View Single Post
  #7  
Old 04-09-2011, 12:29 PM
Steve's Avatar
Steve Steve is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Western Sierras, N. CA
Posts: 248
Default Thanks and More Information

Thanks, everyone for the welcome and encouragement. I have at least one other picture of this vehicle somewhere; when I find it I'll scan it and post. The pics were taken by the trucker who owned the big rig visible in the background.

If I ever found this vehicle and it was for sale I'd buy it and restore it, but if just for someone who had it and restored it I thought the picture and history would be useful. That's why I posted here when I ran across this forum one evening.

The Mustangs were a very fun and cool time in CHP history. They were used mostly in rural areas where high-speed operations and lots of miles per shift were typical. The lack of a push bumper on the front rendered them useless for pushing cars, which is a must on congested urban freeways. Most CHP area offices had at least one and they were highly coveted to drive. Los Banos area had several and I was fortunate to have an assigned Mustang the entire time I was there.

The 82 was fast but was not a muscle car. With the two-barrel carb it didn't have that extra kick when floored, so off the line it would accelerate fast through the gears but didn't have the extra punch. The 84 did, with different gearing (the 5th speed being overdrive), the 4 barrel, and additional horsepower. The 84 was a musclecar. The 82 was still fast and fun and I really enjoyed it.

The thing about driving these cars at high speed was you had to really pay attention and hang on to the steering wheel. Being so light and with a short wheelbase, they were much less stable than the big 440 Dodges (Dodge Monaco and Plymouth Satellite) used before the Mustangs and the Dodge Diplomats replaced them. The effects of cracks, potholes, discontinuities, irregularities in the roadway were magnified and would substantially affect stability at high speed. I believe the later Mustangs had improvements to the suspension to improve this but I can't say from experience as the 84 was the last one I drove.

As you can tell, I like talking about this and I believe the Mustang era was a unique time in the history of CHP and law enforcement vehicles. If you have any questions I'll answer them if I can.
Reply With Quote