1989 FHP located...
 

A buddy of mine picked this up in north Ga today. It is a 1989 FHP with correct buck tags as well as the other specific items. It does appear to be a lojack car by looking at the roof, anyone know any other history on it?

Good looking car! Does appear to be LoJack equipped that's always a bonus 👍

Thanks Bobby! Couple of more pics...

Thanks for posting up vin sticker now Bill can add this one to the Vin Project!!!:2thumbs:

I aswell looked at that car in Gainesville. However, the seller said it had 100,000 less miles then the autocheck said it should have. Just hope he told your friend the truth.

Nice looking car

I purchased this car Saturday and let me start by saying I am NOT an SSP expert but I do own 4 fox bodies and have owned over 70 fox bodies over the past 20+ years,...so like others here, I have seen these cars range from new on the lot to complete basket cases.

I suspect that the auto check information may not be accurate for this car. The interior, engine bay, and undercarriage of the car are VERY clean. Cleaner than my coupe with 78k original miles. Any collisions the car has had in the past were very minor. It has all VIN tags in place except the rear decklid and rear bumper cover. Looking under the rear of the car, there's no mangled metal or anything like that. The original rear metal bumper is still under there with just a small dent in it. Even if the auto check info is correct, it's no biggie to me. The car is in very good condition with many cool ssp original pieces, plus it appears to be a LoJack car....bonus.

Regardless of whether or not auto check is correct, I haven't seen many coupe bodies this decent lately.....much less an ssp that was typically used very hard in service.

I'm elated with the car and glad others passed on it.......I'm from fla originally and have wanted an 89 ssp since..........well, 1989. Lol.

The unit number is 0048.

Another pic from inside the spare tire area...

Thanks Matt.

If anyone has any additional history/details on the car, or observations, feel free to post in here.

The car is rolling on 4 good years currently (good tread but some cracking). The full size spare in the trunk is wearing a bald Kelly ultra h/r 765 radial gt. All 5 tires are 225-60-15. Interesting is that the spare has pencil or paint markings on it that match the paint used to mark the "0048" unit # in the spare tire well. On the tire, it's marked "RR" with the same yellow paint. Not sure what that means, if anything but thought it was interesting.....

RR = right rear?

Thanks, That's kind of what I was thinking...but just a guess at this point...

More research leads me to believe this car was a LoJack car operating out of Tallahassee, not the LoJack equipped FHP 432 car, nor the FHP LoJack car pictured in real stories with the roof number ending in 99 (both operating out of Miami).........but rather, this car was likely unit 0048 operating out of the Tallahassee area and equipped with LoJack.......

The car was involved in one minor rear end collision, reported 1/26/1991, very early in its life. The search for more history continues.....

Mystery solved. I just spent 45 minutes on the phone speaking to the trooper who owned and drove my car in 1991+. The information he gave me, coupled with the carfax and auto check I ran...AND some one of a kind attributes of the car confirm that My car is in fact the other LoJack equipped car. More cool details to come....

Good deal Joe!! It's amazing that this car was sitting in Georgia at a car lot with all of the history that it has. I believe digging the history on these cars is as much fun as chasing Saleen coupes!

Joe,

Glad you were able to get some info on your car from the original trooper. I've seen several of those Lo-Jack cars, including the one I originally did the screen-captures on from the Real Stories series. I don't believe that Lo-Jack had coverage in the N. Central FL area back then, as I contacted them about getting units for our cars and that's what I was told.

As for the unit number, never seen one written in the trunk. If your car has accident history, I'd chase that down. Several here (myself included) have had good luck pulling DHSMV crash reports and looking at our tag numbers (unit number).

Trooper hidalgo confirmed that the car I have is his old car. He recalled the accident history and timelines that match the carfax and auto check records exactly. He also gave me additional details that further confirm definitively that this 89 was his car. Pretty cool. He serviced Miami with trooper brown who previously had unit 432. Trooper brown told the previous owner of 432 that the other LoJack car at the time was driven by trooper hidalgo, who actually had the first LoJack equipped unit. Speaking with trooper hidalgo directly, he advised me that he did in fact have the first LoJack car (his 1989), told me how he got the car and that trooper brown had the second LoJack car ...the only two at that time. He indicated that they were the beta testers and both worked Miami, trooper hidalgo being in troop E. Neat history....

I called dhsmv with two case numbers and they told me they only keep records back 10 years.

More to come...trooper hidalgo is looking for any old in-service pics...

UPDATE:

Trooper Tim Brown just called me after I emailed him my contact information. After discussion, Trooper Brown could not remember the unit number of my (trooper hidalgos) car but confirmed that the car I have is in fact trooper hidalgos car, being a 1989 and being equipped with LoJack. He also confirmed that trooper hidalgos unit was the first unit equipped with LoJack, and his unit 432 being the second. He also told
me he still has the 432 tag number and is willing to give it to Jonathan. I have his phone number to connect the two of them......

Trooper brown called trooper Ralph Lola while I was on the phone with him and asked if trooper Lola's car was equipped with LoJack by the time they were filming real stories of the highway patrol and asked him what his unit number was. Trooper Lola confirmed that his unit (#1609) was equipped with LoJack by that time. It appears that trooper Lola's unit is the other LoJack car pictured in real stories and the roof number ending in "9" seen in the picture is unit 1609.

