If you read my intro you know I had been looking for a FHP SSP for a while. When I found my car I ran a car fax before going to look at it to see what I was in for. I had looked at so many SSP cars with kicked mileage and tons of accident history I figured check first before wasting the trip. The car came up correct on the mileage but one thing sparked my interest it showed an "officer involved" accident with a stationary object in 1994. There was even an accident report number right on the carfax. I had done heavy collision for about 10 years so I knew exactly what to look for. When I went to check out the car I was quite relieved to see that the hood was original, the pass fender was original and only the drivers side fender and the bumper skin was replaced with genuine ford replacement parts. A lift check revealed no chassis damage what so ever it was a sheetmetal only repair. Whew! no big deal! I liked the car so much I did not want to walk away from it. After buying it the thoughts raced through my head as to what was the cause of this repair? Visions of my Mustang chasing down bad guys at ridiculous speeds raced through my head, but wait it said stationary object. Mybe the officer lost control in a high speed pursuit? I could not order the Police report fast enough, the lady on the phone was so very sweet. "Did you want the photos of the accident as well?" she asked. Photos? how many photos? I replied "26 of them" she said. I got goosebumps 26 photos of my car in service! now I can see every in service detail to put it back 100% correct. She explained that any time a police car is involved in an accident Crime Scene Investigation has to come down and photograph the whole scene. I waited by the mailbox for two weeks awaiting my package to arrive and then it showed. 26 photos from every different possible angle of FHP#1118 up against a fire hydrant! (remeber stationary object) what a laugh I had it showed all kinds of cool skid marks and what looked like a burnout far down the road, and one even had two FHP officers with smiles on their faces laughing at the whole thing. Check out the two other SSP's in the background as well as the crime scene van and a few crown vics. This must have been a big deal with all those officers responding. Then I noticed what looked like a couple of bad guys down on the grass in the background with an officer questioning them? what the heck happended? I thought. The police report should explain it but after looking in the envelope there was nothing else but a note explaing the police reports come from a different department and I should have it in about two weeks! Talk about TORTURE! I had all these cool in service pics of my car with no explination. Millions of scenarios went through my head and then finally the report showed up yesterday. In one of the photos you will notice a tag hanging from the rear view mirror that a dealer would use if the car was being service. I had pointed that out to my wife when we first got the photos having worked for ford for many years it was the same type of tag my service department used. It turns out that two of the mechanics (both of them 40 years old not kids) had decided to take unit 1118 on a little test drive that went bad. They went to a remote industrial area and proceeded to launch the car getting it sideways, they then hit second gear knocking it sideways the other way loosing control and slaming into a fire hydrant. I never lauged so hard in my life after reading that! how cool is that? I now know who the two dudes laying on the grass behind the car are. The police report also lists names and addreses maybe I will try and track them down. I thought this would be a great "real story from the highway patrol" to share with you all.
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