The vehicle

Ford Mustang SSP

Nineteen Mustangs across ten Michigan tests, 1983 to 1993. The fastest car in every test it ran until 1990, overtaken by a Camaro from 1991, and last on ergonomics five times.

Watch, read, compare

The video, the article, the two comparisons and a first-hand account each take one part of the story.

Three corrections to the video, on its 0–60 figure, its top speed and the Camaro the Highway Patrol tested before the Mustang, are on the videos and history corrections page.

Every test

Every Mustang in the books held here, 1983 to 1993. Gold rows had the highest top speed of any car in that test.

‡ 1984: the five-speed “experienced serious overheating on its top speed run after attaining 129.6 mph” and was withdrawn from further testing, so it has no braking or lap figure. § 1984: the book’s preface notes that the automatic “was not equipped with ‘police package’ brakes”. * 1990: average of three runs, the book says, “due to timer malfunction on 1 run”. ^{12 9} 1992 and 1993: the lap average is of the automatic’s fastest 12 laps and the five-speed’s fastest 9, so the two are not quite like for like.

Year by year

• 1982, not published. “Because of specific interest expressed by a number of police agencies in a smaller ‘pursuit only’ type of car”, and with Ford’s cooperation, Michigan ran a Mustang 302 H.O. with a four-speed for acceleration and top speed. The book did not print the figures: “Because it was not a ‘police package’ vehicle, and also because of its limited use in most police applications, the data is not being published.” Readers with a particular interest were invited to call.
• 1983, the first figures. 8.32 seconds to 60, 22.71 to 100 and 132.0 mph, against 120.0 for the next-fastest car, the Gran Fury. Its 88.31-second lap was the best average of the test, and of the eight cars braked it had the highest average rate, 24.97 ft/s², and the shortest first stop, 151.3 feet. It was not scored.
• 1984, two Mustangs, neither scored. The four-barrel five-speed reached 60 in 7.43 seconds and 100 in 20.77, then overheated at 129.6 mph and was withdrawn. The fuel-injected automatic completed the whole test; its 86.81-second lap was more than three seconds quicker than any scored car’s, the Impala’s 89.97 being the best of them.
• 1985, no Mustang record. The 1985 documents held here are the scoring sheet, a draft of the specification and the bid record. The scoring sheet lists four sedans and does not show whether a Mustang ran.
• 1986, port fuel injection. The five-speed reached 60 in 7.30 seconds and 100 in 19.81, ran 137.2 mph and lapped in 84.22 seconds. Its ergonomics total, 147.90, was the lowest of the test, with 1.00 out of 10 for rear-seat legroom.
• 1987, 139 mph. The year Michigan tightened its acceleration requirements again, the two Mustangs ran 139.6 and 139.1 mph, the highest top speeds of any Mustang in these books. They also had the two lowest average braking rates of the seven cars braked; the 1987 page has more on the brakes.
• 1988, under seven seconds. The five-speed reached 60 in 6.90 seconds and 100 in 19.07, and crossed the quarter mile in 15.48 seconds at 91.10 mph. The automatic was the faster of the two on top speed, at 135.0 mph.
• 1989, the automatic’s lap. The two ran 137.2 and 138.0 mph, and for the first time the automatic lapped quicker than the five-speed: 81.56 seconds against 82.51, the best lap average of any Mustang in these books. The five-speed had the lowest braking rate of the five cars braked, and on ergonomics, where the bulletin scored one car of each size, the Mustang’s 144.40 was the lowest.
• 1990, at Ford’s proving ground. In the runs made there, the five-speed reached 60 in 6.64 seconds and 100 in 18.66, and crossed the quarter in 15.22 seconds at 91.90 mph. The summary prints its braking figures under the five-speed (the brake sheet names no engine): 26.19 ft/s², the highest of the four cars braked. The book scored only two cars, the Caprice 5.7 and the Crown Victoria 5.8.
• 1991, the Camaro arrives. The automatic Camaro ran 150.00 mph against the five-speed and automatic Mustangs’ 135.50 and 136.10, and lapped in 81.08 seconds against their 83.06 and 83.80. Only the automatic Mustang was brake-tested; its 21.68 ft/s² was the lowest rate of the seven cars braked, and the 178.61 feet the bulletin gives for a stop from 60 at that rate is the longest such figure for any Mustang here.
• 1992, scored against the Camaro. The automatic Camaro ran 152.0 mph and lapped in 80.56 seconds; the Mustangs ran 136.1 and 136.0 and lapped in 82.54 and 82.69. Scored against each other, the automatic Camaro totalled 0.45 and the automatic Mustang 10.30, where the lower total wins; the Mustang lost on every column except fuel.
• 1993, the last two. The five-speed’s 6.59 seconds to 60 and 18.45 to 100 are the quickest of any Mustang in these books, and it ran 137.0 mph; the automatic Camaro ran 154.0 and lapped in 79.52 seconds against the five-speed Mustang’s 82.28. The bulletin marks anti-lock brakes on every car in its lap table except the two Mustangs, and its braking table calls the automatic Mustang “Non-ABS”. Its ergonomics total, 170.33, was the lowest of the year.

Five-speed or automatic?

From 1984 Michigan tested a Mustang with each gearbox. The five-speed was quicker to 60 in all nine of those tests. The automatic was faster on top speed in four of them, and lapped quicker in two of the eight in which both have a lap average.

Last on ergonomics

Michigan’s ergonomics and communications score rates a car as a place to do the job: seats, controls, visibility, and how easily the police equipment goes in. The Mustang had the lowest total of the test in five of the seven years it was rated. In 1992 the margin was 0.20 of a point, over the Lumina. In 1990 and 1991 other cars scored lower: the Taurus in both years, and in 1991 the Camaro as well.

Where it sits in the record