89 CHP SSP ~ Part out or sell complete?
 

To make a long story short, I purchased a former CHP car a couple of years ago to use as an engine donor for my Early Bronco. It has been sitting for awhile, and now seems like the fuel pump has crapped out. I guess the time has now come to either yank the motor and sell the rest of the car as a whole or in pieces, or sell it as a restorable project. Is there still a good market for complete cars? It was repainted (very poorly prepped) before auction, no radio gear, etc. No rust, no wrecks, blah blah blah.
What do you guys think is the right thing to do?

Restorable project gets my vote. Post up some pics, and feel free to list it for sale in the forums here. There's still a good market for complete cars out there, and we don't do the parting of restorable cars here.

What year is your Bronco? (not to hijack your thread..)

I'll get some pics of the car.
I have plenty of the Bronco! lol
It is a 1969.

Everybody in my area wants the car for a circle track car to go bang up.
After learning about the SSP's after I bought the car I have been hesitant
to yank the engine and CPU out in fear of ruining it's value. I figured I
could always find another 5.0 to put in the Bronco. The fuel pump just
won't run at all when I turn the key on for some reason. It worked when I
parked it last summer! Is there a breaker or relay somewhere other than the
inertia switch in the trunk? I think the CHP bypassed that anyway...
Thanks for your input.

There's a relay under the drivers seat, IIRC, that is for the fuel pump.

One of my neighbors had an early Bronco when I was a kid..used to love seeing it, and I've always wanted one since.

Maybe if I can finish a few of my SSPs I'll look for one to tinker with...

Thanks, I will check to see if there is one under there...

You should get a Bronco!
Here is mine when I got it and what it looks like now...

http://classicbroncos.com/photos/dat...39DSC01877.JPG

http://classicbroncos.com/photos/dat...m/DSC00857.JPG

That is freakin awesome. :2thumbs:

Thanks!
It will be a lot better with a fuel injected roller cam 302 instead of
an old tired bone stock 302 with a 2BBL...
Now you can see my dilemma!

My $0.02 - Keep it whole. Would be a damn shame to see it parted or sold to some yahoo who will just trash it on the track. Would be cool to see some pics of the SSP and any info on it (unit #, etc.).

Lets see some pics!

I'll snap a few tomorrow, but don't laugh. I have had it sitting outside for a couple
of years now, and with the fuel pump not working it won't be going to
the car wash to get cleaned up for pics! lol

http://i42.tinypic.com/2ecgkth.jpg
Pictures
we don't need no stinkin Pictures
no wait that's badges...never mind.....
Post some pictures

OK, here goes:

Thanks for posting those....still has the bucktags and a General in the trunk. :yes:

IMO, your car is too nice to part out. 5.0L motors can be found in many places, but complete SSP Mustang's will only get harder to find. If you don't want to tackle the project yourself, I bet somebody here would take it off your hands. And the money could be spent on a 302/5.0L for your fine looking Bronco.

Definitely need to save that one. Way too complete to part. It's rough, yes, but nothing that can't be brought back. Hell, if I still lived in CA, I would be all over that thing!

How much are you looking to get for it?

PM Sent.

How much are you looking for and where is the car located.

Bob

PM Sent.

How much is that mustang in the window?

lol
Maybe I should put this thing in the classifieds!

PM Sent.

One thing I thought was funny is the Bucktag doesn't say CHP or
California Highway Patrol, it says "CHIPS". Is that odd or normal?

Normal. The tag on my '88 is noted that way too. FYI-your car went into service on 2/14/90 at the Coalinga office.

Please send me the price PM too.

Sweet!
How did you find that out?
Is there somewhere I can go to get more info?
Thanks

Too add a little more info on the car, I purchased it from the guy that
bought it at auction in Sacramento. IIRC he bought it in June of 94 and
drove it until January of 01. It has basically been sitting since. He had it
parked for 4 years and now I have had it parked for 4 years. Kind of funny
since it was also in service for 4 years. The metallic blue is the paint that
they applied prior to auction. The paint is starting to peel in the door jambs,
around the edges, etc. and the bondo is cracking out where they filled the
antenna holes. I am interested to see if the paint is strippable back to the
original paint black and white... Maybe a few more years in the sun and it
will exfoliate itself. lol

Thats a really car. I love it and I would buy it, but I live in New Jersey. Please do not part it out. Save it !!!

The paperwork I have shows Coastal Division with the same in-service date.

Our very own Jim Y. (Nodrama) got a bunch of paperwork CHP was tossing out a few years back.

Neat~!
Hmm, I know where Coalinga is, where is considered the Coastal Region?
I wonder which one is correct?

Here are a few more exterior pics that people have requested.
No damage behind the cracked bumper or anywhere else I can see.

Here is the interior compartment and core support.
No damage I can see. Just a lot of dirt! Sorry.

And finally the dirty interior. Again, sorry.
There is a tear in the side of the drivers seat and a stain in the passenger backrest.
Other than that, not too bad I don't think...

Here you go...

One more..

That's where I think my info came from but through what was put up on the VIN registry at the other site early on when office assignment was still shown. From that source E435238 (last 5 VIN# = 211303) clearly shows Coalinga. There appear to be some obvious input mistakes on that list however so it would be nice to see it put up online again in a cleaner form for the record.

Wow a new paint job, clean the engine bay, and fix the fuel problem and dam you got a clean SSP, cleaner than mine. Even the ash tray works I bet the heater core is still good. You can get a pretty penny for that and with the money you can get a built 347 and really make that bronco run. Look on CL to get an idea on what a CHP goes for if there's none in your area for reference then look in SF Bay Area CL. I hope you keep it and bring it back and become a regular on the site. Good luck on you decision.

Thanks for the encouragement. I am in no hurry to get rid of it...
I would like to have the time to spend on it, but don't due to other
projects that have higher priority. It deserves a new home with a warm
garage to stay in, but for now it is fine where it's at.

Probably just an error typing, like you mentioned.

Predator and I talked about putting something together to show representative VIN ranges, backed up with pics of the door decals that show the VIN and DSO for a given order.

I think that the problem with that "VIN registry", other than the minor mistakes and not being updated regularly, is that it's extrememly difficult to compile and manage a large number of VINs, much less 15K +/- of them. Also, the theory about the VIN numbers being consecutive isn't always true, and I see lots of "your car is outside the range" comments which may be wrong. As an example, in the '89 paperwork I looked at last night, E433142, an '89 assigned to Central Division, has VIN 201827. That is definitely outside the "range". FHP orders for '93 were like that, with several different batches, and who knows how many other orders were also.

Please don't part that car out...looks too good already; too much great history and promise for it to get chopped up.

Looks like it would be a great project!

The Bronco is sweet! I have a '96 Eddie Bauer Bronco now, but I've wanted my father's ('85) ever since I was little. Than at a not-as-young age, we had to sell it to fund more important things for the family. When I turned 16, I didn't want the gas mileage, so I went with a Bronco II. Only sold the Bronco II due to the fact that I finally got my dream replacement! If I get some storage space somewhere, a family friend has a '69 with 32K original miles. Needs bodywork BAD since it's been sitting outside for so long.

That car is as good as new. Would be a shame to part it out.