Have you ever looked upon those who have found rare Mustangs tucked away in some barn in the middle of nowhere?  If you are like me you have probably been just a bit envious of those people.  Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) Special Service Package (SSP) Mustangs were the proverbial needle in a haystack for me.  Only purchasing a paltry 20 of them in 1989 and having such inclement weather made for a very bad combination.  So given all that I never imagined the opportunity to own a Minnesota State Patrol SSP.

My road to owning one began on April  20, 2010.  Little did I know then that in the next 30 days I would be the proud owner of a 1 of 20 Minnesota State Patrol SSP Mustang.  It was on April 20th that a new member joined sspmustang.org and posted a thread about his recently purchased 1989 MSP Mustang.  On April 30th, the owner joined specialservicemustang.net and placed a similar post.  With each post the owner was trying to uncover more on the history of the MSP Mustangs.  I anticipated the owner would have a difficult time learning about these SSP's from each membership.  On May 14, 2009 I had initiated threads on both forums asking whether any Minnesota SSP's had turned up.  It was clear at that time, by the lack of to little reply, these were going to be an equivalent of the SSP needle in a haystack.

With the owner's May 1, 2010 post on an unrelated thread (on specialservicemustang.net) it began to appear he was having second thoughts about purchasing this SSP.  As the owner had posted a photobucket link to pictures, it was clearly a beautiful SSP in great condition.  A few short days later on May 2, 2010 this ultra rare SSP was listed for sale on specialservicemustang.net.  While excited to see the for sale listing, it became a good news / bad news situation.  On the one hand it was a very rare SSP that I had never expected to have an opportunity to pursue.  On the other hand I had two (2) SSP's already with the 1990 North Carolina State Patrol and 1993 Missouri State Patrol SSP's.  The 1990 NCSHP had only been in the stable since August, 2009 and I had spent countless hours researching; returning it to in-service specs; authoring a NCSHP SSP History and Restoration Guidebook.  Purchasing another SSP would mean having to sell one (1) of my SSP's.

After corresponding by email and phone with the seller, I approached my wife with the news.  Following a discussion with her and additional correspondence with the owner, a trip was planned to Wisconsin (to see it in person).  Before making the trip the seller and I negotiated an agreed price that I would pay if the in-person visit proved successful.  On Saturday, May 8th I departed by car for a 20 hour roundtrip to see this SSP in-person.  I was pleased to see that it was just as advertised, and in fact looked better in person than the pictures demonstrated.  Following a successful viewing and test drive the transaction was completed.

One week later on Saturday, May 15th I travelled by plane back to Wisconsin to retrieve my SSP for a 10 hour drive back home.  It was a pleasant experience with the seller and I was excited to pick up my new project to return back to period correct in-service specifications.  While I had intended to hang onto my 1990 NCSHP SSP, I felt confident in my decision to settle on the 1989 MSP SSP as my second Mustang (I have no intentions of selling my 1993 MSHP SSP).  I'm hopeful of being able to piece together the history and equipment setup for the MSP SSP's given my law enforcement and police collector car friends and contacts I have in Minnesota.  I'm excited to have this SSP needle in the haystack, which is my equivalent to a barn find.  Future updates to follow.