Safely home, Paul made the decision to keep the LX in visually stock SSP form. The RCMP lettering and insignias he had made to duplicate the originals are easily removed magnetic appliqus, and the authentic light bar bolts on or off in seconds. Though the original paint was "OK," he had the body panels perfected and resprayed. Donut crumbs and Tim Horton's coffee stains aside, the interior was just about perfect and remains essentially untouched, other than the filling of some police equipment holes in the dash. What surprised us most inside was the like-new condition of the original driver-seat material; though the low-back buckets are virtual clones of those in a regular LX, the upholstery is SSP-specific and, clearly, wear and stain resistant. The SSP buckets also benefited from additional metal reinforcement in the track and seatback areas, to provide much needed support during those long highway patrols.
Paul also had the original 10-hole wheels freshened. By 1993, the SSP sedans were the only new 5.0s still wearing these 15x7 10-holers-civilian LXs were by then shod with 16-inch five-spoke wheels. And, yes, the natural (clearcoated) aluminum finish is correct for the period, as Ford stopped painting the cop rims black after 1989.
Photographing the LX festooned in all its removable full Mountie regalia in and around Paul's hometown of Georgetown certainly attracted plenty of attention, including some from the local police-all of it nonconfrontational, thankfully. An off-duty officer even pulled up to admire the coupe at the moment we were ready to pull the trigger on the tire-frying drama of our 30-second burnout. A tip of our 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords hat, constable, for being cool about it; hope you enjoyed the smoke show.
On top, a Trick Flow intake...
On top, a Trick Flow intake and Twisted Wedge heads went on, fitted with TrickFlow 1.6:1 rockers. Still on the intake side, a Pro-M 80mm mass air-calibrated for the car's 30-lb/hr injectors-feeds a 70mm throttle body. On the downstream side are BBK 151/48 -inch unequal-length short-tubes disgorging into BBK's 2.5-inch . These basic bolt-ons, combined with BBK underdrive pulleys, accounted for 291 hp and 313 lb-ft of torque on DaSilva Racing's chassis dyno, and 13.3-second/108-mph timeslips with its present 3.73 gearset.
So it seems everyone likes Paul Champagne's ex-RCMP interceptor. And why not? It has such arresting qualities.
Cop Stuff
Though the '93 SSP Mustang's engine, transmission, rearend, and brakes were identical to any other LX, standard police package hardware included the following.
Single-key locking system
Trunklid release button relocated to left of steering column
External tranny fluid cooler on automatics
Aircraft-style hose clamps
Deleted underhood sound pad
160-mph certified-calibration speedometer
215/65R15 Goodyear Eagle GT+4 all-season rubber
Fullsize spare on alloy 10-hole rim
Incidentally, the popular, blue-silicone coolant hoses were optional, not standard, on the SSP.