1991 CHP Lost to the Track

[CNTLOSE]

I remember though that was the thing to do back then. Buy a cheap Police Mustang and race it. My father and I autocrossed and did some IT racing in the 80's and 90's. They were cheap cars to take racing and looks did not matter. I hate to think of people doing it to them now, but back in the day they were just "old cop cars".

[mac88chp]

Originally Posted by CNTLOSE

I remember though that was the thing to do back then. Buy a cheap Police Mustang and race it. My father and I autocrossed and did some IT racing in the 80's and 90's. They were cheap cars to take racing and looks did not matter. I hate to think of people doing it to them now, but back in the day they were just "old cop cars".

You have it exactly correct. Over the years I've lost track of how many ex-CHP cars I've seen that were transformed to race before anybody cared about restoring them.

1989 ex-CHP spotted at Laguna Seca in '05:






It was just the thing to do back in the day but luckily there were enough of these cars so that a decent number survived to enjoy a kinder fate.

[mac88chp]

Unfortunately, sometimes some pretty rare SSPs fell into the racers hands. This example was one of very few that served with a small PD and would have been nice to have been saved and restored.

1988 ex-Morgan Hill (CA) PD spotted autocrossing in '01:


And again in '04:




I don't recall exactly how many mods were done to this one but believe it could be returned to stock with the proper amount of effort and funds. After I contacted the owner and got some background on his ride, he kindly donated the pristine passenger seat he had taken from this car to me and part of it lives on as the foam padding in my car's rebuilt drivers seat.