JAB,
Have you ever driven the police mustang or LT1 caprice to compare them? Both my dad and brother were/are CHP officers and have driven both, and your comment that the mustang had no performance advantage is completely incorrect.
My dad was one of the few officers in his office considered a "pursuit driver" and so he was always assigned to a mustang. He drove the mustang every year that the CHP used them, and he could do some amazing things in that car. When he had to drive even the LT1 caprice, it was a huge step backwards in performance and he couldn't wait until his mustang was back in service.
The mustang had it's limitations (NEVER offroad one as the rear axle mounts could rip out of the floorpan!) but as a pursuit car it was nearly perfect. The only pursuit cars that match it nowadays are either the police camaros or some of the non-standard (ie. expensive) highly modded sedans used by some western states.
My dad remembers the mustang very fondly... It would do 140 uphill, downhill, and as long as you didn't wind up the springs in a skid and then release them resulting in flipping the car, it wouldn't bite you in the butt. But he was a rather above-average pursuit driver so he never got a scratch in a pursuit even though on occasion if the perp wrecked, my dad would be close enough that the splattering radiator fluid from the crash would land on his hood
My brother got a lot of seat time in the LT1 caprice since he was assigned one as a resident post officer, but he said it still drove like a caprice. Sure it could accelerate faster than most sedans, but it could never be confused or really compared with almost any real sports car including the 5.0 and 4.6 mustangs. It's just too heavy and doesn't handle as well. It made a great cop car, but it's plain silly to try to say it was as good of a pursuit car as the mustangs were. I went on ridealongs in both and I've done some amature track racing of my own, and I've seen the difference between the cars myself.
