1982 CHP Mustang E870255

[28HopUp]

Steve, welcome to the site. Thanks for sharing your story and picture of the car! I hope your old car turns up and finds its way into your garage.

[ssp91ssp]

Welcome , Steve... Great story and picture! any other pics???
Best of luck on your search... That's part of the fun in this hobby.

[Steve]

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.

[MOstang]

Great stories to read and thanks for sharing them. It is these recollections and experiences that really add to this hobby niche. Welcome to the forum and I hope someone has info on one of your old SSPs.

[Wolfe1013]

Steve, welcome aboard. I'm the proud owner of an '82 CHP Mustang that I picked up last summer. It's unit # was 0567. Does that ring a bell? I've been trying to find out as much about it as I can. It was retired and stayed in the Sacramento area for a while before moving to Colorado and changing hands a couple more times before I got it from a retired trooper friend. He painted it back to black & white from the yellow it had retired to. So, I'm working on a full restoration. Money's tight, so it's going to take a while.

I love your stories. Let's keep in touch. You're the first CHP officer I've encountered that drove the '82. I'll be waiting for the other photo. If you can tell us about any other details of the car, that would be great. Was there a variation in equipment for the '82s? Mine doesn't have the holes in the center of the dash by the heater and a/c controls for the bracket that held the mics and the top of the shotgun mount.

You'll find my car's thread under the 1982-1986 section.

Greg

[Wolfe1013]

I didn't see the edit button to edit my post. Sorry, but I miss-spoke, my car's thread is in the Welcome section here... http://www.specialservicemustang.net...ead.php?t=2950

You will find a couple other posts in this 1982-1986 section about my car.

I'm going out to do a little work on it now.

Greg

[NHPcars.com]

Steve,

Welcome to the site. Good luck on locating the 82' and we'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for sharing the story and photo.

Mike

[Cobra Jet]

Hi Steve,

For your interest -

There was this 82 CHP that was listed just months ago on many Mustang forums, including this one (and it has sold as of March 2011). It was pretty much an original unit purchased right from CA. The below link has pictures of it and despite it's age & condition, it was in really great condition.

I'm not sure how the Seller's CHP # 0513 would correlate with an "E" number though...?

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...ead.php?t=3042

Thanks for sharing your pics, stories and info, definitely really interesting!

[Wolfe1013]

Cobra Jet, that would be E870513. Mine is either E850567 or E870567. Don't know. My assignment card got lost in the mail.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

Hi Steve,

For your interest -

There was this 82 CHP that was listed just months ago on many Mustang forums, including this one (and it has sold as of March 2011). It was pretty much an original unit purchased right from CA. The below link has pictures of it and despite it's age & condition, it was in really great condition.

I'm not sure how the Seller's CHP # 0513 would correlate with an "E" number though...?

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...ead.php?t=3042

Thanks for sharing your pics, stories and info, definitely really interesting!

Hi Cobra Jet, I think I saw that one (too late). Well maybe 870255 will show up, or Mike will decide to sell his '82...

Wolfe, your vehicle I believe was E870567. I am guessing that the E plate numbers were sequential, and as '82 was the first year, the E850 numbers would have been before the Mustangs. Guessing again, I'll say E850567 was probably a Dodge Diplomat.

Doing some math, and assuming 567 was the very last '82 Mustang, and since CHP bought 406 '82s first would have been 161. Could not have been all the way back to E850 by that reasoning.

I think I have one more pic of 870255, taken from the front. When (if) I find it I'll post it.

-Steve