A Real Story from the Highway Patrol!
 

Last week I was able to purchase 2 FHP SSP cars down in Florida. One of the cars was in Vero Beach. The owner had purchased the car at the FHP auction in 1996. He purchased the car with 116K miles for $5,800 and said it was by far the nicest SSP at that particular sale. He and his wife drove the car daily for the first 1 1/2 years and then used the car sparingly. The last time the car was registered was 2002 and it had been sitting in their carport. I was told the car was a "Lojack" equipped car. At first I thought ya sure! Well, after a little checking, he was right!

A carfax reveals that this particular car served the State of Florida in Miami and Palm Beach. Although this car has all the original body panels as noted by the VIN stickers, the carfax shows 2 accident reports with numbers were filed on the car. With the help and suggestions from "Bud" that I look at the pictures on the site showing a Lojack equipped car and that "Jarhead" was able to find the unit number of his FHP SSP through the accidents numbers, I contacted "Jarhead" with a PM and provided him with the 2 accident report numbers.

Marcus called me today and was able to provide to me the unit number of my new Lojack equipped FHP SSP which is unit #432. He was also able to get the accident reports which shows both were minor. He also looked at the agency pictures on page 2 which show 2 Lojack equipped SSP's and low and behold, courtesy of "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol", there is a picture showing a Trooper on his handheld radio with unit #432 in the background. The photo clearly confirms that #432 was a Lojack equipped car while in service. That's kinda neat to find that there is already an "in service" picture of the car already on the web!

http://www.specialservicemustang.net/FHP2.htm

I want to thank Bud and Marcus for their help in finding the unit # for this car and potentially the officer to whom the car was assigned. It is also neat to confirm with an in-service picture that the car was equipped with Lojack and Federal deck lights in the rear.

One thing I did learn from both of the pictures. The other Lojack equipped car in the pictures has the unit # on the roof. My car #432 does not.

Finding information such as this and more importantly, receiving the interest and help from other board members really makes this hobby a lot of fun.

Thanks for the help guys!!!!

Did you purchase the DVD's Danielle made? There's footage of your car. http://www.sspmustang.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5866

Very nice. :)

I'll double-check when I'm home this evening, but this may be a better shot of your car:

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...HPfederal2.jpg

For a change someone has the unit number before getting the car. :welcome:, by the way the car is parked at the TGK Correctional Institute in Miami NW 72nd Ave. and NW 36 St. That facility opened its doors in 1990 so that gives you an idea of when the episode was filmed.

I thought the same thing about that photo also being of my car since the hat on the package tray in both pictures "looks" to be positioned the same, the car has the same Federal deck lights and there is no unit number on the roof.

I'll check tonight.

The vid-caps are from 2006, and the episode was filmed in '94. IIRC, there is a bunch of footage of that car in the clip, but I'll take a look.

I chose those two pics for the resto doc because they showed the different deck lights and lo-jack (and the unit number).

That's two that we've identified from the footage.

Here you go....fresh capture showing the unit number. BTW...Trooper Tim Brown drove it.

Mike,

Thanks. That's neat!!!!

Yep...kinda small world, huh?

I lived in Vero for years, BTW. :)

BTW the next time you are in Vero stop by, you were a mere 30 minutes from the shop and my SSP was parked out front ! And it is kind of embarassing to get beat to a car in my own backyard, I was working in Sebastian until just a few months ago.

I used to do alot of fishing in the Sebastian area, and when I was a kid, we'd always hit the inlet there.

I still have family in the area but it's a longer drive now. :)

Sorry to bring up an old thread(noob to this forum), but do you know if it's Trp. Tim Brown or Trp. Ralph Lola that drove it?

Here is Ralph second from the left:

http://www.flhsmv.gov/fhp/PhotoGalle.../PG030106a.jpg

Third from the right next to the suit:

http://www.flhsmv.gov/fhp/PhotoGalle...6/PG030106.jpg

Welcome to the forum....in the video it's Trooper Brown driving that one.

Thanks for the welcome! Anyone know if they are driving Lola's old car? If so I can ask him and find out what his unit # was.

I am the present owner of FHP #432 and it is about 2 weeks from being restored back to service condition. Grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and moved to Texas in 1994.

Officer Tom Kingery

I'm looking forward to seeing the pics Tom.:popcorn1:

Yeah, don't be a tease.

FHP
 

great info, I saw trooper lola in the real stories dvd i have, he was quite a runner! lol, learned that in the army!

Am getting delayed due to small parts not received, such as spotlight bracket, lightbar filters, etc.. 98% completed otherwise.

WE NEED PICS !!!

+1 :postpics:

My father and I acquired FHP Unit 432 when it was for sale last year. The seller was a retired FHP Trooper and was storing the car at the Floyd Garrett Muscle Car Museum. On a side note, he has a lot of very nice cars there.

I was finally able to make contact with Trooper Brown this morning. Quoting his email response:

"Mr. Powell

FHP 432 was my car back when I had a Mustang. I picked up the car with about 30 miles on it from Middelburg, Florida and drove it until it was traded in. The photo that you have is when I worked robbery with Trooper Ralph Lola. The hat in the rear window is still in the rear window of the Crown Victoria that I am presently driving. The Lo-Jack you see in the photo was the second Lo-Jack installed in the state. The first Lo-Jack was put in Trooper Alberto Hidalgo's car; he now works for the US Marshals.

The car was in, I believe, two accidents; the first was when I hit a tree when a trooper was being shot at. The other accident happened when a car pulled in front of me and damage the front.

I still think that I may have that tag FHP 432! I’m not sure if it was still on the car when I traded it in.

I hope this has helped you."

This was very exciting for me to receive this. When I purchased the vehicle, I believe all of the paperwork that was acquired by the previous owners made it to me. I know I have a copy of the second accident report Trooper Brown mentioned.

The picture he is referring to is a screen shot from Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, showing Trooper Lola calling something in and FHP 432 in the background.

I have most of the correct items to finish restoring it back to in-service specs (JSS Controller, proper Jetsonic feet, Motorola Micor, NOS 5.0 badges, etc.).

I've asked Trooper Brown if he has any pictures of the car while he had it. I also asked if he would please keep me in mind if he ever wanted to part with the FHP 432 tag, if he still has it.

Sorry to bring up an old thread. Just wanted to share the update with everyone.

That's pretty cool! :)

Man, I'm so glad you got in touch with him Jonathon!! Maybe he'll stay in touch with you and he has some good pics. ;)