I purchased this SSP in 2007 as a rolling chassis in the San Antonio area.  There are almost no Texas 4-eyed SSP's, so I decided to restore this one back to it's DPS days.

It was in decent shape, minor body damage, interior complete but showing age in faded upholstery, cracked and faded plastic, and chrome trim delaminating from the door handle trim.

The engine bay still had the emissions and A/C gear, most of the wiring and hoses, a dual core heavy duty radiator,  A/C condensor, and the y-pipe and single dual-tipped exhaust were still on the car.  The remaining emissions and engine accessories were stored in the trunk.  At some point the previous owners replaced the steel wheels with 1987 Mustang GT turbines, though one steel wheel was kept as the full size spare.   The car was also repainted at least twice, first red, then to the current black.  The car was apparently used as a fire department car at some point after it's DPS retirement, probably the reason for the red paint job, and evidenced by the Fire Department sticker on the upper left of the rear window.

Whether it was a Fire Captain car or just a volunteer fire fighter's personal ride is unknown.  Having not been a road registered car since 1997, the car needed most of it's rubber replaced and a thorough mechanical once over.  I have since stripped and repainted the engine bay gloss black, replaced the power steering rack and brake system, cleaned the fuel tank and steel lines, and dropped in a full roller 5.0L powerplant temporarily until I can build an engine specific for the SSP.  The canyon red interior is being refurbished, with brand new carpet, seat upholstery, headliner, dash pad, and trim pieces.  Anything I can't replace outright will be rebuilt/refurbished by hand as best I can.  The car's wiring is functional, though a lot of the engine bay wiring is degraded from exposure and heat damage and needs replacing.  My ultimate goal is to fully restore the car to "in service" condition, or as she was if she was still in use today.  It will not be a "concourse" car by any means, and some damage will be left as is, such as the lower radiator brace buckling.  I have found this was a result of turnarounds in highway medians, and is common on the highway interceptors.  As such I am leaving it as a sort of "badge of honor" rather than try to replace the original sheetmetal for a museum grade car.  The police equipment will be installed for car shows and special events, but not when used as a daily driver.  The door markings will be magnetic decals, removed when not on private property, and the nose and rear deck lights will be removeable.  The engine bay will be semi-restored, as I will not be reinstalling emissions gear or most of the wiring that goes with it, but most of the cosmetic features will remain in place, if disabled.

I have not yet been able to determine the unit number for my car, but I was lucky enough to find the intact buildsheet in my driver side rear panel, as well as the body buck tags on the radiator brace.

The car is DSO 57-0132, VIN 184630.  It was ordered with the Texas black and white paint scheme, spec'ed on the buck tags, with a 3.08 traction lock 7.5" rear end and a 5-speed manual transmission.

Interesting is that in the decoding I found the transmission listed as "5-speed, not T-5."  I'm still trying to find exactly what manual transmission is correct for the car, though for now it is getting an AOD temporarily in a non-destructive conversion.  The clutch pedal is still in the car, although the cable has been long since removed.

The only other things I recovered from the car, under the rear seats and in the voids of the trunk, were a few .223 shells and this disintigrating Trooper business card.

It seems to read "Texas Department of Public Safety, Howard A. Kinsel, Trooper II, Texas Highway Patrol".  So Howard, if you're out there, write me and tell me about my car, I'ld love to hear her history.