- North Carolina’s Highway Patrol is putting at least 25 new Ford Mustangs into service.
- The S650 Mustang GTs are equipped with a 480 hp 5.0-liter V8 and 10-speed auto.
- NC Mustang fans will remember the NCSHP ran SSP Mustangs in the 1980s ’90s.
Police forces in North Carolina are going retro with a fleet of Ford Mustang patrol cars that will be used by the Highway Patrol throughout the state. The rollout will bring back memories (some of them painful…) for North Carolina Residents of the classic SSP Mustangs cops used back in the 1980s and early 1990s.
NCSHP first purchased a select number of 2024 Mustangs last year, and published photos of one of the first cars dressed in the Patrol’s distinctive black and silver livery last summer. But before a full rollout could happen an “onboarding” process was needed, allowing the force’s logistics team to fit the cars with police equipment, and its training department to assess what the cars would behave like in the field.
Related: NC Highway Patrol Gets 25 Ford Mustang GTs
Then Hurricane Helene threw a meteorological spanner in the works, forcing the Patrol to divert resources away from Mustang project to concentrate on the more urgent matter of helping with disaster relief in the western part of the state.
But now the Mustangs are ready to go, each one a GT equipped with a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 making 480 hp (485 PS) and driving the rear wheels through a 10-speed automatic. A zero to 60 mph time of less than 4.5 seconds and top speed of almost 170 mph (274 km/h) means NC’s cops should have enough performance at their disposal to deal with most situations, though a few Carolinians have questioned how well the rear-wheel drive Mustangs will cope with snowy weather.
Some have also complained that the police shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars on sports cars when other forces are buying more practical, cost-effective SUVs like the Explorer. But the NCSHP says the cost of its new muscle cars is broadly the same as other vehicles on its fleet.
Though the patrol used Special Service Package (SSP) Mustangs more than 30 years ago, in recent years it has relied on Dodge Chargers, which are no longer available in V8 form – though this year’s new six-cylinder Charger seems like it would have been worth waiting for.
“These patrol vehicles, while small in number, will serve a valuable purpose throughout our state,” said NCSHP’s Colonel Freddy L. Johnson, Jr. “Their presence while on patrol will undoubtedly help to serve as a deterrent and assist in our important role as ambassadors for the great state of North Carolina.”
The Patrol showed off its new Mustangs by recreating a photograph from 1929 in which officers of the time lined up on their police motorcycles outside the very same State Fair building.
