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Old 04-08-2011, 11:45 PM
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Steve Steve is offline
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Location: Western Sierras, N. CA
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Default 1982 CHP Mustang E870255

I wonder whatever happened to CHP E870255? Below is a picture of it, taken on February 21, 1984 at about 1 pm in the afternoon, on a very windy day. The location is in the Los Banos CHP area, on I-5 about 23 miles South of Highway 152. I am the CHP officer in the photo (age 27); this Mustang was my assigned vehicle. It was assigned to me in 1983, early in its career with the CHP. In this photo it has about 60,000 miles. Within a few months it had reached 70,000 miles, which in those days was when CHP took them off the road and sold them at auction. I was then assigned a new 1984 SSP Mustang.

I have often wondered whatever happened to E870255; it was a good car. I drove it fast, but never beat it up or was involved in any collisions and it was meticulously maintained. Everything we did in the Los Banos area was high speed; we covered a huge area consisting of parts of 3 counties. You could get an emergency call and it would be 70 miles away. Even at 120 MPH it still takes more than 30 minutes to get there. I drove this vehicle in more than one high-speed pursuit. Even with the 4-speed manual transmission it was no problem to manage driving, shifting, and using the radio because once the pursuit started in a wide-open area like this it was all high-speed in top gear. My favorite was one day just before noon I was pulling out of a roadside restaraunt East of Los Banos on State Highway 152, with a large to-go cup of coffee, ready to check the beat. I spotted a vehicle that caught my attention; I don't remember why but the important part is I turned on the red spotlight and attempted to make a stop. Instead the driver accelerated to 100 MPH and the chase was on. That chase went all the way into the Fresno area (about 65 miles), where additional units joined, and ended when the driver finally figured out he wasn't going to get away and just pulled over and surrendered. Turned out he had a high-bail warrant and just didn't want to talk to me that day. The best thing about this: 1)Nobody crashed and nobody got hurt, 2) I finished that large coffee and never spilled one drop!

Top speed for E870255 on level ground was 120 MPH. The top speed for the new 84 assigned to me was 137 MPH. E870255 was completely reliable, never broke down, and all the miles were highway miles. It was in perfect operating condition when turned in. Somebody got a good car. I probably could have bought it at auction but back then I just wasn't really thinking about it. Now I occasionally wonder what ever happened to it. If anyone out there has this vehicle and wants to know anything more about it, post here and let me know.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg E870225.jpg (118.4 KB, 364 views)

Last edited by ImEvil1; 04-10-2011 at 06:06 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 04-09-2011, 12:07 AM
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stadair stadair is offline
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Interesting story. Nice pic. Thanks for sharing. That would be awsome if someone came forward with info on the car.
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'93 SSP
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Old 04-09-2011, 12:23 AM
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Great pic, Steve and awesome story. Welcome to the site!
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'82 SSP (Marketing Order)
'83 Colorado State Patrol #202
'83 Texas DPS
'85 Florida Highway Patrol #1422
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Old 04-09-2011, 12:25 AM
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Rhino Rhino is offline
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You never know - someone may surface with it sooner or later. I know that many of us with we could make contact like this, but the odds are just not in our favor given that most paperwork, etc. has been purged.

Good luck with reuniting with it.
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Old 04-09-2011, 07:35 AM
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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.
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To everyone out there, wherever you are. Remember, the light at the end of the tunnel may be the police chasing you down in their own Mustang!
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Old 04-09-2011, 10:10 AM
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ssp91ssp ssp91ssp is offline
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Welcome , Steve... Great story and picture! any other pics???
Best of luck on your search... That's part of the fun in this hobby.
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1992 PO.Oregon Police, Bimini Blue, Unit #85655,
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Old 04-09-2011, 12:29 PM
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Steve Steve is offline
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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.
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