Posted on 09/15/2011 7:54:27 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The last Ford Crown Victoria rolled off a Canadian assembly line Thursday, marking the end of the big, heavy Ford cars that have been popular with taxi fleets and police departments for decades.
Since 1979, almost 10 million Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Cars — so-called Panther Platform vehicles — have been sold.
Demand for better fuel economy and performance has choked off sales over the years. The Crown Victoria and Town Car get just 24 miles per gallon on the highway, a figure matched by some large three-row SUVs today. …
The Crown Victoria and its cousins have been popular with fleet users because of their roominess, legendary ruggedness and relative simplicity. Most cars today are built with so-called unibody engineering in which the body sides and roof play a role in keeping the body rigid. The Panther Platform vehicles were engineered with an old-fashioned body-on-frame design that's mostly used by pickup trucks today because, while heavier, it's better able to bounce back from heavy, punishing use. "You couldn't kill it no matter what you did to it," Ford spokesman Octavio Navarro said of the Crown Victoria. For some fleet buyers there's no obvious replacement for these rugged cars. …
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Better mileage? Show me a car that can carry 4 adults comfortably, and haul stuff in the huge trunk, and still get that. My folks came to visit, brought my grandma, and a trunk full of luggage and gifts for the kiddies, and got 25 mpg running at 75 MPH most of the time. My Santa Fe, with a four-cylinder, won’t even do that (two adults, two kids, and loaded full going 75 MPH).
They were referring to Panther Platform Crown Vics.
Hmmmmmm...Better go back a bit further than that
Yes, and it shall be mine in 6 years or so.
The taxi’s are all becoming Prius’s in my hood!
My ‘88 Crown Vic got 30 MPG and had 257 thousand miles when I sold it.
My ‘88 Crown Vic got 30 MPG and had 257 thousand miles when I sold it.
Ah yes, the Road Warrior! Hubby had a Crown Vic, then a Mercury Marquis about 15 years ago. Both our older sons learned to drive in them, and loved them! They were like tanks!
Not too long ago, I pulled out an old VCR tape of some shows I had taped back in the late 1990’s, early 2000’s. There are different automobile commercials on them.
It was a bit heartwrenching and depressing. They spoke of the pride of having cars with power and how they symbolized freedom. It’s not what we see nowadays. I see older muscle cars restored, still cherry, with engines that still have that deep rumble, and think how the little boxes on wheels today are built practically honor Gaia.
Dear God, I really hate what’s happening to our nation.
The U.S. version of Top Gear recently had a "$500 car challenge" wherein each of the three guys had to go find a car and buy it for no more than that amount, then compete in various ways - including a 500-mile drive. I forget what the other two cars were (one might've been an older Mercedes), but the ex-taxi Crown Vic was the winner (and only competitor to make it all the way to the finish line). It had over 400K miles on the clock.
I'd like to see a Prius match that.
Now you have the Chrysler Charger......RWD and big.
The Ford Taurus. But, cops will be driving the Aussie derived Ford semi-Taurus with engine alternatives.
The GM alternative is a Holden Australia based Impala impersonator. Not the same as the next Impala from G.M.
It’s a shame.
Crown Vics were always so recognizable...
in your rear view mirror.
Agreed. I miss the Mercury Cougar :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofaCGy-wVV0
“At the sign of the cat.”
I looked at Ford website, nothing on Crown Vics. Also no dealer has them for sale new, from what I can see.
I love my Crown Vic and I take good care of it.
Our local cops around here are running the new Chevy Imps and the Tahoe/Yukons. They have one Crown Vic left. Sheriffs are all Imps and Tahoe/Yukons. Troopers are still all Crown Vics and Tahoe/Yukons (2WD).
If you want a large wide gas-guzzling vehicle with interior room from days of yore, then go test drive an F-250 Crew Cab. I swear you will fall in love all over again.
ping
Today is a black armband kind of day. I have the tarted-up Mercury equivalent, the Grand Marquis; it’s 12 years old now, but I will hold onto it until it dies (in other words, so long as I keep the road salt off of it, I’ll probably be bequeathing it to my kids when I die). There is nothing like the Crown Vic, and I doubt if there will be again for many, many, many years.
I thought they took them off the line a few years ago?
Not nearly enough room for all the new big brother shit in a Charger cabin.
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