Trooper Brown advised me that trooper hidalgos car (my 1989) was what he called an interstate car and was not working robbery when real stories was filmed. He also told me that the "interstate cars" were the "really fast ones". This lines up with a story that trooper hidalgo told me about chasing down an IROC that was "running" and that trooper hidalgo "hit 152mph......he didn't get away".

I still have not yet been able to confirm the unit number of trooper hidalgos car (my 1989) or the meaning of 0048 written in the trunk. The search continues....

Really cool new details found however. I don't believe that it was previously known that by the time of the filming of real stories of the highway patrol, that there were other LoJack equipped cars besides the first two "beta tests" described by both trooper hidalgo (#1) and trooper Brown (#2) and that the other LoJack car pictured in real stories is actually trooper Lola's car, also equipped with LoJack and the complete unit number of trooper Lola's car was 1609. Neat stuff....

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...read.php?t=999

Forgot to include this one earlier.....knew the names sounded familiar.

Yes, thanks. I read that thread a couple days ago and actually spoke to Mike (vintage racer) on the phone a couple nights ago. That's where I got the names from and was then able to do some research and make contact with some other folks who got me an email address for trooper brown. I then found an arrest report online written by trooper hidalgo that had his phone number. I've since been able to pick up where the trail,previously ended and speak directly with trooper hidalgo and trooper brown and trooper brown contacted trooper Lola while I was on the phone with him.

I've been able to obtain very detailed history of these cars from the troopers who had them but still have not yet been able to confirm the unit number of my 89 (trooper hidalgos) old car. Still working on it....

:2thumbs:

All good stuff. What are your plans for the car?

Growing up in Miami, I remember these cars when they were in service. I have had a love for the FHP cars since I was a teenager.

Plans are to replicate the condition of the car when it was in service as best I can. For me, that means obtaining as much history as I can and equipping the car as closely as possible to when it was in service being used by trooper Hidalgo. I plan to drive the car to let it be seen and to take it to cruises/car shows. Not planning to do a restoration, but rather, a preservation. I'm not trying to win any trophies or anything like that, just want to get the car out there and let it be seen and appreciated as a piece of automotive history.

What makes these cars so cool to me is the history, the stories, and the people who used them as a tool to do a job.

Immediate plans are: to track down and confirm the unit number and round up the few stock pieces needed to replace the aftermarket pieces. It has exhaust mods, lower control arms, msd wires and under drive pulleys. Other than that, the car is stock, with the exception of the chipped FHP computer. Interesting is that it has black marker writing all over the computer. It says "lab use only", "tester", "49 state emission OK", "12-15 HP Boost", and some other numbers I can't read because they have faded too much. Trooper Hidalgo told me the whole (very interesting) story about that chipped computer when I spoke with him....I then went a pulled the computer to see if it had a chip after talking with him. I was very surprised by what I found......a detail that confirmed that this car was in fact trooper Hidalgos.

Update....I received a call from trooper hidalgo today. After speaking with several other troopers and family members, his best recollection is that the unit number was 1249. He was not able to locate in service pics for absolute confirmation but is still searching.

Very cool story, history, and interesting how the car has changed hands over the years. Love the history and appreciate the willingness of the Troopers to share all the information!

I know this is an old post but I also have a 89 FHP car that is a LoJack car as well. Not sure about much of the story behind the car. Mine was built the same month as yours. It was built before yours in 06/89.

Marcos, Mike? (Jarhead & Imevil)

I still don’t have much more knowledge on my LoJack 89. From the carfax I ran recently it looks like it served in the Jacksonville area. It was also involved in a rear end collision in 91. I have the case number but I know they don’t have those records anymore.

What makes you think it served in Jacksonville? Also, I've heard some have had luck getting the crash reports, even after they were supposedly moved into "storage", so you might want to give it a try.

I’m pretty sure he ran a carfax or something ?

Hello, two things: If your car had accident damage, see what Ford dealership was closest to the assigned troop. It's a long shot but they may have repair records. I obtained maintenance records for my 89 from the dealer where it was serviced. Also, has the car been repainted?

Unless it served in a county (really Troop) subject to emissions testing, a Carfax means nothing as far as service goes. Mainly only down south and doesn't apply to many cars.

Good to know😉

There is a record of emission testing on the carfax but it doesn’t say where just Florida and it’s under state agency. It was definitely auctioned off in Jacksonville.

I have no idea what troop my car was assigned to do I wouldn’t have a clue what dealer to check with. Cars roof was just sprayed black at some point to hide the tan but that’s about it. It’s still showing through where the paint is wearing off

Here’s a picture of the carfax if it works right.

Doesn't matter where it was auctioned. I saw Miami cars get sold at Orlando. I can't see the Carfax, but if it was re-registered in Jax, then it doesn't mean that it was sold there, either.

If you can get the black roof paint off there might still be an outline of the roof numbers burned into the cream from the Florida sun. Just trying to think of some ideas that might help you out. My trunk has a pretty perfect impression on it of the Florida flag from the sun/original decal.

Yeah I know that doesn’t mean it served in Jax. I’m hoping I can find some sort of roof number outline on it when it goes to get painted. But the roof has had some work done to it because they welded the holes up for the LoJack and warped it a little bit.

Inside roof

At least you have the pattern for the antennas, which is good. I would order a Marti Report to get the DSO and ordering district. Another possibility would be to contact the LoJack Corp. It's been some time but you never know, with not a lot of FHP Mustangs having LoJack, they may have their own records. Any avenue is worth a try...