSPs from the same 80-car batch of VINs which were never confirmed as UHP Mustangs:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info275815.htm
http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info275816.htm


Thanks again, Bobby! I love it when a car pops up that confirms other SSPs. It's a shame that this SSP is probably too far gone to be saved, but it will live on in our VIN Project! :D

I wish it were closer. If it was got now and out of the weather it probably could be saved. New roof skin, and right quarter panel and a heck of a lot of clean up... But it's too far (distance) for me. Hopefully someone will save it!

And your welcome ...
I love this VIN Project and glad to play even a small part in it! :-)

ChrisL found two CHP Mustangs on Craigslist, and received an add'l picture on one of them from the seller which he provided for our VIN Project:

1984 CHP - http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info204032.htm
1986 CHP - http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info246950.htm


Thanks Chris!!! :)

Jack, aka Va 5.0, found the following ad on Craigslist -

http://charlestonwv.craigslist.org/cto/3910952060.html


The listing contained photos of the VIN label and the Buck Tags. So not only were we able to add this SSP to our VIN Project...

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info163471.htm


...but we were able to confirm the agency use on the following SSP from the same batch/DSO -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info163477.htm


THANK YOU, Jack! :)

I forgot to post about this last month...

We provided some VIN label information to Kevin Marti in exchange for him running a few Marti Reports for free. As such, we received 6 reports at no charge. Five of these were 1987 Texas DPS cars (first or last VINs in batches of TxDPS VINs), and the other one was the final VIN in the 9-car batch of Delaware SSP Mustangs.

:thumbsup:

Interesting that the first and last in the Delaware batch have different DSOs, and different exterior and interior colors.

Frankly, I never noticed that the DSOs were off by one digit. I remember that the Delaware State Police Mustangs were unmarked and painted different colors.

Mick has a keen sense of things when it comes to VINs and possible SSP Mustangs. Here is a thread about his search for a possible 1983 Arizona DPS Mustang -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...ead.php?t=4967


As stated at the end of the thread, the Marti Report came back that this particular car of interest was equipped with the SSP option. So we can now add this 83 to our Project -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info182434.htm



AWESOME JOB, MICK! :D

Add 1, Subract 28
 

Here's a situation where confirming a SSP through a Marti Report caused me to remove a bunch of cars from the Project.

As discussed previously, we have used FHP auction records and Florida DMV records to confirm FHP cars where the vehicles have police-branded titles. In some cases, a range of cars had yet to be confirmed as FHP Mustangs by matching DSOs through Marti Reports. There was such a situation within a 120-car batch of 1989 VINs. There are dozens of confirmed FHP Mustangs within that batch, but the final 29 cars with police-branded titles were unconfirmed as FHP Mustangs. So I ordered a Marti Report for that 29th car. It came back as a different DSO, and it was not a special-paint car like other FHP Mustangs. So I revised the page for that 29th car:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info212057.htm


...and removed the 28 cars ahead of it. Yes, they are most likely SSP Mustangs, but we cannot presume them to be FHP Mustangs. And since there isn't a DSO match, they needed to be removed until such time that they can be confirmed through other means. It's all about offering quality information, versus quantity.

You are doing an excellent job Bill !!!

That sentence sums it up perfectly! Great job as always!! :thumbsup:

Thanks guys! It was easy to get caught up in the momentum of documenting these SSPs. But we had to be careful about the information we were publishing. There are a large number of cars which we are fairly confident about them being SSPs, but the proof is lacking. So we will hold off for now, rather than bump up our numbers by putting something out there that is weak. There is still one more batch of FHP cars to be locked up with 2 Marti Reports, which we will get done in the near future. And we continually see new SSPs show up that help verify other cars with weak documentation.

I appreciate all the help that the members have provided to make this such a great resource for the hobby. :)

Unknown Source
 

I was going through the photos that I had saved on my tablet, and found a picture of some FHP documentation for a 93 SSP Mustang that we already had in our Project using auction paperwork. The new FHP paperwork listed the VIN, Unit Number, Troop Number, and name of the Trooper assigned to the vehicle (which has been redacted):

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info170425.htm


Very Cool! I just wish I knew how I ended up with this paperwork so I could give proper credit to the source. :)

ChrisL sent me an email with some pictures he received of a 1985 CHP Mustang. The car turned up after he placed some ads on Craigslist in search of Nevada SSP Mustangs. We already had this car confirmed through the Ford Special Equipment Parts List for this DSO, but now the car has even more documentation:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...info234831.htm


The VIN for CHP #E408315 is one digit off from this SSP. Thanks again, Chris! :)

Here's another 88 GSP that shown up on eBay...

Clearer pic