1985 Nevada Highway Patrol

[NHPcars.com]

I wanted to start a post to show everyone here my newest project, my 1985 Nevada Highway Patrol Mustang. I’ve mentioned the car in the past in hopes to find it a home and now it’s finally saved and in my garage.

The car was purchased by NHP as a test car and was funded by the Federal Government under a grant for the 55mph speed limit campaign. It is one of three cars bought under this program. One car was assigned to one of the three regions, this car being the Northern Command car, or the Reno car. The Central Command car, or Elko car, was wrecked and totaled during its delivery to the region. The third car was sent to Southern Command, or Vegas. I have read posts regarding a 1985 NHP Mustang (from a few years ago) so maybe it is still out there.

I’ve spoke with several Troopers who drove the 85’s and said they were the quicker cars. Ret. Trp. Hutchings told me he flew from Vegas to Reno to pick up the Vegas car when it was new. When getting the keys from the mechanic, the mechanic asked him if he knew how to drive a high performance vehicle. Hutchings laughed, grabbed the keys, and left. As he was leaving the parking lot, he revved the engine, dumped the clutch, and said the back tires went up in smoke. He told me that car was all over the place. On the trip back, he said the car didn’t get a whole lot of time under 120mph. Luckily the Vegas car didn’t end up like the Elko car.

My car spent about 2 years in Reno as a pool car which means the car would be checked out by a Trooper for the days shift, and then returned. After the federal program ended, the Fed’s allowed the agency to keep the cars. The car was then issued to Trp. Wygnanski, ID #231. He told me while working in a snow storm (the car was equipped with 4 studded snow tires) on Interstate 80, near the Nugget, he stopped out with a vehicle that had been disabled on the ice. While assisting the driver, another motorist lost control of her car and slid into the rear of the Mustang. The damage was repaired and the car continued its service.

After being assigned to Wygnanski, the car was issued to Trp. Rolfe, #130. Trp. Rolfe drove the car until it was mileaged out and sent to auction. The guy I bought the car from purchased it from the state auction with 117k miles on it. He worked at the Ford dealer when the car was delivered new and made it an effort to purchase the car when it retired. He told me he had to have it because it was a high performance Ford, having no idea the historical value of the car. One night he was driving the car in the rain and lost control of the car. After doing a few 360’s, without hitting anything, he parked the car, with 132k miles on the odometer, in his back yard because he thought it was too dangerous. This was around 1994. He intended to keep it around for a parts car for an 83’ Mustang he had but never had a chance to do it.

Since becoming the resident car guy here at NHP, another Trooper told me about the car. This was around 2 years ago. Many of you here remember me mentioning it. I made contact with the owner who wouldn’t budge on his asking price, and after asking him over the last year and a half, he decided to keep it. I continued to stay in contact with him. Recently, he told me about some health problems he was having and how he needed to get rid of a few things. About that time I started trying to sell my 88’, which I did to a member here. This allowed me to gather the funds to secure a deal.

I’m still working on getting information regarding the cars history and I have several questions regarding it. I’ve been in contact with the two Troopers who were assigned the car and another Trooper who checked the car out back when it was a pool car. I’m also in contact with a few Troopers who drove the Vegas car. It does run but needs service work, and a fuel pump. I’ve started cleaning it up and placed some of the emergency equipment I have inside the car. I have a long was to go in restoring it and I’ll try to keep everyone updated on it as thing progress.

Mike