006 is the order number. All built at Dearborn. Good luck finding the buildsheet...they are pretty cool pieces of documentation to have.

That is quiet interesting! Memphis is nowhere near louisiana. Im beginning to question whether or not my car is an LSP. My car has a DSO 26 so im confused.
I wish i had the documentation that you have...

Very cool info to read on your LSP SSP...this will be fun one to watch take shape. :southpark:

I'm digging for mine too. I'll have to see if it's behind the quarter inserts below the side quarter windows next to the rear seat by any chance. Many here have suggested pulling the seats out and checking under the carpet in that area too.

The only places I have NOT looked are behind the dash and in those areas near the quarter windows you mentioned. I've bought lots of Ford police cars over the years and this one is the most desolate with terms of build sheets I have ever encountered. On others I found them EVERYWHERE, multiple copies on one car. On this one, not ONE so far. It's almost like they did it to irritate me 20 years later.

I've had the seats out, the carpets out, all the interior plastic (except the dash & quarter plastic) and all to nothing. Not even a deteriorated copy.

Well, the headliner. I haven't removed that either, it's still in good shape. Anyone ever find one up there?

Though I've never made the trip, I'm told Memphis-->New Orleans = 5 hrs. I've lived here 40+ yrs and have never been to Louisiana. Every other state in the south, though, and many out west.

I found my '91 Police Crown Vic's build sheet under the driver's seat. My dad just inherited my great uncle's mint '89 Grand Marquis w/42k original miles. I helped him drive it home and found its build sheet under the seat, as well. If Mustangs were that easy...

Nice project, btw.

Greg

Texunter:

I saw a similarity between my SSP and yours: The radio mounting holes.

The first is my pic of my dash, with one large radio hole just under the windshield panel. It is 2" in size.

The second is the pic of your dash, and it has TWO 2" size holes in it. These holes were for the two-way radio harnesses. In the 89 (yours) they were undergoing a change from the old low band 39.5/39.3 frequency that used a old Motorola Motrac radio (the old Adam 12 style radio heads) and were just beginning the switch to 900mhz high band, using a Motorola Spectra system. So I figure yours has a hole for each of the two basic radios, one high, one low. They installed both systems in state cars for some years after the switch to maintain contact with agencies still on the old low band.

Mine had both ALSO, but by 93 the old low band was low priority, and so no longer regularly used except for as a tac frequency to talk to those other agencies that still operated on the old low band system. Thus it was installed low on the equipment 'tree', it not being the primary working radio as the 900 Spectra (then by 93) was that now got the prominent up high location.

Thus, just ONE hole up high for the 900 Spectra head.

I really do think you have a La. SSP. The radio holes along with the spot holes and the center of the roof (like mine) antenna all seems to match LSP equipment location specs too.

The THIRD pic is of the interior of a dk blue (Roemer) LSP 91 Cevy Caprice, showing their basic standard equipment installation layout of the day. Notice the Spectra head is up high, while the Motrac head is down low, actually on the side of the tranny hump near the accelerator pedal. It bears out my thinking I believe.

DSO codes CAN change in La. The bids go to dealers across the state from year to year, and I think all dealers east of the Mississippi river (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, etc) are under the Memphis DSO.

Thats an awesome and helpful pic of the caprice.

That would be the setup i should have.
My car has 14 holes in the trans tunnel right where that equipment tree would go.

Any idea what tree that is?

I see four mic's in that car and my car shows evidence of three antennas on the trunk lid and 1 on the roof so that jives too.

This is great info! Thanks so much D !

Ted

I have no idea exactly what manufacturer that tree is by. This was in the day when airbags had only JUST been introduced into police cars (90 for Ford, 91 for Chevy) and in addition, LSP still clung to the bench or 50/50 bench seat, so they needed an equipment rack to hold everything AND clear the airbag deployment zones. I do know that while it LOOKED kinda cool with all that stuff stacked up there like a fighter cockpit, the reality was that they became loose, noisy and they rattled. You had to tighten them up occasionally.

When manufacturers started building police package cars with buckets only (the 95 Caprice being the first LSP encountered I think) they pitched those 'trees'. Everyone else must have too. For that short period of 91-95 or so they were EVERYWHERE, but then they disappeared overnight. They must almost have been universally hated because I have searched high and low for one with almost no success. They crop up on eBay now and then but always seem to go quick before I can get it. I'm resigned to fabricating one for my 91 LSP LTD Crown Vic, and the 93 Mustang.

As to mikes, this was my friend's unit and he was a resident trooper at the time in Beauregard Parish out of Troop D, Lake Charles. So in addition to the new high band Spectra, and old low band Motrac, he also had a separate Motorola parish sheriff's radio supplied by them, a CB for interstate work, and finally a PA mike on the siren. So he actually had about FIVE different mikes in the car. AND a mounted cell phone. My SSP had all but the sheriff's radio too.

Personal side note the interior shot was my friend Steve Gray's unit, D-34. That pic was taken in late 1993. In 1994 he got a new WHITE (the return of vintage colors and markings) Caprice, and he was also subsequently killed in that vehicle in a LOD death responding to an accident with injuries in SE Calcasieu Parish, in May 1995.

He was a great friend to me and just a good man. He was also an excellent state trooper and LEO.

Im very sorry to hear about your loss.

I too will scour ebay for a tree. Thanks for any and all help.
Ted