Need Your Input for another Project Clone SSP
 

My younger brother picked up a 4cyl white LX coupe with a red interior for $200. We already have FHP and CHP in the family, This is going to be a "Fantasy SSP"
What agency do you guys think we should go with?

one idea I have if Florida Marine Patrol, back in the day thier colors were black and grey, with thier round seal on the door, the two tone paint scheme was exactly like FHP's down to the jetsonics???

You asked, so I'm answering.

Take the 4 cylinder and make your CHP "clone".

Paint the NC car silver and restore it. It's rare.

My .02c.

I like the suggestion of keeping the NC SSP and NC one since so few of them.

I would have to agree. Make the 4banger the clone.

Agreed!

Take the 4cyl and make it into a NC clone, take the 4cyl drivetrain and make your FHP car a stock 4 banger, then turn the NC/CA SSP into an FHP car.

In all seriousness, I hope you enjoy your cars, just please keep the NC correct pieces for the next guy.

Thanks Guys
 

lol, the NC is already painted black and white and Vitachrome decaled, Im sorry, I know how you feel about keeping it NC, but its in alot better hands and shape than it was two months ago, it was a getto race car/boom box w/ 3 batteries, 15 speakers, 3 amps,Macco painted, dozens of self tapping screws, marijuana seeds everywhere and yards of speaker wire. Now its a couple hundred pounds lighter and respectable again, and Im not done yet, it can always be resprayed NC style. Many of you guys have taken worse condition trashed and crashed SSP's with a foot in the scrap metal grave and turned them into beautiful show cars.

You're right, it can be restored many times over, in many different ways. Best of luck with it's completion.

I am not a fan of clowned cars :No no:

I love my cloned SSP. The Georgia State Patrol paint scheme and graphics are much better looking than the Colorado State Patrol scheme that my SSP had. As long as one enjoys their SSP and do not try to pass it off as something that its not, who cares if its not exactly like it was when in service. Its retired and never going to be used again as it was originally intended. Restore it, drive it, show it, and enjoy it as you please (within the limits of the law of course). I'm glad that there are SSP purists that restore them to in-service specs too. Somebody may enjoy owning a plain white coupe with beehives on the doors and somebody else may like the same car done as a CHP. To each his own.

I agree with that. I like them original. If I didn't like the beehives I wouldn't keep/buy the car.

I don't. If someone wants to make a "fantasy" car or "clone", there are literally thousands of cars to choose from to do so. I don't have a problem, like Exdramanotch said, as long as it isn't passed off as something it isn't. However, to take a rare car, such as the CSP or NCHP mentioned in the thread, and clone it into something else destroys a little bit of the car's history (and identity).

Like you said, Jim. Buy what you want in the first place. Or, take one of the hundreds of non-SSP cars and make what you want.

I agree with "to each their own" meaning it is their car and therefore they can do what they want with it. That does not mean I agree with what is actually done to the car. I see no purpose in cloning a car and turning it into something it wasn't. I personaly would get no satisfaction or enjoyment because in the back of my mind I would always know it is a fake. I would feel even worse knowing I took a rare SSP car and made something else out of it. But that is just my opinion.......and others think otherwise.

On the other hand, I would love to have a 66 GT 350, but I would want a clone so I could drive the crap outa it and not worry about how much it was worth. But I would NEVER take an original 66 GT 350 that was red with a four speed, and make it blue with an automatic.... Does any of this make sense????

Regardless of what the car has been painted, it can always be painted back. 10 years from now someone else may own it and take it back to it's original agency...and this thread has added to the SSP's history. For what little time I have been involved in the SSP world I find each SSP story intresting. How one year a car shows up for sale, is purchased, restored or whatever, sold again, and somehow because of dedicated people keeping track of the history, a new owner can be informed of what all his/her new SSP has been threw. That car will now always be remembered as being a rare NC car, transformed into a CHP, and so on.

As long as it does not get mini-tubbed, cut up, caged, or whatever else one can do to race one does it matter? Like the owner stated, he did save it from being a ghetto sled so we should take some satisfaction in that. (IMO)

As much as I'm in favor of folks adding their own "flavor" to car car, I have to agree with everything Mike & Jim have said up above. While it's true a car can always be repainted and returned to what it originally was (NCHP in case of most of this discussion), I would have concern that won't happen given the amount of time and/or $$$ that will go into this project now and the additional time/$$$ that would be involved later in returning car back to original an NCHP. For instance unless you have all the talent to do the paint yourself, having car stripped and repainted - and done right - is expensive endeavor...as I can attest since I'm going through it with my 93 Missouri State Highway Patrol SSP. Either way the owners own decision but since topic was raised just adding my $0.02.

Great point. Why spend time/money cloning a rarer car into a more common version? This makes no sense to me as good, fairly priced CHP resto candidates are relatively plentiful and if one wants a car from that agency, they should start with the correct base material and spend their resources making something that is authentic, considerably more desirable and most importantly will retain it's value. This is Car Restoration 101 stuff and it applies to SSPs too.

I think if you're going to go through the trouble of cloning a ssp. Buy one of the more widely used agencies like FHP or CHP. Then go from there, with whatever you please. There are plenty of them to go around. Except for the 4-eyes, don't touch those.

While the topic has gone off from what the OP asked. A FL Marine car would be cool or a Fire one.

"we Have To Talk" don't you just hate when they say that?
 

knowing what I know now I would have left it a NC, I dont have alot of money into this car (less than 2K) the paint job was a barter deal. I dont plan on reselling the car as I have had 1357 since 97' and I bought her from an FHP auction for 4700.00, I put steelies on her in 97 when they were $50 NIB and guys used to scrap them.
I got no cooperation from NCHP but, I was able to aquire Vitachrome CHP decals in a one time, dont ever ask me again deal, I will keep trying to collect NCHP stuff as it comes around if Im lucky, lately Ive have luck finding HTF CHP epuipment instead, my painter works for an aircraft retrofitter and works for my brother on the side so, paint is not an issue. I appreciate and respect all your comments. Im glad we can all have a good discusion among friends who love our ssp's. On the issue of "rare" a frind of mine bought a rolling chassis for a drag car project for a couple hundred buck, I went to look at it and it is a former (Florida)Seminole County Sheriffs Office Patrol car, other than a pic of a SCSO Caprice Marco sent me we dont have a pic of an in-service SCSO SSP, if anyone can help. He intends to repaint it SCSO green and white, there is some evidence of the old sceme

latest pics of the Clown
 

I picked up some mouldings and weather strip and nick nacks from the great guys at FMR, they hooked me up with 10% off too, I got the FS Signal masters today, they're just sitting there for the pic, not mounted or wired, I need to paint the door frames flat black a,d Im working on getting the trunk decals, does anyone know the correct color for the vinyl??


Attachment 1939

Attachment 1940

That looks good.

Looks great!