Boston PD also used this lighting combo in the 80's. All blue to the front and red / blue to the rear.

I don't know which year had what, but the Ford LTD S model had two years with the "F O R D" letters across the top of the grille and two years with the smaller "Ford" cursive script inside the little blue oval placed in the left side of the grille.

Ford used quad headlights on SOME 1981 and 1982 LTD sedans as well. (In 1983, they revised the front end to an even fresher-looking quad headlight setup and changed to the horizontally-segmented tail lamps.)

Anyway, these pictures bring back some memories. You gotta love that 351-2v engine!

I have seen pics of MSP cars with red to the front on aerodynics, approx 1978, and others with red only to the rear. However I do not know any specifics on which years had what.

When they switched from Aerodynics to Edge bars(apprx 1986-87), the red became one half of the rear flash and has been that way ever since.

Iowa State Patrol has one car with the Fastrax system on the rear. It is half strobe and half LED. When they are on, they are very bright and visible. I wouldn't mind my car having one on the rear.

it's "excited," "too," and "aren't," but that's ok.

This was a crash in 1988 I think, without revealing too much, I believe this was the fatality crash off of Culebra by the West sub-station of an officer-in-trouble call. There were no other cars, just a one car vs. utility pole. Those Dodges and Gran Fury's were light at the rear end and got really "froggy" at times, so did the LTD's come to think of it.

This car is a 1998 and lasted until it was retired in August of 2001. Over it's course here it was smashed all to hell from a crash on IH35....drunk driver.. It was fixed but was never the same, the suspension was never right, it looked like a low rider and the light bars leaked so by the time it was retired out, the light bar was light red and bluish green. Ol' P-29, we all liked it cause with this one, most of the cars came with the center caps which we all thought looked cooler than the full wheel covers. It was a good car with the old graphics that were changed in December 2002...AJ, Schertz PD

No. Ahmed didn't take the photo. I don't believe Ahmed has ever submitted any pictures to copcar dot com. He just likes to leave comments all the time. And since the base model police Ford LTD was unchanged in appearance from 1979 to 1982, I too would like to know how he can tell that this one is a 1979 versus another year.

I've never seen a picture of blue AND red lights on a Mass. State Police unit. What years did they experiment with the red lights? Too bad they gave up the red lights visible from the front, this unit looks sharp, and the troopers had the most visibility from both directions.

If my state mandated one color for police lighting, I would hope they would switch to all blue since blue is best for night use when the officers'/troopers' lives are at the highest risk on traffic stops.

Thanks for the great photos, and welcome to the featured contributors section.

The colors, French and Electric blue are correct and matched the uniform of the Massachusetts State Police. The colors were first adopted for the agency's uniforms in 1933 and later for the patrol cars in 1940. The door seal is correct for 50s era vehicles but, the word Massachusetts was never spelled out on the trunk lid or anywhere else except on the door seal. Throughout the 50s, the MSP used Ford vehicles, exclusively. Also, Throughout the 40s, 50s & 60s the MSP used only 2 Dr Sedans and did not adopt the 4 Dr Sedan until 1968. The are no photographic records of Buick vehicles ever being used. Lastly, the overhead revolving police light was never red and always blue. None the less, this vehicle is a fine tribute to America's first statewide law enforcement agency established 16 May 1865.

Maybe because he took the picture so he probably knows?

What makes it a '79? Why not a 1980 or '81?

1979 Ford LTD 'S'

good looking truck

super nice interceptor

MSP funeral 81 or 82

RISP 81/82 Fords

Worcester, MA

MA upfitter's back lot

MA upfitter's backlot